UFC 267 took a small hit at the weigh-ins on Fight Island this morning after one fight was scrapped and Khamzat Chimaev missed weight on his initial attempt.
The UFC returns to Fight Island for the first time since the start of the year with two title fights headlining the card as Jan Blachowicz takes on Glover Teixeira in the light heavyweight division, while Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen go head-to-head for the interim bantamweight title.
But on a stacked 15-fight card, there was no chance it would go down with no hiccups and that was ultimately the case on Friday morning.
The returning Chimaev was the last one to take to the scale for his welterweight bout against Jingliang Li and initially weighed in half-a-pound over the 171lbs limit for the fight, seemingly touching the towel too after stripping down.
He returned shortly after and after the scale initially gave an incorrect reading, he officially weighed in at 171lbs for the fight to make it official.
At the start of the weigh-ins though there was a huge miss for the lightweight fight between Magomed Mustafaev and Damir Ismagulov.
Imsagulov, who was preparing for his fifth UFC fight having won each of his previous four, weighed in at 163.5lbs for the bout – a massive 7.5lbs over the 156lbs limit.
That means that the bout has been officially scrapped by the UFC, with Mustafaev making weight at the 156lbs limit.
Both title fights were made official, with all four fighters weighing in at their respective maximum limits.
UFC 267 will take place on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi on Saturday October 30th with a special start time of 15:30 BST for the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, with BT Sport starting their coverage with the prelims from 17:00 BST.
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FULL WEIGH-IN RESULTS
Jan Blachowicz (205) vs Glover Teixeira (205) Petr Yan (135) vs Cory Sandhagen (135) Islam Makhachev (155.5) vs Dan Hooker (156) Alexander Volkov (263) vs Marcin Tybura (249) Li Jingliang (171) vs Khamzat Chimaev (171)** Magomed Ankalaev (205.5) vs Volkan Oezdemir (205.5) Amanda Ribas (115.5) vs Virna Jandiroba (116) Ricardo Ramos (146) vs Zubaira Tukhugov (146) Albert Duraev (186) vs Roman Kopylov (186) Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (170.5) vs Benoît St. Denis (171) Michal Oleksiejczuk (206) vs Shamil Gamzatov (206) Makwan Amirkhani (146) vs Lerone Murphy (146) Hu Yaozong (186) vs Andre Petroski (185.5) Damir Ismagulov (163.5)* vs Magomed Mustafaev (156) Tagir Ulanbekov (125) vs Allan Nascimento (126)
* Missed weight, fight cancelled per UFC. ** Missed weight on initial attempt, made 171lbs on second attempt.
There is also an interim bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event slot, with many fans considering it the ‘real’ title fight.
Last week at UFC Vegas 41 we had a rough time with our picks, landing just 7/13 correct with three perfect picks to move us up to 446/702 (63.53%) with 190 perfect picks (42.6%) since June 2020.
We’ll look to improve on that with this huge 15-fight card, starting with the early prelims.
#UFCVegas41 wasn't the most fun for our picks, but it produced a banger of a main event.
We went 7/13 with three perfect picks to move us up to 446/702 (63.53%) with 190 perfect picks (42.6%) since June 2020.#UFC267 is a stacked card, we go again! #tapinsandtapoutspic.twitter.com/CDT9PkXx2x
Tagir Ulanbekov (13-1) vs Allan Nascimento (17-5) – (Flyweight/125lbs)
A very fun flyweight bout opens up the card on Fight Island. Ulanbekov has won his last four-in-a-row, including his UFC debut against Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Island 5 last year. Nascimento was beaten on Dana White’s Contender Series but then returned to Brazil with a victory to earn this UFC debut.
Ulanbekov is a brilliant wrestler, who uses his top game and ground and pound strikes to control his opponent and win fights. Nascimento is more of an all-rounder, with explosive striking and good scrambles on the mat to go with 13 submission wins in his career. This fight is always certain to go to the ground, but it’s all about who ends up on top.
The likelihood in my opinion is that guy will be Ulanbekov. Nascimento has struggled with worse wrestlers in the past and while the Russian will have to be careful of potential submission attempts, I expect him to rack up plenty of top control to earn a decision win. PICK – Tagir Ulanbekov via Decision
Magomed Mustafaev (14-4) vs Damir Ismagulov (23-1) – (Lightweight/155lbs)
An absolute banger at lightweight in a potential fight of the night contender next. Mustafaev has lost two of his last three in the UFC, with defeat to Brad Riddell most recently in February 2020 while Ismagulov has won 18-in-a-row including all four of his UFC bouts, with victory over Rafael Alves at UFC Vegas 27 most recently.
This is a super exciting fight. Mustafaev is a vicious kickboxer with super heavy kicks and brilliant punching power too. Something he doesn’t have though is brilliant wrestling, something Ismagulov has and is able to mix in with his own excellent striking. Mustafaev’s kicks could become nullified if Ismagulov looks to catch them, with the Kazakhstan fighter using his jab and low kicks of his own to earn victories.
Both men have the ability to end the fight in range, but neither have ever been knocked out before in their career. That leads me to think control could be key and with Ismagulov having the wrestling edge, he’ll claim the victory. PICK – Damir Ismagulov via Decision
Hu Yaozong (3-2) vs Andre Petroski (6-2) – (Middleweight/185lbs)
A weird fight in the middleweight division between two relative novices in the UFC. Yaozong has lost both of his UFC appearances and hasn’t fought since way back in 2018, while Petroski was part of the contenders in the most recent Ultimate Fighter series who earned his first win against Michael Gillmore at UFC Vegas 35.
