Charles Oliveira, a former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, has reached 154,5 pounds and is on his way to UFC 280 to reclaim the UFC lightweight title. The ceremonial weigh-in was held in Abu Dhabi on Friday, where his opponent Islam Makhachev appeared to have weighed the same.
Wasting no time, @MakhachevMMA is also in at 154.5 pounds ⚖️
[ #UFC280 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/nzONUJu44K ] pic.twitter.com/tWIC39CKVK
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2022
Makhachev aspires to win the UFC lightweight title, which was previously held by his close friend Khabib Nurmagomedov. Following Nurmagomedov’s retirement in 2020, the Brazilian defeated Michael Chandler to claim the title in May 2021. Oliveira successfully defended his belt in December after beating Dustin Poirier.
However, Oliveira’s UFC title was pulled in May of his performance at UFC 274 in Phoenix after his weight dropped by 0,5 pounds in the main event against his opponent at the time, Justin Gaethje. After the title’s removal, some fighters criticized the difference between the official scale and the hotel scale.
The Yans run into @MakhachevMMA & @TeamKhabib backstage at the #UFC280 ceremonials 🎥 pic.twitter.com/WaNGyVFw76
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2022
UFC 280 ceremonial weigh-in
Out of the 24 fighters competing at UFC 280, only flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian reportedly failed to pass the weight. With 127,5 pounds, Chookagian is more than 1.5 pounds over the threshold. Besides that, due to Zubaira Tukhugov’s medical issues, a featherweight bout between Tukhugov and Lucas Almeida was canceled.
The Dana view of that @CharlesDoBronxs – @MakhachevMMA face off 🎥
[ #UFC280 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/nzONUJMdiS ] pic.twitter.com/HWIYiCl4aJ
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2022
During the UFC 280 ceremonial weigh-in, Oliveira sent a strong message to his rival, Makhachev, declaring that “the lion of the lightweights is still roaring.”
According to mmafighting.com, Makhachev is a favorite for the fight after winning 10 straight fights and losing only once as a professional.
“Abu Dhabi, give some noise. We do this tomorrow night inshallah,” Makhachev said.
In an interview with The Independent, commentator and former UFC title challenger Dan Hardy discussed the upcoming lightweight championship.
“When the fight was first talked about, then when it was first matched, my initial thought was that it’s a little too soon for Makhachev against someone with Oliveira’s skillset – and most likely Oliveira is gonna catch him in the first round or early in the second with some kind of neck attack,” Hardy commented.
He also said that he spent “over a week researching,” therefore, he expected the results would be close to his predictions.
“I’m closer to 50/50 than I ever thought I would be, because the times we’ve seen Oliveira struggle have been the times when he’s had a really good first round and run out of gas,” he added.
Hardy also expected Oliveira to seize the initiative and make Makhachev uncomfortable in the first round.
UFC bantamweight event
Both the champion Aljamain Sterling and his opponent TJ Dillashaw weighed in at 135 pounds, making this Sterling’s second defense of the UFC bantamweight belt.
With a weight of 135 pounds for @TJDillashaw, the BW title is 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 on the line 🏆
[ #UFC280 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/nzONUJMdiS ] pic.twitter.com/QF6g5o2s1B
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2022
Sterling has also asserted that he is confident to win the fight against Dillashaw.
“Abu Dhabi thank you guys for coming out. This is a stacked card and you guys are in for a great show. I’d like to thank everybody on this card for being great needle movers for this event,” he said.
As the fight is scheduled today, Sterling has “guaranteed” that he would ace it.
“Tomorrow night you guys are in for a good show. I’m […] going to beat the piss pound sh*t out of him. Guaranteed,” he said.
The main event also included a backup, UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski, who weighed 155 pounds.