All but one of the UFC 203 competitors made weight on Friday morning, and everyone on the main card came in on the mark.
The most anticipated was CM Punk. The former WWE Superstar has had a treasure trove of questions surrounding him prior to his first MMA bout, not the least of which was if he could make weight. He answered that promptly, as he was the fourth fighter in line and hit the 170-pound mark on the button, as captured by Fox Sports' Damon Martin:
Here's the full CM Punk weigh in for those curious #UFC203 pic.twitter.com/iqHgEUeYLM
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) September 9, 2016
Stipe Miocic came in at 246 pounds for his first title defense. Miocic won the title over Fabricio Werdum earlier in 2016 and defends against Alistair Overeem (248.5) in the main event. Miocic, a son of Cleveland, gets to perform in the friendly confines of Quicken Loans Arena for the defense. Overeem was the final man on the scale, but was well within the heavyweight limit.
The drama, if it could be called that, was that Overeem was late to the scale. He was stuck waiting on an elevator. The Ohio Athletic Commission fined him $500 for being late, per Martin:
Bernie Profato says Alistair Overeem has been fined $500 for being late to the weigh-ins. It goes to Ohio#UFC203
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) September 9, 2016
Werdum is also on the card. He came in at 239.5 pounds for his co-main event fight against Travis Browne (241.0).
Other notable fighters on the card are Urijah Faber (136), Jessica Eye (135) and Joanne Calderwood (116). Each veteran has a stiff challenge in Jimmie Rivera (135.5), Bethe Correia (135.0) and Jessica Andrade (115.5), respectively.
The lone fighter who failed to make weight was Michael McBride (158). By being overweight he forfeited 20 percent of his purse directly to his opponent, Nik Lentz, according to MMAjunkie's John Morgan:
McBride loses 20 percent of his show purse, which goes straight to his opponent.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) September 9, 2016
Free diaper money !! ???? #UFC #ufc203 #CarnyKungFu !!
— Nik Lentz (@NikLentz) September 9, 2016
The fighters will return to The Q in the afternoon for the official weigh-in show where they will stare down their opponents. The staging of the scale is merely there for show as fighters are free to begin rehydrating after the morning weigh-ins.
UFC 203 is official and ready to go down from the home of the 2015-16 NBA champions. The atmosphere should be rocking with the hometown champion leading the charge, and Bleacher Report will be on site chronicling the entire show.
The evening weigh-in show will begin at 6 p.m. ET.
UFC Weigh-In Results
- Stipe Miocic (246) vs. Alistair Overeem (248.5)
- Fabricio Werdum (239.5) vs. Travis Browne (241)
- CM Punk (170) vs. Mickey Gall (170.5)
- Urijah Faber (136) vs. Jimmie Rivera (135.5)
- Joanne Calderwood (116) vs. Jessica Andrade (115.5)
- Jessica Eye (135) vs. Bethe Correia (135)
- Nik Lentz (156) vs. Michael McBride (158)
- Brad Tavares (186) vs. Caio Magalhaes (185.5)
- Francimar Barroso (205.5) vs. CB Dollaway (205)
- Yancy Medeiros (171) vs. Sean Spencer (170)
- Jason Gonzalez (156) vs. Drew Dober (155)
