Junior Tafa came in heavy for his UFC Vegas 118 light heavyweight clash with Iwo Baraniewski, missing the mark by half a pound at Friday’s official weigh-ins.
Tafa registered 206.5 pounds for the bout, over the 206-pound non-title limit. He failed to make weight even after stripping down and stepping on the scale a second time.
The New Zealander accepted the matchup with Baraniewski on a little over two weeks’ notice, stepping in as a replacement for Billy Elekana, who withdrew for undisclosed reasons. This will be Tafa’s second fight in 35 days following a knockout win over Kevin Christian at UFC Perth in May.
At the top of the card, welterweights Belal Muhammad and Gabriel Bonfim both successfully weighed in at 170.5 pounds for their UFC Vegas 118 main event. In the co-main event, middleweights Brendan Allen and Edmen Shahbazyan also hit their contracted marks.
On the preliminary card, flyweights Matt Schnell and Alessandro Costa each weighed 129.5 pounds for a 130-pound catchweight contest.
