The stage is set for a fiery rematch, but one fighter's controversial weigh-in has thrown a wrench into the UFC 325 fight card!
Get ready, fight fans, because the highly anticipated rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes is just around the corner at UFC 325! Both titans of the featherweight division successfully made weight for their championship main event clash, with Volkanovski tipping the scales at 144.5 pounds and Lopes at a perfect 145 pounds. This means the featherweight belt is on the line, and these two are ready to go toe-to-toe!
Remember, Volkanovski claimed the vacant featherweight title from Lopes back at UFC 314 in April via a decisive unanimous decision. Since then, "The Great" has been a two-time featherweight champion. Lopes, however, didn't stay down for long. He bounced back in September with a stunning knockout victory over Jean Silva, proving he's still a major force in the division and earning this second shot at Volkanovski. It's worth noting that Volkanovski hasn't stepped back into the Octagon since their first encounter.
In the co-main event, lightweight contenders Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint Denis are also good to go. They both utilized the one-pound allowance for non-title fights, with each fighter weighing in at 155.75 pounds.
But here's where it gets controversial...
Out of the 28 fighters scheduled to compete, Aaron Tau was the only one to miss weight, and his situation was certainly unusual and costly. As the final fighter to weigh in, Tau arrived nearly 90 minutes into the official window. In a peculiar turn of events, he appeared to use a box for concealment during his weigh-in, and the commission seemed to have some difficulty registering a weight for several minutes. Surprisingly, Tau initially came in at 122.5 pounds, significantly under the flyweight limit. This immediately sparked suspicion, and after dressing, he was asked to weigh in again. This time, he registered 129 pounds – a jump of 6.5 pounds! This meant he went from being 3.5 pounds under to 3 pounds over the non-title flyweight limit.
And this is the part most people miss...
Following this perplexing weigh-in, it was officially announced that Tau's Road to UFC tournament final bout against Namsrai Batbayar has been cancelled. On the broadcast, analysts Chris Weidman and RJ Clifford speculated whether Tau might have been subtly touching the sides of the curtain with his elbows while flexing behind the box, potentially influencing the initial reading. What do you think? Was this a genuine mistake, or was there something more at play?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Do you believe the commission handled the situation correctly?
Here are the full UFC 325 weigh-in results:
Main Card (Paramount+ at 9 p.m. ET)
- Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Diego Lopes (145)
- Dan Hooker (155.75) vs. Benoit Saint Denis (155.75)
- Rafael Fiziev (155.5) vs. Mauricio Ruffy (155.25)
- Tai Tuivasa (265.5) vs. Tallison Teixeira (259)
- Quillan Salkilld (155.5) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (155.5)
Preliminaries (Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET)
- Junior Tafa (205.25) vs. Billy Elekana (204)
- Cameron Rowston (184.5) vs. Cody Brundage (184.75)
- Jacob Malkoun (185.75) vs. Torrez Finney (185.75)
- Jonathan Micallef (170.5) vs. Oban Elliott (169.75)
Early Prelims (Paramount+ at 5 p.m. ET)
- Kaan Ofli (145.25) vs. Yizha (145.5)
- Sangwook Kim (155.75) vs. Dom Mar Fan (154.75) — Road to UFC Lightweight Final
- Keiichiro Nakamura (145.25) vs. Sebastian Szalay (145.75) — Road to UFC Featherweight Final
- Sulangrangbo (135.75) vs. Lawrence Lui (135.25) — Road to UFC Bantamweight Final
- Aaron Tau (129)* vs. Namsrai Batbayar (126) — Road to UFC Flyweight Final (Tau missed weight. His tournament final bout against Namsrai Batbayar has been cancelled)
