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The weight disparity between the two strawweights exceeds the Nevada Athletic Commission’s limit.
The UFC 246 main card has taken a hit on the eve of fight night.
At Friday’s official weigh-ins, strawweight Alexa Grasso came in at 121.5 lbs, which is 5.5 lbs over the non-title limit. Her opponent Claudia Gadelha had no issues making weight, but Grasso being so far over the limit was grounds for the Nevada Athletic Commission to cancel the bout, per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
Nevada has canceled the Grasso – Gadelha fight because the allowance between strawweights in Nevada is 3 pounds between competitors and there was a six pound difference between them. Grasso weighed 121.5.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 17, 2020
Grasso (11-3) was also not cleared by doctors for competition.
This is not a first-time issue for Grasso at the scale; the Mexican fighter missed by three pounds for her fight vs. Randa Markos back in August 2017. She’s coming off a decision loss to Carla Esparza last September, which dropped her UFC record to 3-3.
Gadelha (17-4) defeated Markos at UFC 239 last July, but injuries prevented her from competing for the rest of 2019. Unfortunately, she’ll have to wait longer for her return to the Octagon, and it’s squarely because of her opponent’s weight cutting troubles.
There’s no word yet on what fight will replace Gadelha-Grasso on the main card, which is headlined by a welterweight bout between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone.