The UFC makes its first trip to the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia for this weekend’s UFC Saudi Arabia card, set to air on U.S. broadcast network ABC.
That big network placement was no doubt spurred along by a hefty main event, originally set to feature former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker taking on Khamzat Chimaev, now several years into his reign as “heir apparent” or “the next one,” however you’d like to put it.
Thanks to injury and illness, Chimaev has been unable to continue his roll at the same breakneck speed he kicked off his UFC run at. And the illness bug struck again ahead of UFC Saudi Arabia, with Chimaev hospitalized with an undisclosed ailment and forced out of the fight.
That paved the way for Ikram Aliskerov, initially slated to compete last weekend, to fill in against Whittaker. A big step of for the Dagestani, who enters just his third UFC fight against a future Hall of Famer.
Along with the main event, names like Kelvin Gastelum, Johnny Walker, and Sergei Pavlovich adorn the UFC Saudi Arabia card. Weigh-ins for the event get underway Friday; results can be found below.
There were no misses at the scale on Friday as all athletes made weight for UFC Saudi Arabia.
UFC Saudi Arabia: Whittaker vs. Aliskerov Weigh-In Results
Main Card
Middleweight: Robert Whittaker (186) vs. Ikram Aliskerov (184)
Heavyweight: Sergei Pavlovich (260) vs. Alexander Volkov (258)
Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum (184.5) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (184)
Middleweight: Shara Magomedov (185.5) vs. Antonio Trocoli (185.5)
Light Heavyweight: Johnny Walker (206) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (206)
Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Jared Gordon (156)
Featherweight: Muhammad Naimov (145.5) vs. Felipe Lima (145.5)
Welterweight: Rinat Fakhretdinov (170.5) vs. Nicolas Dalby (171)
Bantamweight: Kyung Ho Kang (136) vs. Muin Gafurov (136)
Light Heavyweight: Magomed Gadzhiyasulov (205) vs. Brendson Ribeiro
Bantamweight: Xiao Long (136) vs. Chang Ho Lee (136)
