UFC 315 weigh-in results: Jose Aldo struggles lead to change in contracted weight

Jose Aldo is back at featherweight, though that wasn’t the plan.

The former UFC and WEC champion was scheduled to face Aimeann Zahabi in a bantamweight bout on Saturday’s UFC 315 main card. However, moments before Aldo stepped to the scale at Friday’s official weigh-ins, officials announced that Aldo vs. Zahabi would now be contested at a weight limit of 145 pounds.

Watch their weigh-in below.

Sources with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Guilherme Cruz that the change was made due to issues on Aldo’s side. By 8 p.m. Thursday evening, Aldo was reportedly still nine pounds over the bantamweight limit for a non-title fight (136) and was told by a doctor he could not cut anymore weight.

In light of the change, sources informed MMA Fighting that Zahabi renegotiated his purse for the fight, though the number was not reveal.

The top-two fights of the event are both official, with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and challenger Jack Della Maddalena both hitting 170 on the dot for Saturday’s main event, and Valentina Shevchenko coming in a shade under the limit at 124 pounds for her co-headlining flyweight title defense against Manon Fiorot (125).

Aldo wasn’t the only fighter who had difficulties with the scale. Featherweight Daniel Santos weighed in above the 145-pound limit on his first try, but later returned and successfully hit the mark after stripping down while covered by a box.

Middleweight Bruno Silva wasn’t so lucky. “Blindado” was the last fighter to show up in the official two-hour weigh-in window and he came in at 187 pounds, one pound over the middleweight limit for a non-title fight. Despite repeated attempts to weigh-in with assistance from the box, Silva’s weight did not change.

The UFC later announced that Silva’s bout with Marc-Andre Barriault proceeds at a catchweight with Silva forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty.

Check out the UFC 315 weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)

Belal Muhammad (170) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (170)

Backup fighter: Ian Machado Garry (168)

Valentina Shevchenko (124) vs. Manon Fiorot (125)

Jose Aldo (143) vs. Aiemann Zahabi (142) — fight moved to featherweight

Alexa Grasso (126) vs. Natalia Silva (126)

Benoit Saint Denis (156) vs. Kyle Prepolec (156)

Prelims (ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Mike Malott (171) vs. Charles Radtke (171)

Jessica Andrade (126) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (124)

Modestas Bukauskas (203) vs. Ion Cutelaba (205)

Navajo Stirling (205) vs. Ivan Erslan (205)

Early Prelims (ESPN+/Disney+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Marc-Andre Barriault (185) vs. Bruno Silva (187)*

Daniel Santos (147 on first attempt, 146 on second try) vs. Jeong Yeong Lee (146)

Brad Katona (136) vs. Bekzat Almakhan (136)

*Silva missed weight. His bout with Marc-Andre Barriault will proceed at a catchweight with Silva forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty, per UFC.

**Update** An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Zahabi negotiated for a portion of Aldo’s purse. This has been updated to reflect that Zahabi renegotiated his purse for this fight, but not at the expense of Aldo.