UFC London bout cancelled at last minute despite agreement as fighter misses weight by whopping 8lbs
UFC London’s scheduled opening contest has been dramatically scrapped on the eve of the show.
Melissa Mullins’ women’s bantamweight fight against Luana Carolina was put in jeopardy when the latter missed weight by an astonishing 8lbs on Friday morning.
Mullins, who overcame extreme performance anxiety and a torn retina in her right eye ahead of UFC London, burst into tears when she hit the scales at 136lbs, more than likely knowing what was to come from Carolina.
Carolina then weighed in at 144lbs, 8lbs over the limit, and the fight was thrown into doubt.
The UFC brass may have offered Mullins a percentage of Carolina’s purse to make the fight happen at catchweight, but after roughly an hour had passed, the media were informed that it was off.
“Due to regulatory reasons, that fight has been cancelled,” UFC commentator John Gooden announced at Friday morning’s weigh-in.
Melissa Mullins reacts to cancelled UFC London fight
Mullins has since revealed that she and Carolina agreed to let the fight go on, but the commission decided against it.
“Although I made weight and it was most definitely a harder cut than I expected,” the Coventry fighter explained on Instagram.
“My opponent missed weight by 8lbs officially, and although we agreed to take the fight, the commission used by the UFC is not happy, [and] has pulled the fight from the card!
“All my hard work wasted and the opportunity to fight on my home turf stolen from me.
“To perform on the very best platform [and] take in moments.
“Guys, make some noise please and help me get back out fighting on a card asap.”
Updated UFC London card
Main card
- MAIN EVENT: Movsar Evloev vs Lerone Murphy – Featherweight
- CO-MAIN EVENT: Luke Riley vs Michael Aswell – Featherweight
- Michael Page vs Sam Patterson – Welterweight
- Iwo Baraniewski vs Austen Lane – Light Heavyweight
- Roman Dolidze vs Christian Leroy Duncan – Middleweight
- Kurtis Campbell vs Danny Silva – Featherweight
Prelims
- Mason Jones vs Axel Sola – Lightweight
- Nathaniel Wood vs Losene Keita – Featherweight
- Louie Sutherland vs Brando Pericic – Heavyweight
- Mantas Kondratavicius vs Antonio Trocoli – Middleweight
- Mario Pinto vs Felipe Franco – Heavyweight
- Shem Rock vs Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady – Lightweight
- Shanelle Dyer vs Ravena Oliveira – Women’s Strawweight
All other fighters on the UFC London card made weight, meaning Lerone Murphy’s main event against Movsar Evloev to decide the next featherweight title challenger is official.
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski was expected to make an appearance in London on Saturday evening, but reported visa issues meant the Australian could not travel.
No. 6-ranked UFC featherweight Jean Silva is, however, in London, as is former bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.
Who else made weight ahead of UFC London?
Michael ‘Venom’ Page, who is arguably the biggest name on the card, also successfully made weight, having moved back down to 170lbs after a stint at middleweight.
Page faces former sparring partner and fellow Londoner Sam Patterson on the main card.
Paddy Pimblett‘s teammate Luke Riley was also successful on the scales ahead of his co-main event against Michael Aswell Jr.
Riley is one of three Scousers on the UFC London card, alongside debutant Kurtis Campbell and Shem Rock.
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