Six months after losing his lightweight title on the scales, UFC superstar Charles Oliveira has successfully made weight for his title bout at UFC 280 with Islam Makhachev – and delivered a serious warning.
Oliveira (33-8 MMA, 21-8 UFC) came in over the limit at UFC 274 in May for what would have been his second title defence, forcing him to vacate the title. He beat Justin Gaethje, and now looks to regain the strap against Makhachev (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC).
And after stepping off the scales, the Brazilian Oliveira declared: “I will kill this guy.”
Australian Alexander Volkanovski flew to Abu Dhabi as a back-up in case one of the contenders was unable to fight, but the pair both weighed in on the limit at 154.5 pounds.
But he revealed that one of the contenders had been struggling to make weight, with his team called up ‘late last night’ to check that Volkanovski was himself going to make weight (he did, at 154 pounds).
“Well, without giving too much away, we were asked pretty late last night: ‘How’s Alex doing?’” Volkanovski said. “So obviously someone was struggling a bit. But I was asleep when that happened, I heard about it this morning. But, all good.”
Speaking with The Mac Life later, Volkanovski added: “I’m pretty sure one of them – I think it’s pretty obvious who it was – might have been struggling.
“Looked like it, anyway. And we were checked up on, making sure everything was good on our end. And I’m sure they did that because there’s a chance somebody’s not making the weight. They wouldn’t check up on us for nothing, so someone was struggling.”
His reference to it being ‘pretty obvious’ who was struggling points towards Makhachev, who looked tired and worn on the scales.
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In the co-main event, the war of words continued between UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling and two-time former champion T.J. Dillashaw after their explosive exchanges at Friday’s press conference.
“I’m f***ing excited to fight in this arena. Come all the way across the world and put on a show. Show the f*** off for you guys and put this motherf***er to sleep,” Dillashaw said after coming in at 135 pounds, the same as his opponent.
“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. Tomorrow night you guys are in for a good show. I’m going to put this motherf***er down and going to beat the piss pound s**t out of him. Guaranteed,” Sterling said.
There was just one fighter out of the 24 on the card who missed weight. Flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian tipped the scales at 127.5 pounds, 1.5 pounds over the limit for a non-title bout. Her main card fight with Manon Fiorot will go ahead at a catchweight.
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FULL WEIGH IN RESULTS
Charles Oliveira (154.5) vs. Islam Makhachev (154.5) – for vacant lightweight title
Aljamain Sterling (135) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (135) – for bantamweight title
Sean O’Malley (135.5) vs. Petr Yan (136)
Beneil Dariush (156) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156)
Katlyn Chookagian (127.5)* vs. Manon Fiorot (125.5) – Chookagian misses weight by 1.5 pounds
PRELIMINARY CARD
Sean Brady (171) vs. Belal Muhammad (170)
Caio Borralho (186) vs. Makhmud Muradov (185.5)
Nikita Krylov (206) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (206)
Abubakar Nurmagomedov (170.5) vs. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (171)
AJ Dobson (185) vs. Armen Petrosyan (186)
Malcolm Gordon (126) vs. Muhammad Mokaev (126)
Lina Lansberg (135) vs. Karol Rosa (135)
Another prelim fight at featherweight between Zubaira Tukhugov and Lucas Almeida was cancelled due to a medical issue for Tukhugov.
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