Rafael Alves comes in 11.5 pounds heavy for all-time UFC weight miss; fight scrapped

This is not the first impression you want to make ahead of your UFC debut.

On Friday, Rafael Alves came in 11.5 pounds over the featherweight limit for his first promotional fight against Patrick Sabatini on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 185. Alves (19-9 MMA, 0-0 UFC) weighed in at 157.5 pounds.

As a result of the massive miss, Alves vs. Sabatini was canceled.

Had the bout against Sabatini (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) proceeded, the MMA Masters product would’ve had the biggest weight miss recorded for a UFC fight. Anthony Johnson holds the mark for the biggest weight miss recorded in UFC history. Johnson, a former two-time UFC title challenger and now Bellator light heavyweight, missed weight by 11 pounds for a middleweight fight against Vitor Belfort in 2012. He lost that fight via rear-naked choke in the first round.

Alves, who earned his UFC contract through “Dana White’s Contender Series” last August, wasn’t the only fighter who missed weight on Friday for UFC Fight Night 185. Ketlen Vieira, Jared Gordon and Drako Rodriguez also missed their marks.

Should the Rafael Alves-Pat Sabatini fight stay together (unlikely), it would account for the greatest weight miss in #UFC history. Alves came in at 157.5 pounds for his featherweight fight, or 11.5 pounds heavy. Anthony Johnson held the record of 197 at middleweight (11 lbs).

— Jay Pettry (@jaypettry) February 19, 2021

Below are the full UFC Fight Night 185 weigh-in results:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

• Curtis Blaydes (259) vs. Derrick Lewis (263)
• Yana Kunitskaya (135.5) vs. Ketlen Vieira (138)
• Darrick Minner (146) vs. Charles Rosa (146)
• Chris Daukaus (234) vs. Aleksei Oleinik (240)
• Nassourdine Imavov (185.5) vs. Phil Hawes (185)
• Andrei Arlovski (249.5) vs. Tom Aspinall (244.5)

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)

• Danny Chavez (145) vs. Jared Gordon (150)
• Drakkar Klose (156) vs. Luis Pena (155.5)
• John Castaneda (136) vs. Eddie Wineland (135.5)
• Julian Erosa (145.5) vs. Nate Landwehr (146)
• Rafael Alves (157.5) vs. Patrick Sabatini (145.5)
• Shana Dobson (126) vs. Casey O’Neill (125.5)
• Jamall Emmers (145.5) vs. Chas Skelly (146)
• Drako Rodriguez (140.5) vs. Aiemann Zahabi (136)
• Serghei Spivac (245) vs. Jared Vanderaa (265)