On Friday afternoon in San Diego, United States, Bellator held the official weigh-in for its 300th event, featuring several stars. One of them is Cris Cyborg, the current featherweight champion (66 kg) of Scott Coker’s organization. During the ceremony, the Brazilian fighter stepped on the scale and made weight by hitting 65.5 kg, confirming her title fight against Cat Zingano, who also made weight at 65.5 kg.
After the first group of fighters passed through the official weigh-in, Cris stepped on the scale with the support of her team, who cheered her on with applause. With a calm expression, the Brazilian smiled and celebrated when her weight was announced. Her opponent, Cat Zingano, did the same shortly after. With a more serious expression, Zingano didn’t show much emotion while making weight and quickly headed backstage.
“At 65.5 kg, I have more world title fights than most fighters have regular fights in their careers. Don’t miss my fight at Bellator tomorrow. There won’t be many more opportunities, so I hope the fans make the most of this,” wrote the Brazilian on her social media, along with a picture from the weigh-in.
The main event of Bellator 300 was also confirmed after a minor scare. The challenger and former champion, Brent Primus, was the second fighter to weigh in and registered 70.2 kg. The current champion in the weight class, Usman Nurmagomedov, needed two attempts to officialize the bout. In the first weigh-in, Khabib’s cousin recorded 70.4 kg, approximately 100 grams above the championship weight limit. Consequently, he had to strip down and, with the assistance of a towel, reached 70.2 kg, matching his opponent’s weight.
The third title fight at Bellator 300 had its share of drama. The flyweight champion (57 kg), Liz Carmouche, had no trouble making weight at 56.6 kg, becoming the first to weigh in at the ceremony. However, her opponent, Ilima-Lei MacFarlane, the former champion of the organization, failed to reach the 56.7 kg limit set for title fights. Even after stepping on the scale three times, ‘The Ilimanator,’ as she is known, couldn’t meet her goal.
In the first attempt, the former champion weighed 57.7 kg. In the second, already stripped down and using a towel, MacFarlane reduced her weight by about 300 grams but still came in above the limit at 57.4 kg. After using the additional time given, the American made her third and final attempt. However, strangely, in this attempt, Ilima-Lei weighed even more, registering 58.1 kg. With these repeated failures, the fighter lost the right to compete for the championship. Therefore, the title will be on the line only for Liz Carmouche in Saturday’s fight. In the event of Ilima’s victory, the championship in the weight class will become vacant.
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