Vieira misses weight by seven pounds, stripping Cyborg PFL title fight of its belt

Ketlen Vieira’s catastrophic weight miss has cost Cris Cyborg a title defence before a single punch has been thrown. Vieira stepped on the scales at 152.2 pounds ahead of Saturday’s PFL Tampa main event, a full seven pounds above the 145-pound championship limit, stripping the bout of its featherweight title status and reducing it to a catchweight contest.

The fight will still go ahead, but the stakes have been dramatically altered. Vieira, who parted ways with the UFC earlier this year before signing with PFL, will forfeit a percentage of her purse as a financial penalty for the miss. Cyborg, who made weight without issue, shared video of Vieira’s weigh-in on social media.

Cyborg addressed the situation in an interview with ESPN Brasil, expressing relief that the bout survived the chaos. “Today, when I went to weigh in, I found out that Ketlen wasn’t going to be able to make weight,” she said, in a Portuguese-to-English translation by MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz. “My team talked and checked how much weight she had actually come in at and everything. I don’t know what happened. I believe Pederneiras’ team is very professional and I’m not here to judge them, but she fought at 135, moved up to 145, and fought in May. And she was seven pounds over now.”

Cyborg noted that cancellation was briefly on the table before both camps agreed to the catchweight arrangement. “I think they were going to cancel the fight and everything, but there was a conversation to make sure the fight wouldn’t get canceled, and they reached a catchweight agreement,” she said. “I’m happy that I made weight. I’m really happy that the fight is going to happen. A lot of things happened that could have prevented the fight from happening, but thankfully, everything worked out. Let’s go! Saturday, it’s on!”

The miss is a significant blow to a card built around Cyborg’s title. Vieira, a former UFC bantamweight contender who challenged Amanda Nunes for the 135-pound belt in 2022, had moved up to featherweight and was making her PFL debut in the marquee slot. The seven-pound overage is among the most severe weight misses in recent major MMA events.

Elsewhere on the main card, Taila Santos faces Sabrinna de Sousa at flyweight, Gadzhi Rabadanov meets Tracy Reeder at lightweight, and Luke Trainer takes on Roland Dunlap at light heavyweight.