Check out video highlights and an exclusive photo gallery from the UFC on ESPN 33 official weigh-ins.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The official weigh-ins are in the books for UFC on ESPN 33.
In the main event, Curtis Blaydes (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) takes on Chris Daukaus (12-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at heavyweight. In the co-feature, Alexa Grasso (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) meets Joanne Wood (15-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC) in a women’s strawweight bout.
Check out the highlights from the official weigh-ins in the video above and a photo gallery from the weigh-ins below.
UFC on ESPN 33 takes place Saturday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
The main event for the UFC’s long-awaited return to Ohio is set for Curtis Blaydes and Chris Daukaus.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The main event for the UFC’s long-awaited return to Ohio is set.
Heavyweights [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) and [autotag]Chris Daukaus[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) stepped on the scale Friday at the official weigh-ins for UFC on ESPN 33 in Columbus to make their headliner official.
Blaydes weighed in at 259 pounds about 30 minutes into the two-hour weigh-ins window. He’s fighting in his fourth main event in five fights. Daukaus was 243 a few minutes earlier.
Check out their trips to the scale at the UFC’s host hotel in downtown Columbus in the video above.
UFC on ESPN 33 takes place Saturday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
Check out the results from the official UFC on ESPN 33 fighter weigh-ins.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Friday’s official UFC on ESPN 33 fighter weigh-ins, which kick off at 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. PT).
The early weigh-ins take place at the UFC host hotel in Columbus, Ohio, and precede the ceremonial weigh-ins for the fans, which take place at 4 p.m. ET at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The same venue hosts Saturday’s event, which airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
Among those weighing in are Curtis Blaydes (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) and Chris Daukaus (12-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC), who meet in the heavyweight main event, and Alexa Grasso (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Joanne Wood (15-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC), who fight in the women’s flyweight co-feature.
Nearing 42, Matt Brown still checks off all the boxes he needs in order to remain competing.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – [autotag]Matt Brown[/autotag] is one of the oldest, longest-tenured fighters on the roster, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the end is nearing.
At UFC on ESPN 33, Brown (23-18 MMA, 16-12 UFC) will make his 29th walk to the promotion’s cage and will do so in front of a hometown crowd. Some athletes might be engulfed by the circumstances, but it’s just another night of work for Brown.
“It’s just another night, man,” Brown told MMA Junkie at a news conference. “There’s an area and a cage, and a guy inside there that wants to mess me up. That’s where my focus is, man, is inside that cage, what happens inside there. Me being ready to go and all the other stuff doesn’t matter, but it will be nice after the fight. My kids will be right here with me and all my friends and family, so after the fight is where it really kicks in and it’s cool.”
Brown, 41, told MMA Junkie earlier this week he hopes to sign an eight-fight deal with the promotion after he fights out his contract Saturday at Nationwide Arena. That isn’t an exaggeration. For Brown, there are only two reasons he’d stop fighting – and neither of them have happened yet. His health is good and his life is comfortably maintained.
“I plan on going until the wheels fall off, man,” Brown said. “Outside of my brain, I’ve got to keep my brain intact, but it’s been healthy so far. I do the Cleveland Clinic study. I’m sure you guys all know about it. My scores have improved over time, actually, which is crazy. As long as my brain is in tact, man, I can just keep going. Who knows? I take it one fight at a time. That all could change next week. I could be like, ‘You know what? Screw this.’ I think me and Ken (Hathaway) were just talking about this the other day. It’s not the fighting that’s hard. I could do this another 20 years, man. It’s the life. Life itself gets in the way. If there is too much life going on, then it gets in the way of fighting. In terms of just being motivated, disciplined, and enjoying and loving fighting, I could do it basically until I die, I think.”
Fight fans have already dubbed his bout against Bryan Barberena (16-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) a likely frontrunner for the “Fight of the Night” bonus award. That’s not Brown’s goal though. He wants to dominate.
“For me, I think there’s a very good likelihood that I just go in there and make him look bad,” Brown said. “That’s what I plan on doing and that’s what I’m looking for. I’m not really looking for ‘Fight of the Night,’ I’m looking to showcase myself.”
Check out Brown’s full UFC on ESPN 33 pre-fight news conference above, and check out MMA Junkie’s exclusive hour-long documentary on him, entitled “In Pursuit of Immortality,” below.
What better time for Matt Brown to reflect on his incredible career path than before a hometown fight at UFC Columbus.
