Fighters prepared for Saturday’s UFC 334 event on Friday, though the official weigh-ins were complicated by two athletes failing to meet their contracted weight limits.
The event features a heavyweight title main event between Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit, alongside a bantamweight championship bout between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes, as reported by Yahoo Sports.
Lightweight competitor Terrance McKinney caused a significant stir after registering at 160.2 pounds, which was more than four pounds over the limit for his bout against Jim Miller.
McKinney expressed remorse for the incident in a social media statement, noting that he intends to move up to the welterweight division in the future, according to the Yahoo Sports report.
The fighter stated, “I want to apologize to everyone and UFC for missing weight.”
He further apologized to his opponent, saying, “I want to thank Jim Miller personally for still taking the fight.”
Miller agreed to proceed with the fight at a catchweight, with McKinney forfeiting 30 percent of his purse as a penalty for the infraction.
In a separate incident, preliminary fighter Juan Diaz also failed to make weight, coming in 0.4 pounds over the 135-pound limit for his matchup against Alatengheili.
That bout will also proceed as a catchweight contest, with Diaz forfeiting 20 percent of his purse, per the official results.
Despite these preliminary issues, the main event participants successfully met their requirements.
Ciryl Gane weighed in at 242.6 pounds, while Josh Hokit arrived at 231.4 pounds, both remaining well under the 265-pound heavyweight limit.
Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes both hit the 135-pound mark exactly for their championship bout.
Harrison is set to defend her bantamweight title for the first time, while Nunes returns to competition following her retirement announcement in June 2023.
The weigh-ins concluded with the majority of the card finalized for Saturday’s action.