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Given the circumstances, there is never any assurance that all the bouts on a UFC card will go through as they were booked. What adds to the uncertainty is the possibility of one or more fighters missing their weight the day prior.
Thankfully for this weekend's UFC Vegas 16, the vast majority of fighters made weight for their respective fights. Only one of the fighters missed out, but the fight will go on.
UFC Vegas 16 or UFC on ESPN 19 weigh-ins took place on Friday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which is also the venue for Saturday's card.
The main event is locked in and confirmed
In the past few months, several UFC fight nights and PPVs have lost their main events a number of times, either due to COVID, or visa issues amid the pandemic, or for an injury, or some other reason. UFC Vegas 16 was no different.
The main event had to be changed two times before it could be finalized.
Jack Hermansson was initially set to meet Darren Till for the headliner, but an injury forced Till out of the bout. Kevin Holland then stepped up to fight 'The Joker' on comparatively short notice.
But then Kevin Holland tested positive for Covid-19 and Marvin Vettori had to fill in. Jack Hermansson vs. Marvin Vettori is finally confirmed as both fighters are medically fit to compete, and on Friday's UFC weigh-ins, they both hit the scales at 185.5 and 186 pounds respectively, making the fight official.
Dana White tweeted the clip of their face-off.
Marvin Vettori was originally set to fight Jacare Souza at UFC 256, but the competitors have been swapped. Kevin Holland, who is expected to recover by then, will now face Jacare Souza on December 12.
Co-main event fighter misses weight, but bout confirmed
In the only hiccup of the UFC weigh-ins, co-main event fighter Ovince Saint Preux missed the Light Heavyweight mark considerably. Saint Preux weighed in at 207.5 pounds, while his opponent, Jamahal Hill, made weight at 205.5 pounds.
Ovince Saint Preux will be fined 20% of his purse which will go to Hill, but the bout will go ahead as scheduled.
This is the first time in his eight long years in UFC that Saint Preux has failed to make weight. He was one of the earlier fighters to step onto the scale, which usually means that the fighter is confident he would make the weight. Whether Saint Preux was confident or not, he clearly could have used a little bit more time to shed the extra one and a half pounds.
Every other fighter on the card successfully made weight, therefore the entire card is confirmed to go ahead as originally scheduled.
UFC Vegas 16: Full Card Weigh-In Results
On the main card, other than Jack Hermansson vs. Marvin Vettori at Middleweight and Jamahal Hill bs. Ovince Saint Preux at Light Heavyweight, there is Gabriel Benitez vs. Justin Jaynes at Lightweight, Montana De la Rosa vs. Taila Santos at Flyweight, John Allan vs. Roman Dolidze at Light Heavyweight, and Movsar Evloev vs. Nate Landwehr at Featherweight.
All of them weighed in within limit except Saint Preux.
- Jack Hermansson (185.5) vs. Marvin Vettori (186)
- Jamahal Hill (205.5) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (207.5)
- Gabriel Benitez (155.5) vs. Justin Jaynes (156)
- Montana De La Rosa (125.75) vs. Taila Santos (125.5)
- John Allan (205) vs. Roman Dolidze (205)
- Movsar Evloev (145.5) vs. Nate Landwehr (145.5)
Everyone in the preliminary card made weight as well.
- Jose Quinonez (135) vs. Louis Smolka (134.5)
- Jordan Leavitt (155.5) vs. Matt Wiman (155.5)
- Cody Durden (125.5) vs. Jimmy Flick (125.5)
- Damon Jackson (145) vs. Ilia Topuria (145)
- Jake Collier (264.5) vs. Gian Villante (243)