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio – For the past 14 years, “The Immortal” [autotag]Matt Brown[/autotag] has wowed UFC fans with his penchant for violence. The fact that his 12 knockouts in UFC fights are tied for the most in company history proves that. But if it had been up to his family, he would’ve gone down a different path.
Brown grew up in the small town of Bowersville, Ohio, in an “uber-conservative” family and with a father he described as “borderline abusive.” Brown was supposed to be a machinist and take over his father’s shop some day. And while he loved to build, he knew from a young age that he was meant for something greater.
Enter mixed martial arts, which changed his life forever.
“When I started and I walked into that gym, I said, ‘This is what I’m going to do until the day I die’ – period,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “This is what I love. I tell everybody I married this sport. And I’m a committed husband. I’m going to die on the mats one day. There’s nothing else I really want to do.”
When he started fighting professionally in 2005, Brown never could’ve dreamed of making it big on the simple notion that nobody knew if the UFC would even survive at that time. Still, he was hooked on MMA regardless.
“I knew I was a committed martial artist for life, and there wasn’t anything else that I wanted to do with my life,” Brown said.
Now 41 and before a hometown fight with Bryan Barberena at UFC Columbus, it’s the perfect time and place to reflect and look ahead.
In the video feature above, Brown opens up about his humble beginnings in MMA, how drugs and alcohol could’ve ruined his life, his undying love for the sport, how much longer he can fight, being a good father to his kids, UFC Hall of Famer’s Mark Coleman’s influence, and much more.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 33 event in Ohio.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 33 event in Ohio.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC on ESPN 33 main card staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC on ESPN 33 takes place Saturday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
Tucker Lutz needs a new opponent for UFC Columbus.
[autotag]Tucker Lutz[/autotag] needs a new opponent for UFC Columbus.
Due to an undisclosed injury, [autotag]Seungwoo Choi[/autotag] is out of his matchup with Lutz at UFC on ESPN 33, which takes place March 26 at Nationwide Arena. The main card airs on ESPN after prelims on ESPN+. The promotion is currently seeking a replacement.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup informed MMA Junkie of the withdrawal but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
After defeating Kevin Aguilar in his promotional debut at UFC 262, Lutz (12-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) saw his 12-fight winning streak snapped at the hands of Pat Sabatini this past November at UFC Fight Night 198.
Choi (10-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) had also seen his winning streak snapped in his past outing when he was submitted by veteran Alex Caceres in October. Prior to that defeat, Choi picked up three straight wins over Suman Mokhtarian, Youssef Zalal, and Julian Erosa.
After losing out on a big opportunity, Manon Fiorot got an even better one.
After losing out on a big opportunity, [autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag] got an even better one.
Fiorot (8-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was originally scheduled to face Jessica Eye in Saturday’s UFC 272 event, but the bout was scrapped after Eye withdrew due to injury.
But it didn’t take long for Fiorot to get booked again as she will now be taking on another former title challenger in [autotag]Jennifer Maia[/autotag] (19-8-1 MMA, 4-4 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 33, which takes place March 26 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Two people with knowledge of the booking confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie on Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Unbeaten in the UFC, France’s Fiorot went the distance for the first time in the octagon when she defeated Mayra Bueno Silva via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 195 in October. Prior to that, the former UAE Warriors flyweight champion had finished her past five opponents.
Currently ranked No. 4 in the UFC’s flyweight rankings, former title challenger Maia has split her past six fights. After defeating Eye at UFC 264, the 33-year-old former Invicta FC champ suffered a decision loss to Katlyn Chookagian in January.
With the addition, the current UFC Columbus lineup includes:
The matchup between Amanda Ribas and Michelle Waterson was scrapped from UFC on ESPN 33 after an injury to Waterson,
The matchup between [autotag]Amanda Ribas[/autotag] and [autotag]Michelle Waterson[/autotag] has a new date.
Originally scheduled to take place March 26 at UFC on ESPN 33, the bout was scrapped after Waterson was forced to withdraw because of an injury. The bout now has been rescheduled for UFC 274 on May 7 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the news to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Ag Fight was first to report the news of Ribas vs. Waterson being scrapped; MMA Fighting later reported news of the rebooking.
This marks the second time that Waterson (18-9 MMA, 6-5 UFC) has withdrawn from a fight against Ribas (11-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC). The pair were scheduled to face off at UFC 257, but Waterson pulled out due to undisclosed reasons. Ribas ended up facing Marina Rodriguez instead and losing by second-round knockout. But the 28-year-old was able to rebound from her first octagon setback by defeating Virna Jandiroba this past October at UFC 267.
