British bantamweight Melissa Mullins’s UFC London fight was cancelled on Friday morning after her opponent, Luana Carolina, failed to make weight. Mullins had successfully tipped the scales at 136lb earlier in the day, but Carolina came in at 144lb – 8lb over the bantamweight limit.
The Brazilian’s weight was announced behind a curtain, and UFC commentator John Gooden later confirmed the fight had been pulled for regulatory reasons. It was Carolina’s third weight miss in the promotion; she also failed to attend the weigh-in for a bout 12 months ago, leading to a cancellation.
Mullins, born in Oxford and fighting out of Coventry, was seen in tears after her own weigh-in. She later clarified on Instagram that the emotion was due to the difficulty of the cut, not her opponent’s failure. “I did not know Luana was going to miss weight until after I stepped on the scales,” she wrote. “I had tears of joy in making weight.”
Despite agreeing to take the fight, the bout was cancelled by the commission. Mullins described the situation as “all my hard work wasted” and called for support to “get me back out fighting on a card asap.” The 34-year-old is 2-2 in the UFC and 7-2 overall in mixed martial arts.
The cancellation is a blow to the O2 Arena card, though it still features several British names. Manchester’s Lerone Murphy headlines against Movsar Evloev in a featherweight title eliminator; both made weight. Liverpool’s Luke Riley also made weight for his co-main event against Michael Aswell Jr.
