The welterweight champion successfully made weight for the first title defense of his second belt, coming in at 170 pounds at Friday's official weigh-ins for the main event of UFC 330 in Philadelphia. Opponent Ian Machado Garry also hit the mark at 170, making their title fight official.
Watch highlights of the official weigh-ins above.
Not only can Makhachev join the short list of fighters (Henry Cejudo, Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones, Amanda Nunes) to successfully defend UFC titles in two division, a 17th straight victory for the former lightweight champion will also break the legendary Anderson Silva's record for the most consecutive wins in UFC history.
Backup Michael Morales also successfully made weight at 170 pounds. Morales is available to step in for Makhachev or Garry in the event that they are unable to compete Saturday.
The UFC 330 co-main event also has gold on the line with Mackenzie Dern defending the strawweight title for the first time against Gillian Robertson. Both fighters hit championship weight at 115 pounds.
All 24 fighters weighing in for Saturday's event at Xfinity Mobile Arena successfully made weight, with only Chidi Njokuani having a close call on the scale. Njokuani initially weighed in at 171.5 pounds, 0.5 pounds over the welterweight limit, but it wasn't long before he returned for a second attempt behind a curtain and made 171 (utilizing the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight).
Check out UFC 330 weigh-in results below.
Main Card (Paramount+ at 9 p.m. ET)
Islam Makhachev (170) vs. Ian Machado Garry (170)
Mackenzie Dern (115) vs. Gillian Robertson (115)
Jalin Turner (156) vs. Kaue Fernandes (156)
Mansur Abdul-Malik (186) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (185)
Edson Barboza (156) vs. Esteban Ribovics (156)
Preliminary Card (Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET)
Chidi Njokuani (171)* vs. Joel Alvarez (171)
Charles Johnson (129.5) vs. Eduardo Chapolin (129.5) — 130-pound catchweight bout
Donte Johnson (184.5) vs. Eric McConico (186)
Vicente Luque (186) vs. Tresean Gore (186)
Early Prelims (Paramount+ at 5:30 p.m. ET)
Rafael Tobias (204) vs. Lucas Fernando (205)
Neil Magny (171) vs. Ramiz Brahimaj (170)
Myktybek Orolbai (170.5) vs. Jeremiah Wells (171)
Main event backup: Michael Morales (170)
*Njokuani missed weight on first attempt (171.5), but successfully made weight on second attempt
At the UFC 330 weigh-ins, all 24 fighters on Saturday's UFC fight card step on the scale Friday morning in Philadelphia. Watch full highlights of the official weigh-ins above.
In the main event, MMA Fighting's No. 1 Pound-for-Pound fighter Islam Makhachev goes for the first defense of his welterweight title as he takes on challenger Ian Machado Garry. Makhachev looks for another championship victory after previously defending the lightweight title a UFC record four consecutive times, while Garry brings a 10-1 UFC record into the contest.
Both fighters need to weigh 170 pounds or less for the title fight.
In the co-main event, strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern defends her belt against Gillian Robertson. Dern won a vacant title in the absence of Zhang Weili with a unanimous decision win over Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321 and she can strengthen her claim to being the true 115-pound champion with a win over Robertson, who can become the first Canadian woman ever to win UFC gold.
Both fighters need to weigh 115 pounds or less for the title fight.
Watch MMA Fighting's weigh-in highlights from the championship bouts below.
The UFC 330 official weigh-ins kick off above at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT.
The UFC 330 ceremonial weigh-ins will be at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.
Check out UFC 330 weigh-in results below.
Main Card (Paramount+ at 9 p.m. ET)
Islam Makhachev (170) vs. Ian Machado Garry (170)
Mackenzie Dern (115) vs. Gillian Robertson (115)
Jalin Turner (156) vs. Kaue Fernandes (156)
Mansur Abdul-Malik (186) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (185)
Edson Barboza (156) vs. Esteban Ribovics (156)
Preliminary Card (Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET)
Chidi Njokuani (171)* vs. Joel Alvarez (171)
Charles Johnson (129.5) vs. Eduardo Chapolin (129.5) — 130-pound catchweight bout
Donte Johnson (184.5) vs. Eric McConico (186)
Vicente Luque (186) vs. Tresean Gore (186)
Early Prelims (Paramount+ at 5:30 p.m. ET)
Rafael Tobias (204) vs. Lucas Fernando (205)
Neil Magny (171) vs. Ramiz Brahimaj (170)
Myktybek Orolbai (170.5) vs. Jeremiah Wells (171)
Main event backup: Michael Morales (170)
*Njokuani missed weight on first attempt (171.5), but successfully made weight on second attempt
In a world where the UFC has decided to allow each fighter one bionic enhancement what would you choose for your fighter? It cannot be a whole body enhancement though. The rules state it can only focus on ONE body part or internal organ. For example only one leg, arm, eye, hand etc. And it cannot be akin to a weapon. So you can’t have a laser eye. That would just be mad lad!
Colby Covington praises Arman Tsarukyan following RAF 11 match: “You're gonna be the UFC lightweight champâ€
Credit: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
UFC fan favorite Diego Lopes will make the full-time move to the lightweight division after his latest win at UFC Freedom 250.
Former UFC featherweight title challenger Diego Lopes is in a bizarre spot in the 145-pound title picture after suffering two losses to current titleholder Alexander Volkanovski. Despite making a strong case for a title shot with an impressive come-from-behind knockout against Steve Garcia at the White House, Lopes would likely have to win a few fights before making the case for another shot at the belt.
Lopes, who lost back-to-back title fights to Volkanovski, has also earned recent featherweight wins over Jean Silva and Brian Ortega. But Lopes is big for the featherweight division and has teased a potential move to lightweight for months.
Amidst his peculiar spot in the featherweight division, Lopes is taking matters into his own hands and making the move to lightweight.
Diego Lopes announces full-time move to lightweight, hoping for MSG return
In a recent interview with Ag.Fight, Lopes shared an update on his return to the Octagon.
“We're taking the leap in our career now; we're going up a division, in advanced talks,†Lopes said.
“We're hoping to fight at MSG in November.â€
One potential lightweight opponent is BMF titleholder Charles Oliveira, who was rumored to fight Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 331 before pulling out of recent fight talks. Oliveira's teammate Allan Nascimento's tragic death leaves a timeline for the BMF champion's return to the Octagon unclear.
Lopes hasn't fought at lightweight in his UFC tenure, although he fought in a 165-pound catchweight bout against Dan Ige at UFC 303. He's fought as low as bantamweight during his combat sports career.
As the lightweight division continues to blossom with intriguing matchups for the rest of the year, Lopes' addition opens the door to plenty of possible bookings. We could be weeks away from getting news on Lopes' return to the cage.
Who should Diego Lopes fight next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!