Junior Tafa misses weight at UFC Vegas 118 after short-notice call-up

Junior Tafa was the sole fighter to miss weight at Friday’s official UFC Vegas 118 weigh-ins, registering 206.5 pounds — half a pound above the light heavyweight limit — for his bout against Iwo Baraniewski. A second attempt on the scale, with Tafa stripped down and enclosed in a privacy box, still failed to bring him in under 205 pounds.

Context matters here. Tafa accepted the Baraniewski fight on just over two weeks’ notice, stepping in as a late replacement for Billy Elekana, who withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Saturday’s card will also be Tafa’s second appearance in 35 days; the Australian knocked out Kevin Christian at UFC Perth in May. Whether the Baraniewski bout proceeds at a catchweight — and what percentage of Tafa’s purse will be forfeited as a penalty — had not been confirmed at the time of weigh-ins.

The rest of the main card cleared the scales without incident. Welterweight headliners Belal Muhammad and Gabriel Bonfim both weighed in at 170.5 pounds, each using the one-pound allowance permitted for non-title bouts.

Muhammad arrives at UFC Vegas 118 under pressure, having dropped back-to-back decisions to Ian Machado Garry and Jack Della Maddalena. The former UFC welterweight champion sits at No. 7 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, while Bonfim — ranked No. 15 — is looking to leapfrog him with a statement win. The Brazilian is 4-0 since his only professional defeat, a loss to Nicolas Dalby in November 2023, and enters on the back of a second-round knockout of Randy Brown last November, the first time Bonfim headlined a UFC event.

Co-main event middleweights Brendan Allen and Edmen Shahbazyan also made weight successfully, with Allen at 185.5 and Shahbazyan at 186 pounds.

Main Card

Belal Muhammad (170.5) vs. Gabriel Bonfim (170.5)

Brendan Allen (185.5) vs. Edmen Shahbazyan (186)

Fares Ziam (156) vs. Tom Nolan (155)

Bryce Mitchell (135.5) vs. Santiago Luna (136)

Iwo Baraniewski (206) vs. Junior Tafa (206.5)*

Preliminary Card

Matt Schnell (129.5) vs. Alessandro Costa (129.5) — 130-pound catchweight bout

Marcus McGhee (136) vs. John Yannis (136)

Bruno Silva (126) vs. Edgar Chairez (126)

Priscila Cachoeira (135.5) vs. Chelsea Chandler (135)

Jordan Leavitt (145.5) vs. Joanderson Brito (145.5)

Jeisla Chaves (124) vs. Yuneisy Duben (125)

Ketlen Souza (116) vs. Ariane Carnelossi (116)

*missed weight