Yaozong is a decent kickboxer on the feet, but he really struggled in all his UFC bouts prior to get that going. Petroski on the other hand has shown great wrestling skills with a good mix of ground and pound and submissions on the mat too, but when the takedown isn’t available he tends to look a little lost. Lucky for him, the version of Yaozong we all know can’t defend takedowns for love nor money.
Three years away is a long time, plus the fact he is fighting in a new weight class and he’s never really looked impressive means I have to go with Petroski to blast a takedown early and eventually secure a finish from the top. PICK – Andre Petroski via Submission, Round 1
Makwan Amirkhani (16-6) vs Lerone Murphy (10-0-1) – (Featherweight/145lbs)
One of my personal favourite fights on the card is a banger between two European featherweights. ‘Mr Finland’ Amirkhani has lost each of his last two, dropping decisions to Edson Barboza and Kamuela Kirk most recently at UFC Vegas 28. Murphy on the other hand has earned successive wins in the UFC against Ricardo Ramos at UFC Fight Island 2 before a decision win over Douglas Silva de Andrade at UFC Fight Island 8.
Amirkhani is a very technical and fun kickboxer, with good volume, great cardio and unbelievable wrestling. Murphy on the other hand is a very well rounded fighter too, with great one-punch power and excellent wrestling of his own too to control opponents. Amirkhani has been able to take down everyone he’s ever fought in the UFC and while I don’t expect this to be different, Murphy is good enough to get back up and be more physical.
Murphy has shown an ability to rally if a fight isn’t going his way, while Amirkhani has shown that he finds it hard to turn things around. With Murphy’s power and wrestling ability too, I expect he’ll be able to control the fight the longer it goes and earn a win in an entertaining fight. PICK – Lerone Murphy via Decision
Elsewhere on the card Yan Xiaonan takes on Carla Esparza in the co-main event to potentially determine the next contender for Rose Namajunas’ strawweight title, while Jack Hermansson and Edmen Shahbazyan meet in their delayed middleweight scrap too.
Last week at UFC 262 we didn’t have the best of nights prediction wise, going 6/12 with two perfect picks to move up to 314/494 (63.56%) with 136 perfect picks (43.31%).
We’ll look to improve that here with this 13-fight card, starting with the early prelims here.
— Tap Ins & Tap Outs (@TapInsTapOuts) May 16, 2021
Rafael Alves (19-9) vs Damir Ismagulov (19-2) – (Lightweight/155lbs)
A very fun lightweight bout to open the card up as Alves makes his debut to take on Russian Ismagulov. Alves got the call to come into the UFC after winning on the Contender Series, but then missed weight by a crazy 11.5lbs for his debut a few months ago after he got some tragic personal news. Ismagulov is on a 14-fight win streak, including his three UFC fights – the last one coming in August 2019.
Alves is a very tricky, unorthodox striker with good submission offence too splitting his 14 finishes equally via knockout or tap out. Ismagulov is a very well-rounded fighter, with excellent grappling skills on the mat to go with some steady fundamentals on the feet too. While Alves is explosive and powerful himself, Ismagulov just tends to dominate his opponents and we’ve not seen him have to come out of second gear for the most part.
Overall, this fight is set up for a good welcome back for Ismagulov. He’s better technically across the board and while Alves has the power advantage to potentially land a game changing shot out of nowhere, Ismagulov should be able to out class him for a wide decision. PICK – Damir Ismagulov via Decision
Yancy Medeiros (15-7) vs Damir Hadzovic (13-6) – (Lightweight/155lbs)
Likely a ‘loser leaves UFC’ bout at 155lbs here as former fan favourite Yancy Medeiros takes on Damir Hadzovic with both men on losing streaks. Medeiros has lost his last three in a row to Donald Cerrone, Gregor Gillespie and Lando Vannata, while Hadzovic has lost two in a row to Christos Giagos and Renato Moicano.
Medeiros’ record recently doesn’t look great, but he’s lost to only very capable fighters. He’s a great, technical striker with power in his hands and feet and has good wrestling to back himself too unless he’s coming up against someone as elite as Gillespie. Hadzovic isn’t elite at anything, and will look to step in and have a straight up fire-fight in the octagon.
If that’s the case, Medeiros should fancy his chances. Hadzovic has been finished twice in his last two and while he has decent power himself, I think Medeiros still has the tools to use his big reach advantage for a decision. PICK – Yancy Medeiros via Decision
Josh Culibao (8-1-1) vs Sha Yilan (17-6) – (Featherweight/145lbs)
A very fun featherweight bout between the hot prospect Culibao against UFC debutant Sha Yilan. Culibao entered the UFC at 8-0, but was beaten by Jalin Turner in his debut before a split draw against Charles Jourdain last time out. Yilan has won seven of his last eight fights with six finishes including his last two in a row.
Culibao has fantastic power in his hands and prefers to stand and strike with his opponents, knocking out five of his opponents. He uses his jab well and has a great uppercut too, which is something the wrestling heavy Yilan must watch out for. Yilan will wrestle the entire fight, looking for takedown after takedown to control position and land some big ground and pound. On the feet though, Yilan is like a fish out of water.
If Culibao is able to prevent the takedown, it’s his fight to lose and I expect he’ll be able to get the finish on the feet too. PICK – Josh Culibao via Knockout, Round 2
Tap Ins & Tap Outs 