Israel
Adesanya weighed in with a box of pizza in hand and still came
in well below the light heavyweight limit for his title fight.
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship is kicking off March with its
most stacked pay-per-view offering of 2021 so far. The event, which
features three title fights, will be capped off by middleweight
champion Israel
Adesanya moving up a division to challenge the newly crowned
light heavyweight titleholder Jan
Blachowicz. The 15-fight
UFC 259 card also features two additional title fights as
Amanda
Nunes will put her featherweight title on the line against
Megan
Anderson, while bantamweight champ Petr Yan will
look to stop the surging Aljamain
Sterling. None of the fighters in any of these bouts had any
issue making weight.
Blachowicz (27-8) has been highly impressive since getting knocked
out by Thiago
Santos in 2019. Wins over Luke
Rockhold, Ronaldo
Souza and Corey
Anderson led to the Polish fighter earning a crack at the
vacant light heavyweight strap opposite Dominick
Reyes. Blachowicz put on a dominant performance over two rounds
to take home the belt, and will look to cement his reign with his
first title defense. The Polish champ officially weighed 205
pounds.
Adesanya (20-0) has yet to taste defeat in his professional mixed
martial arts career, and will look to keep his undefeated record
intact by becoming a champion in two weight divisions. Adesanya
claimed the interim middleweight title against Kelvin
Gastelum in 2019, and promptly followed that up by knocking out
Robert
Whittaker in a unification bout. Since his undisputed reign
began, Adesanya won a decision over Yoel Romero
and knocked out Paulo
Costa. “The Last Stylebender” had no issue making weight,
stepping on the scales at a lean 200.5 pounds, and posed with a
pizza box afterward.
Women’s bantamweight and featherweight queen Nunes (20-4) will look
to extend her 11-fight win streak against Anderson (11-4). This is
Nunes’ second straight title defense of her featherweight belt, as
she most recently won a lopsided decision over Felicia
Spencer. Meanwhile, Anderson earned the title shot after
submitting Zarah
Fairn dos Santos and knocking out Norma
Dumont. The double champion had no trouble making the
championship fight official as she weighed 145 pounds, while the
challenger weighed 144.5 pounds.
Wrapping up the championship tripleheader is Yan (15-1) making his
first defense since winning the vacant bantamweight throne by
stopping Jose Aldo. In
his way is Sterling (19-3), who is riding an impressive five-fight
win streak that includes a quick submission win over Cory
Sandhagen. The Russian officially weighed 135 pounds, while the
“Funk Master” came in at 134.5 pounds.
Undefeated flyweight contender Askar
Askarov failed to make the 126-pound limit for his bout against
Joseph
Benavidez. “Bullet” came in a pound overweight, stepping on the
scales at 127 pounds. Despite being given additional time to cut,
Askarov (12-0-1) opted against it and will be fined 20 percent of
his purse as a result. Finally, Glover
Teixeira weighed in as an alternate in case the event loses
Blachowicz or Adesanya unexpectedly, tipping the scales at a
championship weight of 204.5 pounds.
UFC 259’s main card will air exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view
starting at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Prior to that, four featured
preliminary bouts will air simultaneously on ESPN+ and ESPN
starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Six early prelims will start off
the night, showing on ESPN2, ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass beginning at
5:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. PT.
UFC 259 Weigh-in Results:
Jan
Blachowicz (205) vs. Israel
Adesanya (200.5)
Amanda
Nunes (145) vs. Megan
Anderson (144.5)
Petr
Yan (135) vs. Aljamain
Sterling (134.5)
Islam
Makhachev (156) vs. Drew Dober
(156)
Thiago
Santos (206) vs. Aleksandar
Rakic (206)
Dominick
Cruz (136) vs. Casey
Kenney (136)
Yadong
Song (135.5) vs. Kyler
Phillips (136)
Joseph
Benavidez (125.5) vs. Askar
Askarov (127)*
Rogerio
Bontorin (126) vs. Kai Kara
France (125.5)
Tim
Elliott (125.5) vs. Jordan
Espinosa (126)
Kennedy
Nzechukwu (205.5) vs. Carlos
Ulberg (205)
Sean
Brady (170.5) vs. Jake
Matthews (169.5)
Livinha
Souza (116) vs. Amanda
Lemos (116)
Uros
Medic (156) vs. Aalon Cruz
(155)
Mario
Bautista (135.5) vs. Trevin
Jones (134.5)
Glover
Teixeira (204.5)
* Askarov missed weight by one pound and has been fined 20
percent of his purse.