Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to pay-per-view with
UFC
281, which features two titles on the line.
Both championship bouts are now official after middleweight
champion Israel
Adesanya and women’s strawweight titleholder Carla
Esparza both made weight alongside their respective
challengers, Alex
Pereira and Weili
Zhang. The undercard wasn’t nearly as professional as Ryan Spann
missed the light heavyweight limit by .6 pounds and Michael
Trizano was 1.6 pounds over the featherweight limit.
Advertisement
While Adesanya (23-1) has been a dominant champ with his only mixed
martial arts defeat coming at light heavyweight against
then-champion Jan
Blachowicz, he was previously knocked out by Pereira (6-1) in
kickboxing. The hard-hitting Brazilian will look to repeat this
feat on Saturday and officially weighed in at 184.6 pounds.
Meanwhile, Adesanya weighed 185 pounds on the dot.
Meanwhile, Esparza (19-6) is the underdog in the first title
defense of her second reign as strawweight champion. “Cookie
Monster” won the belt back after a dull fight against Rose
Namajunas, which saw neither fighter want to engage. Challenger
and former champ Zhang (22-3) will make sure there’s more action as
the Chinese fighter always comes forward. Esparza and Weili both
weighed 114.8 pounds.
UFC 281’s main card will air live on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m.
ET/7 p.m. PT. Prelims begin at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on ESPN+ and UFC
Fight Pass before moving to ESPN+ and ESPNEWS at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m.
PT.
Order UFC 281 “Adesanya vs. Pereira” exclusively on ESPN+
UFC 281 Weigh-in Results:
Israel
Adesanya (185) vs. Alex
Pereira (184.6)
Carla
Esparza (114.8) vs. Weili
Zhang (114.8)
Michael
Chandler (155.8) vs. Dustin
Poirier (156)
Frankie
Edgar (135.6) vs. Chris
Gutierrez (136)
Dan
Hooker (155.8) vs. Claudio
Puelles (155.2)
Renato
Carneiro (155.8) vs. Brad
Riddell (155.6)
Dominick
Reyes (205.4) vs. Ryan Spann
(206.6)*
Erin
Blanchfield (125) vs. Molly
McCann (125.4)
Andre
Petroski (185.8) vs. Wellington
Turman (185.2)
Ottman
Azaitar (155.6) vs. Matt
Frevola (154.8)
Silvana
Gomez Juarez (115.6) vs. Karolina
Kowalkiewicz (115.6)
Seung Woo
Choi (145.6) vs. Michael
Trizano (147.6)**
Julio
Arce (135.8) vs. Montel
Jackson (135.8)
Nicolae
Negumereanu (206) vs. Carlos
Ulberg (205.2)
*Spann missed weight by .6 pounds.
**Trizano missed weight by 1.6 pounds.