It was smooth sailing Friday morning at the official weigh-in ahead of the UFC’s first event in Qatar.
Saturday’s Fight Night headliners Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker both hit the target ahead of their five-round lightweight matchup. Hooker weighed an even 155 pounds, while Tsarukyan was 156 and took advantage of the one-pound allowance athletes are afforded for non-title matchups.
The co-main event features former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad looking to get back into the win column when he takes on rising star Ian Machado Garry. Muhammad weighed in at the non-title welterweight limit of 171 pounds for his first fight since losing his title in May. Machado Garry weighed 170 and will look to build off his April win over Carlos Prates.
Longtime middleweight contender Jack Hermansson is making his welterweight debut against Myktybek Orolbai, who has regularly competed at lightweight. Hermansson has spent his entire career fighting at 185 pounds but stepped on the scale at 170.5 pounds. The 37-year-old Swedish-Norwegian fighter is 24-9 in mixed martial arts and 11-7 under the UFC banner, and is coming off a brutal knockout loss to Gregory Rodrigues in late June.
Orolbai is moving back up to the welterweight division for the first time in two years. The 27-year-old from Kyrgyzstan debuted in the UFC at 170 pounds before moving down to lightweight but failed to make weight in his two most recent appearances. He lost a split decision to Mateusz Rebecki at a 160-pound catchweight in what ended up being a 2024 Fight of the Year candidate, then submitted UFC newcomer Tofiq Musayev in 76 seconds in June in a 165-pound catchweight.
Top-10 heavyweight contender Waldo Cortes-Acosta was a late addition to the card and came in at the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds. Cortes-Acosta is replacing Serghei Spivac and will face Shamil Gaziev, who weighed 262 pounds. The 34-year-old from the Dominican Republic accepted the matchup on less than 72 hours’ notice, made the 18-hour trek to Doha, Qatar and got there in time to successfully make weight to render the matchup with Gaziev official.
The 14-bout card also features the return of one-time flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi, who is set to fight in the UFC for the first time in nine years. The 35-year-old from Japan went 7-1 in the UFC from 2013 to 2016, with his only loss being to former longtime 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson in their UFC 186 main event title fight. Horiguchi became a Bellator MMA and RIZIN champion during his time outside the UFC and is unbeaten in his past six fights since 2022. He meets standout Russian Tagir Ulanbekov, who’s 6-1 in the UFC.
The preliminary card is headlined by the anticipated debut of featherweight Luke Riley. The touted English prospect is 11-0 as a pro and a veteran of the Cage Warriors organization. He trains out of the Next Generation MMA Liverpool gym with Paddy Pimblett.
Also on the prelims, Aleksandre Topuria, the brother of reigning UFC lightweight titleholder Ilia Topuria, will look for his second win in the UFC after debuting earlier this year when he faces fellow bantamweight Bekzat Almakhan, who’s coming off a one-minute knockout of Brad Katona in May.
Projected bout order and official weigh-in results for UFC Qatar below:
— Arman Tsarukyan (156) vs. Dan Hooker (155)
— Belal Muhammad (171) vs. Ian Machado Garry (170)
— Volkan Oezdemir (206) vs. Alonzo Menifield (206)
— Jack Hermansson (170.5) vs. Myktybek Orolbai (170)
— Waldo Cortes-Acosta (265) vs. Shamil Gaziev (262)
— Tagir Ulanbekov (125.5) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (125.5)
— Bogdan Grad (145.5) vs. Luke Riley (145.5)
— Nicolas Dalby (170.5) vs. Saygid Izagakhmaev (170)
— Alex Perez (126) vs. Asu Almabayev (125.5)
— Abdul-Rakhman (205) Yakhyaev vs. Rafael Cerqueira (204)
— Bekzat Almakhan (136) vs. Aleksandre Topuria (135.5)
— Ismail Naurdiev (185) vs. Ryan Loder (185)
— Nurullo Aliev (155) vs. Shaqueme Rock (156)– Marek Bujlo (256.5) vs. Denzel Freeman (260)
