Giga Chikadze was aiming for a comeback performance at UFC Kansas City, but he encountered an early hurdle by missing weight for his scheduled featherweight clash.
The experienced featherweight contender stepped onto the scale at 147 pounds during the official weigh-ins on Friday, ahead of Saturday`s event in Kansas City, Missouri. This weight is one pound above the non-title featherweight limit of 146 pounds, which includes the standard one-pound allowance. His opponent for the bout, David Onama, successfully made the required weight at 146 pounds.
Following confirmation from officials, the fight between Chikadze and Onama is still scheduled to proceed, but will now take place as a catchweight bout. As a consequence for failing to make weight, Chikadze will be penalized 20 percent of his fight purse, which will go to his opponent.
Elsewhere on the card, the more prominent matchups saw fighters successfully make their weight limits with little issue. This included the fighters listed as welterweight headliners, Ian Machado Garry (171 lbs) and Carlos Prates (170 lbs). Garry, ranked 6th in the 170-pound division, is looking to rebound from his first professional loss (a competitive decision defeat against Shavkat Rakhmonov), while Prates is currently on an impressive four-fight winning streak to start his UFC career, with all victories coming via knockout.
In the co-main event, veteran fighter Anthony Smith (206 lbs) successfully made weight for what is noted as his final walk to the cage. His opponent, the light heavyweight power striker Zhang Mingyang (206 lbs), also hit the mark.
The full official weigh-in results for UFC Kansas City are provided below:
Official UFC Kansas City Weigh-In Results
Main Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET)
- Ian Machado Garry (171) vs. Carlos Prates (170)
- Anthony Smith (206) vs. Zhang Mingyang (206)
- Giga Chikadze (147)* vs. David Onama (146)
- Michel Pereira (186) vs. Abus Magomedov (185.5)
- Randy Brown (171) vs. Nicolas Dalby (171)
- Ikram Aliskerov (185.5) vs. Andre Muniz (185.5)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET)
- Matt Schnell (126) vs. Jimmy Flick (126)
- Evan Elder (156) vs. Gauge Young (156)
- Chris Gutierrez (146) vs. John Castaneda (146)
- Da’Mon Blackshear (135.5) vs. Alatengheili (136)
- Malcolm Wellmaker (135) vs. Cameron Saaiman (135)
- Jaqueline Amorim (116) vs. Polyana Viana (115.5)
- Timmy Cuamba (146) vs. Roberto Romero (145)
- Chelsea Chandler (134) vs. Joselyne Edwards (136)
*Note: Giga Chikadze missed weight (147 lbs). His fight against David Onama will proceed at a catchweight, with Chikadze forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as a penalty.
