UFC 315 weigh-in results: Title fights official; Aldo vs. Zahabi bout changed

It was smooth sailing for defending champions Belal Muhammad and Valentina Shevchenko, as well as their respective challengers Jack Della Maddalena and Manon Fiorot, Friday morning at the official weigh-in for UFC 315 presented by Skilled Trades College.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for all athletes set to fight this weekend in Montreal.

A scheduled bantamweight contest between Hall of Famer Jose Aldo and streaking Canadian Aiemann Zahabi was changed to a featherweight bout due to a weight management issue on the Aldo side.

Aldo is a former champion in the 145-pound division, but he has been competing at 135 pounds since 2019. The 38-year-old star from Brazil had never previously missed weight in his UFC career; he technically did not miss weight for UFC 315 because the bout was officially changed to a featherweight contest before he weighed in.

The athletic commission in Quebec would not sanction a catchweight fight with a weight difference exceeding five pounds, so after some brief negotiations with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, Zahabi agreed to compete at featherweight and began rehydrating.

Zahabi explained to Aaron Bronsteter and Patrick Cote during Sportsnet’s UFC 315 Official Weigh-in Show that he was nearly on weight, sitting at 136.8 pounds, when the UFC contacted him to ask that he stop cutting weight because they had been informed Aldo was having issues making weight.

“I don’t want to talk negative about Aldo,” said Zahabi, who admitted he was angry when he first heard the news. “He accepted to fight me in my home city, so I want to show him as much respect as possible.”

Aldo’s official weight was 143 pounds; Zahabi’s was 142.

“It’s a blunder on his end, but I’m going to make more money which is nice, and I don’t want to fight with emotions because I fight the best when everything is just numb for me,” the 37-year-old TriStar Gym product who’ll have his brother Firas and his teammate Georges St-Pierre in his corner added. “I’m going out there to win. I’m going out there to finish him. The fight’s the same. Everything’s the same, it’s just that he’s going to be heavier than me because he didn’t make the cut. That eight pounds is going to be more than eight pounds (after) rehydration.”

A one-pound allowance was given for all non-title bouts, but Muhammad and Della Maddalena had to weigh no heavier than an even 170 pounds, and Shevchenko and Fiorot no heavier than 125 pounds for their respective title fights to be made official.

All title competitors made weight on their first attempt and were the first four athletes to step on the scale Friday.

Ian Machado Garry is in Montreal as the official main event backup fighter in case either Muhammad or Della Maddalena are unable to compete Saturday night.

Machado Garry hit weight with two pounds to spare and will be on call-up until an hour before Muhammad and JDM are set to make their walk to the cage.

There are six matchups featuring Canadian fighters, including Marc-Andre Barriault, whose opponent Bruno Silva was the only fighter to officially miss weight.

“He’s fighting for his job,” Cote said of Barriault’s predicament of entering Saturday on a three-fight losing streak.

Silva was the final fighter to weigh in and he missed by one pound. As of Friday morning, the fight will proceed at a catchweight and Bruno will be fined a percentage of his purse.

American welterweight Charles Radtke flipped the double bird as he stepped on the scale ahead of his featured preliminary bout with Canadian fan favourite Mike Malott. Radtke had some choice words for Malott and Canadian fans earlier in the week.

Daniel Santos missed weight by one pound on his initial attempt ahead of his scheduled featherweight matchup with Jeong-yeong Lee, but hit the mark on his second attempt to avoid a fine.

Below is the projected bout order for UFC 315 and the official weights of all athletes.

MAIN CARD

— Belal Muhammad (170) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (170)

— Valentina Shevchenko (124) vs. Manon Fiorot (125)

— Jose Aldo (143) vs. Aiemann Zahabi (142)

— Alexa Grasso (126) vs. Natalia Silva (126)

— Benoit Saint Denis (156) vs. Kyle Prepolec (156)

PRELIMINARY CARD

— Mike Malott (171) vs. Charles Radtke (171)

— Jessica Andrade (126) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (124)

— Modestas Bukauskas (203) vs. Ion Cutelaba (205)

— Navajo Stirling (205) vs. Ivan Erslan (205)

— Marc-Andre Barriault (185) vs. Bruno Silva (187)*

— Jeong-yeong Lee (146) vs. Daniel Santos (146)

— Brad Katona (136) vs. Bekzat Almakhan (136)

— Ian Machado Garry (168)**

*Fighter missed weight by one pound

**Official main event backup fighter

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