Champ sh*t only: UFC 249 headliner OFFICIAL as Ferguson & Gaethje make weight ahead of keenly-anticipated showdown (VIDEO)

8 May, 2020 14:19

Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje have both successfully made weight ahead of the UFC's first fight card in nearly two months on Saturday night, in what promises to be a fiercely violent affair between the two lightweight stars.

Despite health and safety protocols which limit the amount of team members available to assist their fighters in making weight, neither Ferguson nor Gaethje appeared to have endured any last-minute problems before stepping on the scales a day before their hugely-anticipated interim lightweight title fight.

Both fighters emerged shortly after the weigh-in window opened to register weights of 155lbs on the nose for the fight which will determine the number one contender for Khabib Nurmagomedov's UFC lightweight title. 

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Gaethje was the second fighter on the fight card to step on the scales and was followed around 20 minutes later by Ferguson, who wore his trademark sunglasses to weigh in. 

It is the second time in less than a month that Ferguson has endured the cut to 155lbs, after he made weight for the already-postponed initially scheduled fight with Gaethje which was intended to take place late last month. 

Dominick Cruz, who returns from the longest injury layoff of his career to challenge Henry Cejudo for the UFC bantamweight title, was the first fighter to weigh in and he also hit the championship weight of 135lbs. Cejudo emerged from the back around 45 minutes later to register the same weight, finalizing what will be the first of two world title fights to top Saturday's stacked fight card.

It would have been a very non-standard weight cut for UFC 249's cast of characters given the absence of some of members of each fighter's teammates, and this was perhaps demonstrated by Jeremy Stephens who missed weight by the relatively sizeable amount of 4.5lbs. The American fighter will now likely face a forfeiture of a percentage of his fight purse.

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