UFC Fight Night 128: Barboza vs. Lee features two fighters that are trying to rebound from a loss to make their case for a shot at the UFC lightweight championship. They and the remainder of the athletes on the fight card weighed in Friday in Atlantic City, N.J., but Kevin Lee missed the mark.
While Edson Barboza weighed 155.6 pounds, which is within the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight, early in the weigh-in proceedings, Lee took his time coming out to the scale.
Lee stepped on the scale at the end of the two-hour weigh-in window, weighing 157 pounds, which is a full pound over the 156-pound limit, with no time remaining to continue cutting weight. In New Jersey, all fighters must weigh-in within the two-hour window and are not given additional time beyond that window to continue the weight cut.
Though Lee missed the mark, Barboza and his camp agreed to receive 20-percent of Lee’s fight purse to keep the bout intact, as first reported by MMAJunkie.com.
Barboza (19-5), ranked No. 4 in the UFC lightweight division, is coming off of a loss to newly minted lightweight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov in his most recent bout. Had Barboza won that fight, it would likely have been him in the UFC 223 main event, trying to win the belt that was stripped from Conor McGregor’s waist. But like all the others before him, Nurmagomedov dominated the fight and kept his undefeated record intact.
Barboza will try to get back on track when he squares off with Lee in the UFC Fight Night 128 main event, which is now officially a 157-pound catchweight bout.
Lee (16-3) had his championship dreams dashed when he lost to Tony Ferguson in the UFC 216 main event late last year. Like Barboza, he could have earned a shot at the undisputed belt had he defeated Ferguson.
The UFC Fight Night 128 co-main event features another battle between fighters looking to remain relevant in the title picture, only the co-main event features featherweights.
Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson rematch in a 145-pound bout that could easily determine the next top contender to Max Holloway behind No. 1 ranked Brian Ortega. Edgar and Swanson each made weight without issue.
There were a couple of other hiccups, however.
Aspen Ladd failed to make weight for her featured Early Prelim bantamweight bout with Leslie Smith. She stepped on the scale at 137.8 pounds on her first attempt. Although she had time remaining, Ladd did not weigh in a second time. Smith hit the mark at 135.4 pounds. At the time of publication, there was no word yet on whether or not Smith would accept the fight with her overweight opponent.
One preliminary bout was canceled when Magomed Bibulatov had to withdraw from his bout with Ulka Sasaki because of a back injury. The injury and cancellation was first reported by MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani.
UFC Fight Night 128 Weigh-in Results
Main Card (10 p.m. ET on FS1)
-
Edson Barboza (155.6) vs. Kevin Lee (157)*
- Frankie Edgar (145.6) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
- Justin Willis (265.4) vs. Chase Sherman (247)
- David Branch (186) vs. Thiago Santos (185.8)
- Aljamain Sterling (135.2) vs. Brett Johns (135.8)
- Jim Miller (155.4) vs. Dan Hooker (155.6)
Preliminary Card (8 p.m. ET on FS1)
- Ryan LaFlare (170.6) vs. Alex Garcia (171)
- Magomed Bibulatov (—) vs. Ulka Sasaki (—)**
- Siyar Bahadurzada (171) vs. Luan Chagas (170)
- Corey Anderson (205) vs. Patrick Cummins (205.6)
Early Prelims (6:30 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass)
- Leslie Smith (135.4) vs. Aspen Ladd (137.8)***
- Merab Dvalishvili (135.2) vs. Augusto Mendes (135.8)
- Tony Martin (170.6) vs. Keita Nakamura (170.6)
*Kevin Lee weighed missed weight
**Bout canceled because of Magomed Bibulatov back injury
***Aspen Ladd missed weight
Tune in to MMAWeekly.com on Saturday for full UFC Fight Night 128: Barboza vs. Lee live results and fight stats. The first bout is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.
