Both championship bouts at UFC 280 are official.
In fact both Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev showed no signs whatsoever of trouble on the scale in Abu Dhabi – each man weighing in under the championship limit at 154.5-pounds – Oliveira, possibly, to prove a point after his prior weight miss fiasco.
Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw both came in at the bantamweight championship weight of 135-pounds and will proceed as scheduled.
The only fighter to make it to the scales and have an issue was, for the first time in her career, Katlyn Chookagian. The women’s flyweight contender weighed in at 127.5-pounds, one and a half pounds over the divisional limit on her first try – she chose to forgo a second attempt. Her bout opposite Manon Fiorot will proceed as a catchweight bout with Chookagian forfeiting 20% of her purse.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Best Bets: The AllStar’s fight analyst has you covered with your punts for UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev
- UFC 280: Arman Tsarukyan doesn’t like Oliveira’s chin – ‘I think Islam can knock him out’
- UFC 280: There are more paths to victory for Charles Oliveira than Islam Makhachev, says Sean Madden
- UFC Vegas 63: Joseph Holmes reveals crucial tune-ups provided by James Krause behind first UFC win
- Road to UFC: The dark side of Muay Thai: How one fighter survived and got on the road to the UFC
The best of the rest
- Islam Makhachev aiming for ‘more title defenses’ than Khabib, teases move to welterweight – BloodyElbow.com
- Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Lucas Almeida pulled from UFC 280 over ‘weight management issues’ – MMAFighting.com
- John Lineker misses weight for ONE on Prime Video 3, stripped of bantamweight title – MMAFighting.com
- ‘What about that was manly?’ – Aljo surprised by Dana White’s praise for self-admitted cheater TJ Dillashaw – BloodyElbow.com
- Petr Yan trades shots with ‘whore on the side of the road’ Sean O’Malley at UFC 280 press conference – BloodyElbow.com
The soapbox
Petr Yan gets heated with Sugar Sean:
Charles makes a point, weighing in at 154.5-pounds:
It is kinda weird:
Some interesting O’Malley stats:
An odd combination:
Roy Nelson’s looking to get in the ring:
Conor makes a funny:
Bryce Mitchell on his flat earth claims:
The morning view
Catch JHK’s recent chat with one of the best coaches in the game, Eric Nicksick:
Relive what was the UFC 280 press conference:
Volkanovski shares his experience as a backup fighter:
MMA On Point gives you 9 interesting facts about Islam Makhachev:
DC catches up with Charles Oliveira:
Done deals
Friday
- Robert Whittaker will fight Paulo Costa at UFC 284 on February 11th (per UFC)
- Jack Della Maddalena will fight Danny Roberts at UFC Vegas65 on November 19th (per Paradigm Sports)
Thursday
- Ji Yeon Kim to fight Mandy Böhm at UFC Seoul on February 4th (per John Hyon Ko)
- Da Un Jung to fight Devin Clark at UFC Seoul on February 4th (per Cole Shelton)
Wednesday
- Lauren Murphy to fight Jessica Andrade at UFC 283 on January 21st (per MMAFighting)
Tuesday
- None to note
Monday
- None to note
On this day in MMA…
On the 21st of October, 2017, Darren Till earned his last TKO stoppage to date at UFC Fight Night 118 in Gdansk, Poland.
Facing a still-lethal Donald Cerrone in the welterweight headline bout, Till wasted no time putting Cowboy under pressure and keeping him on the back foot. Four minutes and twenty seconds was all it took before the veteran was felled by a barrage of punches.
Following the bout Till called for a fight with Mike Perry, who was in attendance at the event. An enraged Perry stormed to the Octagon prompting a verbal altercation between the pair with just the cage wall separating them.
Till’s winning streak was extended to 16-0 and the bout had served as the Liverpudlian’s coming out party. He’d ride a wave of stardom into an eventual bout with Tyron Woodley a year later – it was then that Till’s record would receive its first blemish.
