The biggest UFC event of the year, until next month anyway, arrives this weekend with UFC 299.
In fact, it might be the biggest UFC event of the year period.
Hear us out: it’s hard to nitpick the Miami card, which seems to have been built as a sister card to UFC 300, without the question mark about the latter’s main event (which took forever to get booked, to say the least). But beyond Sean O’Malley vs. Chito Vera, which has the star power of the “Suga Show” plus the whole rematch/revenge storyline, there is a potential five-round all-violence classic between Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint-Denis. Or just BSD (you’ve really made it in MMA when you’re known by your initials).
Then there’s the debut of Bellator star and ex-title challenger Michael “Venom” Page in a very, very fan friendly affair with Kevin Holland. A sizable step up in competition for Jack Della Maddalena (JDM, refer to our comment about initials) against Gilbert Burns. And ex-champ Petr Yan taking on Chinese bantamweight standout Song Yadong.
The surging Jailton Almeida faces Curtis Blaydes on the prelims, for crying out loud. That fight headlines a Fight Night. So too does Mateusz Gamrot versus ex-lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos. RDA, on the prelims?!? Michael Pereira and Ion Cutelaba, better known as main card fighters, have been relegated to UFC Fight Pass!
There is a whole lot to love about UFC 299 on paper. If it lives up to expectations, it’s going to be hard to top. If everything holds together that is — which makes Friday morning’s official weigh-ins key!
Cageside Press is in Miami, Florida for UFC 299, with the weigh-in window getting underway at 9AM ET, 6AM PT. Full results can be found below.
Friday morning’s official UFC 299 weigh-in utilized an adapted format first reported by Cageside Press, with all athletes required to weigh in inside of the first hour. All fighters did, successfully, with just one missing weight: C.J. Vergara, who came in one pound over the flyweight limit. Vergara, who weighed in behind the barrier, was then given the opportunity to weigh in a second time, in the second hour of the weigh-in window.bs However, his second attempt saw a clearly dejected Vergara weigh in at exactly the same weight, 127lbs.
Per additional reporting by ESPN, the UFC is looking to adopt this format across the board.
Josh Parisian, still wiping off the sweat from his cut as he entered the room, Philipe Lins, and Chito Vera all weighed in late, with Lins and Vera behind a barrier Friday morning. Thankfully, all three made weight.
UFC 299: O’Malley vs. Vera 2 Weigh-In Results
Main card
