UFC 251 weigh-in results: All six title fighters hit their marks in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI – MMA Junkie was on scene and reporting live from Friday’s early and official UFC 251 fighter weigh-ins, where all but two fighters hit their marks for Saturday’s card.

In the main event, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC) takes on short-notice challenger Jorge Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC). Usman weighed in first and was 170 pounds on the nose. Masvidal was 170, as well, much deeper into the weigh-ins window.

Featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski (21-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC) takes on former champ Max Holloway (21-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) in the co-feature. It’s Volkanovski’s first title defense after taking the belt from Holloway this past December. Holloway came in at 145 pounds early in the weigh-in window. Volkanovski was right on the title-bout number at 145.

And in a third title fight on the main card, Petr Yan (14-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) meets former featherweight champ Jose Aldo (28-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) for the vacant bantamweight title. Aldo is dropping down to 135 pounds for the first time and hit that number on the button – though he had to do it stripped down. Yan was 135, as well, to make their title fight official.

Two fighters on the preliminary card missed weight. Raulian Paiva (19-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) was 129 pounds for his flyweight bout against Zhalgas Zhumagulov (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who was 126. Paiva will be fined 20 percent of his purse, which goes to Zhumagulov.

And Vanessa Melo (10-7 MMA, 0-2 UFC) was the last fighter to weigh in during the two-hour window. She came in at 141 pounds for her bantamweight fight against Karol Rosa (12-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who was on target at 136. Melo will give up 30 percent of her purse to Rosa.

The early weigh-ins took place at the Flash Forum in at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. UFC 251 takes place Saturday at the same venue. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN/ESPNT and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

The full UFC 251 weigh-in results included:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Kamaru Usman (170) vs. Jorge Masvidal (170) – for welterweight title
• Champ Alexander Volkanovski (145) vs. Max Holloway (145) – for featherweight title
• Petr Yan (135) vs. Jose Aldo (135) – for vacant bantamweight title
• Jessica Andrade (115) vs. Rose Namajunas (116)
• Amanda Ribas (126) vs. Paige VanZant (126)

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)

• Volkan Oezdemir (205.5) vs. Jiri Prochazka (205)
• Muslim Salikhov (171) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171)
• Makwan Amirkhani (146) vs. Danny Henry (146)
• Roman Bogatov (155.5) vs. Leonardo Santos (156)

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)

• Maxim Grishin (223) vs. Marcin Tybura (252)
• Raulian Paiva (129)* vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (126)
• Vanessa Melo (141)** vs. Karol Rosa (136)
• Martin Day (136) vs. Davey Grant (136)

*Paiva missed the flyweight limit and will surrender 20 percent of his purse to Zhumagulov.
**Melo missed the women’s bantamweight limit and will surrender 30 percent of her purse to Rosa.