On Saturday night, the UFC will returned to our screens with the stacked UFC 259 card—easily the biggest event of the year so far.
UFC 259 will be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between reigning champion Jan Blachowicz and challenger Israel Adesanya, who holds the promotion’s middleweight title. Blachowicz will be looking for the first defense of his title reign, while Adesanya will look to join the short list of fighters to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously.
The card will also feature two other title fights. First up, new UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan will attempt the first defense of his championship reign against No. 1 contender Aljamain Sterling. Then, in the evening’s co-main event, pound-for-pound queen Amanda Nunes will attempt to defend her featherweight title opposite Megan Anderson.
In addition to this trio of title fights, the UFC 259 card also features appearances from a host of ranked contenders as Islam Makhachev takes on Drew Dober at lightweight, Thiago Santos collides with Aleksandar Rakic at light heavyweight, Dominick Cruz takes on Casey Kenney at bantamweight, and Joseph Benavidez battles Askar Askarov in the flyweight division.
On Friday at noon ET, the stars of this stacked event stepped onto the scale to weigh-in for battle. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when no fight is safe from cancelation, weigh-ins have become an extremely tense viewing experience. Here’s hoping the UFC 259 bill stays mostly intact.
See the full UFC 259 weigh-in results below:
**Refresh for updates**
UFC 259 Main Card | 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+ pay-per-view
- Champ Jan Blachowicz (205) vs. Israel Adesanya (200.5)
- Champ Amanda Nunes (145) vs. Megan Anderson (144.5)
- Champ Petr Yan (135) vs. Aljamain Sterling (134.5)
- Drew Dober (156) vs. Islam Makhachev (156)
- Aleksandar Rakic (206) vs. Thiago Santos (206)
UFC 259 Prelims | 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Dominick Cruz (136) vs. Casey Kenney ()
- Kyler Phillips (136) vs. Song Yadong (135.5)
- Askar Askarov (127) vs. Joseph Benavidez (125.5)
- Amanda Lemos (116) vs. Livinha Souza (116)
UFC 259 Early Prelims | 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+
- Tim Elliott (125.5) vs. Jordan Espinosa (126)
- Kennedy Nzechukwu (205.5) vs. Carlos Ulberg (205)
- Sean Brady (170.5) vs. Jake Matthews (169.5)
- Rogerio Bontorin (126) vs. Kai Kara-France (125.5)
- Aalon Cruz (155) vs. Uros Medic (156)
- Mario Bautista (135.5) vs. Trevin Jones (134.5)
* Askarov missed weight by one pound, but the contest will go ahead as planned.
Which fights on the UFC 259 bill are you most excited for?