A title fight doubleheader set for Saturday night in Las Vegas is official.
The four fighters scheduled to compete in title bouts this weekend at UFC 320 officially weighed in on Friday morning, all hitting under the marks required to officially compete for gold in a little over 24 hours.
The headlining bout of Saturday’s UFC 320 pay-per-view sees Magomed Ankalaev attempt to defend his light heavyweight title for the first time, taking down ex-champ Alex Pereira in a rematch.
Ankalaev’s first win over Pereira back in March ended a dominant run for the Brazilian kickboxer, who tore through the top of the division with four finish wins within 12 months. Seven months after Ankalaev went the distance to sneak by Pereira in a competitive and close title fight, oddsmakers see him as a slight favorite heading into the bout.
UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili will try to continue what has been an active and excellent year when he faces Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event.
Dvalishvili overcame undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov and ex-champ Sean O’Malley earlier this year, a pair of impressive appearances that have made him the clear top name at 135 pounds. If he could earn a third championship victory within a year on Saturday, it would be hard to imagine him not being considered one of the strongest contenders for a “Fighter of the Year” award.
He’ll try to continue his success against Sandhagan, who, despite his significant success in the division over the years, enters this weekend as a +300 underdog.
The sole issue during Friday’s weigh-ins saw Macy Chiasson miss the non-championship bantamweight limit by one-and-a-half pounds for her early prelim fight against Yana Santos. She’ll give up 25 percent of her fight purse to Santos due to the error.
Here are the full weigh-in results from Saturday evening. Among others in the undercard are: Fan-favorite light heavyweights Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree Jr., 23-year-old middleweight prospect Ateba Gautier, undefeated Korean featherweight Yoo Sang-joo, plus a clash between former Bellator champ Patchy Mix and ex-KSW champ turned UFC newcomer Jakub Wiklacz.
Main Card
- Magomed Ankalaev (204.5) vs. Alex Pereira (204.5) (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
- Merab Dvalishvili (135) vs. Cory Sandhagen (134.5) (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
- Jiri Prochazka (206) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (205) (Light Heavyweight)
- Josh Emmett (146) vs. Youssef Zalal (146) (Featherweight)
- Abus Magomedov (185.5) vs. Joe Pyfer (186) (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card
- Ateba Gautier (186) vs. Treston Vines (185) (Middleweight)
- Edmen Shahbazyan (185.5) vs. Andre Muniz (185.5) (Middleweight)
- Chris Gutierrez (136) vs. Farid Basharat (136) (Bantamweight)
- Daniel Santos (151) vs. Yoo Joo-sang (152.5) (Catchweight 153 lbs)
Early Prelims
- Macy Chiasson (137.5) vs. Yana Santos (135) (Bantamweight)
- Patchy Mix (136) vs. Jakub Wiklacz (136) (Bantamweight)
- Punahele Soriano (170.5) vs. Nikolay Veretennikov (170.5) (Welterweight)
- Ramiz Brahimaj (170.5) vs. Austin Vanderford (170.5) (Welterweight)
- Veronica Hardy (125.5) vs. Brogan Walker (124.5) (Flyweight)
POST Wrestling will have full coverage of UFC 320 on the site tomorrow, as well as a recap podcast uploaded to the Café on Sunday afternoon.
