Junior Tafa, Oban Elliott, and now Justin Tafa – UFC Perth just can’t seem to hold its card together.
During Friday’s UFC Perth official weigh-in, heavyweight Louie Sutherland hit the scales at 259lbs, successfully making weight for his main card bout with Justin Tafa. The New Zealand-born Tafa, however, had not hit the scales come the close of the weigh-in window, with promotion officials announcing that he was off the card due to illness.
That means yet another notable fight scratched from a quickly thinning event that has come under fire for sluggish sales, with exorbitant ticket prices being slashed to try and get bodies in the door at the RAC Arena in Perth.
The nature of Tafa’s illness was not disclosed. In a statement posted online, promotion officials wrote only that “Due to illness, Justin Tafa has been removed from his heavyweight bout with Louie Sutherland. As a result, this bout has been cancelled.”
Justin Tafa’s brother Junior had previously withdrawn from the event due to injury.
Sutherland had been expected to make his promotional debut in the fight. A veteran of both Bellator MMA and the PFL, he won the Levels Fight League heavyweight title back in July.
UFC Perth is headlined by Dominick Reyes and Carlos Ulberg, both of whom made weight on Friday.
