The official weigh-ins for UFC on ESPN 50 are in the books, and one fighter missed his mark in “Music City.”
In the main event, Cory Sandhagen (16-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) takes on Rob Font (20-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) in a crucial bantamweight bout. Sandhagen and Font were the first two fighters to the scale in the two-hour window and hit their marks without issue. In this case, the number had to be 140 pounds or less and not 136 or less for a bantamweight non-title fight because Font took the bout on short notice. Font was 139; Sandhagen was 139.5 to make the headliner official.
Just one fighter missed weight, and it’d be hard to not feel a little empathy. Dennis Buzukja (11-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) took his fight with Sean Woodson (9-1-1 MMA, 3-1-1 UFC) on just a few days notice and got all the way down to 146.5 on the scale with a few minutes left in the session. But even though Buzukja could have gotten an extra hour to shed the final half-pound, the Tennessee commission reportedly shut him down from cutting further. One of Buzukja’s teammates, UFC fighter Matt Frevola, said on Twitter it was the hardest weight cut he’d ever seen.
21 pounds in 3 days. Unbelievable sacrifice and determination to get all the way down to 146.5 in such a short time frame. Toughest cut I’ve ever seen. Proud of you @DennisBuzukja now let’s fucking scrap. pic.twitter.com/39eNEnwrph
— Matt “The Steamrolla”Frevola (@SteamRollaa) August 4, 2023
The weigh-ins took place at the UFC host hotel. The nearby Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., hosts Saturday’s event, which airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN 50 weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET)
- Cory Sandhagen (139.5) vs. Rob Font (139) – 140-pound contract weight
- Jessica Andrade (115.5) vs. Tatiana Suarez (115.5)
- Dustin Jacoby (205) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (205)
- Diego Lopes (145.5) vs. Gavin Tucker (145)
- Tanner Boser (204.5) vs. Aleksa Camur (204)
- Ignacio Bahamondes (156) vs. Ludovit Klein (156)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
- Raoni Barcelos (135.5) vs. Kyler Phillips (135)
- Carlston Harris (170) vs. Jeremiah Wells (170.5)
- Damon Jackson (145.5) vs. Billy Quarantillo (145)
- Cody Durden (125.5) vs. Jake Hadley (126)
- Dennis Buzukja (146.5)* vs. Sean Woodson (146)
- Asu Almabaev (125.5) vs. Ode Osbourne (125.5)
*Buzukja missed the featherweight limit and will forfeit 20 percent of his purse to Woodson.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.