Rafael Alves loses almost 5 kilos of weight to featherweight fight at UFC Vegas 19, fight canceled

A preliminary fighter was so weightless at Friday’s official weigh-in for UFC Vegas 19 that he would have weighed in one category.

Rafael Alves weighed 57.5 kilos for a featherweight (yes, featherweight) fight with Patrick Sabatini scheduled for Saturday’s preliminary card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. That’s 11.5 pounds over the 145 pound limit.

Sabatini managed to weigh 145.5 pounds. He took advantage of Alves’ fight in the short term to replace Mike Trizano (ankle injury).

The fight was officially canceled.

Earlier this week, Alves told MMA Fighting that his plan was to return to lightweight after UFC Vegas 19.

Alves released a note on Instagram shortly after the end of the official weigh-ins.

@rafaeltheturn, Instagram

“Guys, I got sick in weight reduction and my fight was canceled”, wrote Alves. “I’m sorry, but my health above all.”

MMA Fighting contacted Alves for further comments.

Also missing were the bantamweight Ketlen Vieira and the bantamweight Drako Rodriguez and the featherweight Jared Gordon. Vieira came with 138, two pounds over the limit for his co-main event fight with Yana Kunitskaya, while Rodriguez came with 4.5 pounds over the limit and Gordon four pounds.

Kunitskaya successfully weighed 135.5 pounds, as did Rodriguez and Gordon’s respective opponents, Aiemann Zahabi (136) and Danny Chavez (145).

The co-main event fight between Vieira and Kunitskaya will continue at a catchweight, with Vieira losing 20 percent of his bag to Kunitskaya. Rodriguez and Gordon’s fights will also continue as catchweights, with both fighters losing 30 percent to their opponents.

See UFC Vegas 19 weigh-in results here.