UFC Rio is almost here. Tomorrow night, the No. 1 MMA promotion in the world returns to Rio de Janeiro for the city’s first UFC Fight Night in just over a decade at Farmasi Arena.
Inside the United States of America, live coverage can be seen on ESPN+ starting with the prelims at 4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT before moving onto the main card at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT Saturday evening.
Initially, tomorrow’s schedule for UFC Rio was slated to feature 13 MMA bouts. Late Thursday, however, the plans for Saturday evening changed. The scheduled heavyweight undercard bout that would have matched Valter Walker with Mohammed Usman was canceled after the latter withdrew from the event. Thus, UFC Rio now proceeds as a 12-bout card.
Saimon Oliveira Exceeds Maximum by 8 lbs Friday Morning at UFC Rio Weigh-Ins
This wasn’t the only hiccup in the final countdown to UFC Rio tomorrow. While Saimon Oliveira’s fight against Luan Lacerda will be going ahead as originally advertised, it’ll press forward in the wake of Oliveira (144 lbs) missing the bantamweight nontitle maximum by 8 lbs.
Lacerda (136 lbs) hit the target exactly earlier today. Due to Oliveira’s bad miss, he’ll now cede 50 percent of his wages to Lacerda. This fight will also now take place as a catchweight affair.
UFC Rio Main, Co-Main Events Locked In After Weigh-In Window
The main and co-main events of Saturday night’s card are now cleared for takeoff following today’s weigh-in. Both No. 4 contender Charles Oliveira (156 lbs) and No. 8 Mateusz Gamrot (156 lbs) came in at the lightweight nontitle target this morning for their five-round fight this weekend.
In the co-main event of UFC Rio, bantamweights take to the fabled Octagon as No. 6 contender Deiveson Figureido (136 lbs) fights No. 15 contender Montel Jackson (136 lbs.) This is a three-round fight.
UFC Rio Weigh-In Results:
Main Card: (Tomorrow, 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT, ESPN+- United States Only)
UFC Rio Main Event: Charles Oliveira (156 lbs) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156 lbs) Lightweight
Co-Main Event: Deiveson Figueiredo (136 lbs) vs. Montel Jackson (136 lbs) Bantamweight
Vicente Luque (170 lbs) vs. Joel Alvarez (171 lbs) Welterweight
Jhonata Diniz (257 lbs) vs. Mario Pinto (255 lbs) Heavyweight
Ricardo Ramos (146 lbs) vs. Kaan Ofli (145 1/2 lbs) Featherweight
Lucas Almeida (145 1/2 lbs) vs. Michael Aswell (145 1/2 lbs) Featherweight
Prelims: (Tomorrow, 4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT, ESPN+- United States Only)
UFC Rio Featured Prelim: Jafel Filho (126 lbs) vs. Clayton Carpenter (126 lbs) Flyweight
Co-Featured Prelim: Vitor Petrino (250 lbs) vs. Thomas Petersen (246 1/2 lbs) Heavyweight
Bia Mesquita (136 lbs) vs. Irina Alekseeva (135 1/2 lbs) Women’s Bantamweight
Lucas Rocha (126 lbs) vs. Stewart Nicoll (126 lbs) Flyweight
Julia Polastri (116 lbs) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (116 lbs) Strawweight
Luan Lacerda (136 lbs) vs. Saimon Oliveira (144 lbs) Catchweight- Oliveira exceeded weight by 8 lbs and cedes 50 percent of wages to Lacerda.
