Ryan Bader will collide with Valentin Moldavsky in the main event of Bellator 273 on Saturday night in Phoenix — and Friday morning, that fight became official.
Both men hit the scales as undersized heavyweights, Bader just north of 232lbs, Moldavsky at 234lbs. Not surprisingly, there were no issues with the heavyweight champion and interim champion weighing in. There was one hiccup on Friday however.
Last to weigh in Friday was Fabricio Franco, who had stepped up on short notice against Weber Almeida. Franco looked shaky heading to the scale, seemingly light headed and breathing deep. Missing the featherweight limit by 5.2lbs, there was little surprise when his fight was announced as being cancelled.
The rest of the Bellator 273 card successfully made weight. Benson Henderson and Saad Awad both used a barrier, but hit the mark.
Highlights from Friday’s Bellator 273 official and ceremonial weigh-in can be found below.
Bellator 273: Bader vs. Moldavsky Weigh-In Results
Main Card
Heavyweight: Ryan Bader (c) (232.2) vs. Valentin Moldavsky (ic) (234.4) – for the Bellator heavyweight championship / title unification bout
Lightweight: Benson Henderson (155.8) vs. Islam Mamedov (155.6)
Featherweight: Henry Corrales (145.8) vs. Aiden Lee (145.8)
Welterweight: Sabah Homasi (170.8) vs. Jaleel Willis (170.2)
Preliminary Card
Bantamweight: Darrion Caldwell (135.8) vs. Enrique Barzola (136)
Lightweight: Saad Awad (156) vs. Chris Gonzalez (155.6)
Middleweight: Dalton Rosta (184.6) vs. Duane Johnson (185.6)
Bantamweight: Nikita Mikhailov (135.6) vs. Blaine Shutt (134)
Featherweight: Lucas Brennan (145.4) vs. Ben Lugo (146)
Featherweight: Weber Almeida (145.2) vs. Fabricio Franco (151.2*)
Light Heavyweight: Sullivan Cauley (205.8) vs. Ben Parrish (205.2)
* Franco missed weight by 5.2 pounds. His bout vs. Weber Almeida was cancelled.
