Tagir Ulanbekov made the wrong kind of statement on the scale.
Ahead of a card filled with flyweight competitors looking to impress, Ulanbekov was the lone 125-pounder to miss the mark at Friday’s official morning weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 93. Ulanbekov came in at 129.5 pounds, 3.5 pounds over the limit (including the one-pound allowance for non-title fights).
Shortly after the conclusion of weigh-ins, UFC announced that Ulanbekov’s bout with Joshua Van has been cancelled as a result of Ulanbekov’s miss.
Flyweight headliners Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira — No. 12 and No. 13 respectively in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings — were the first fighters to weigh in and both successfully made weight without issue.
With the exception of Ulanbekov, all fighters competing Saturday at UFC APEX made weight, including bantamweights Douglas Silva de Andrade (136) and Miles Johns (135), who were moved to the penultimate bout of the evening after a late card shakeup. Ikram Aliskerov was originally scheduled to fight Antonio Trocoli in the co-main event, but Aliskerov has been moved to next Saturday’s UFC Saudi Arabia main event to fight Robert Whittaker as a replacement for Khamzat Chimaev.
See official UFC Vegas 93 weigh-in results below.
Main Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET)
Alex Perez (126) vs. Tatsuro Taira (126)
Douglas Silva de Andrade (136) vs. Miles Johns (135)
Timmy Cuamba (145) vs. Lucas Almeida (146)
Brady Hiestand (135) vs. Garrett Armfield (135.5)
Asu Almabayev (125.5) vs. Jose Johnson (126)
Josh Quinlan (169.5) vs. Adam Fugitt (170)
Preliminary Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)
Tagir Ulanbekov (129.5)* vs. Joshua Van (125.5) — cancelled
Jimmy Flick (126) vs. Nate Maness (125.5)
Carli Judice (125.5) vs. Gabriella Fernandes (126)
Jeka Saragih (145) vs. Westin Wilson (146)
Melquizael Costa (145) vs. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (145.5)
Josefine Knutsson (114.5) vs. Julia Polastri (116)
*Ulanbekov missed weight. His bout with Joshua Van has been cancelled