UFC Rio fighter loses half his fight purse after missing weight by nearly 10 pounds

Saimon Oliveira missed the bantamweight limit by a significant margin ahead of his UFC Rio fight with Luan Lacerda.

Scheduled to take place at Rio de Janeiro’s Farmasi Arena on Saturday night, UFC Rio is headlined by a high-stakes lightweight matchup between former UFC titleholder Charles Oiveira and the division’s #8-ranked contender Mateusz Gamrot.

The event is unsurprisingly stacked with Brazilian talent, including an all-Brazil matchup between Saimon Oliveira and Lacerda that’s currently set as the curtain jerker for the 12-fight card.

Saimon Oliveira Misses Weight Ahead Of UFC Rio

Originally booked as a bantamweight affair, the fight between Oliveira and Lacerda has now been changed to a catchweight after Oliveira hit the scale at a staggering 144 lbs., which is a full eight pounds over the limit for non-title bantamweight bouts.

Saimon Olivera (red gloves) enters the arena before the fight against Daniel Marcos (blue gloves) during UFC 283 at Jeunesse Arena. | Jason da Silva-Imagn Images

UFC Rio already took one major hit late during fight week when Mohammed Usman withdrew from his heavyweight matchup with Valter Walker the day before weigh-ins, and the event would have only been left with 11 fights if Oliveira’s weight miss had forced the cancellation of the Lacerda fight.

Luan Lacerda & Saimon Oliveira Both Winless Since Joining The UFC

Already a veteran of 20 professional MMA bouts before he appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021, Oliveira defeated Mexico’s José Alday via split decision to earn a UFC contract and extend his winning run to five fights.

The Brazilian’s run of victories came to an end in his UFC debut when he dropped a unanimous decision to Tony Gravely, and the following year he was stopped by Daniel Marcos in the second round of their fight at UFC 283. Following a layoff of more than two years, Oliveira returned last March and was knocked out by David Martinez in the first round.

Luan Lacerda (red gloves) fights Cody Stamann (blue gloves) during UFC 283 at Jeunesse Arena. | Jason da Silva-Imagn Images

The 34-year-old’s three-fight skid likely already had his back against the wall at UFC Rio even before his egregious weight miss, and Lacerda will also look to secure his first Octagon victory when he meets Oliveira tomorrow night following an 0-2 start to his own UFC career.

UFC Rio Main Card

• Main Event: Charles Oliveira vs. Mateusz Gamrot

• Co-Main Event: Deveison Figueiredo vs. Montel Jackson

• Vicente Luque vs. Joel Alvarez

• Jhonata Diniz vs. Mario Pinto

• Ricardo Ramos vs. Kaan Ofli

UFC Rio Preliminary Card

• Lucas Almeida vs. Michael Aswell

• Jafel Filho vs. Clayton Carpenter

• Vitor Petrino vs. Thomas Petersen

• Irina Alekseeva vs. Beatriz Mesquita

• Lucas Rocha vs. Stewart Nicoll

• Julia Polastri vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz

• Saimon Oliveria vs. Luan Lacerda

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