Rarely will fans call for an undefeated fighter to be released. However, that was the case on Friday after Diyar Nurgozhay missed weight by an otherworldly 4.5 pounds ahead of his fight with Brendson Ribeiro.
Amazingly, Ribeiro accepted the fight, and the two men are still going to clash on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
That didn’t stop fans from taking to social media, urging UFC President Dana White to cut Nurgozhay. The 27-year-old from Kazakhstan is 10-0, with four wins by KO. He earned a spot on the UFC’s main roster with a memorable head kick KO win over Bartosz Szewczyk on Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2024.
Nurgozhay’s fight with Ribeiro on Saturday is going to be the former’s main roster debut. Needless to say, this is not the way a fighter wants to begin their career in the UFC.
“Cut him instantly, first day at work,” one fan replied to one of the many social media posts announcing Nurgozhay’s weight miss. “Give the other guy win money and move on.”
“Cut him now, @danawhite, completely unprofessional,” another fan commented. “Doesn’t deserve to fight in @ufc.”
“Cut ’em. I would cut ’em right there,” a third fan said. “Coming to work on your first day unprepared—no excuses. Cut ’EM!”
Neither White nor the UFC has commented on Nurgozhay’s wide weight miss, and it is unlikely they will speak on the situation. Quite honestly, Saturday’s card is one of the least-hyped events of the year. It is headlined by a middleweight scrap between Marvin Vettori and Roman Dolidze in a rematch of a fight that almost no one remembers.
The fight could be epic, but the point is, this event isn’t approaching with a ton of hype. Nurgozhay’s weight miss might actually draw as much attention as any result on the card.
That said, missing weight by nearly five pounds in your UFC debut is like being an hour late for your first date with the person you’ve wanted to date your whole life. Nurgozhay wasn’t alone in the weight-missing category.
Co-main eventer Chidi Njokuani missed weight by 1.5 pounds ahead of his fight with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. It’s the second time Njokuani has missed weight in his UFC career. He’s 36 years old with a 24-10 record. It might not be a stretch to say that if he loses to dos Santos on Saturday, it could be his final fight in the UFC.
While not as egregious of a miss as Nurgozhay and Njokuani, Josias Musasa, another fighter making his UFC main roster debut, also missed weight.
Musasa missed weight by half a pound ahead of his fight with Carlos Vera. Musasa comes into the fight 8-0 after barely making the cut on the Contender Series with a split-decision win over Otari Tanzilovi in September 2024.
On Saturday, we’ll see how well Nurgozhay, Njokuani, and Musasa perform with the pressure on them to deliver after falling short on the scales. Here is a look at the entire card.
- Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze – Middleweight
- Elizeu Zaleski vs. Chidi Njokuani – Welterweight
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Kurt Holobaugh – Lightweight
- Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Cody Gibson – Bantamweight
- Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro – Light Heavyweight
- Kevin Vallejos vs. Seung Woo Choi – Featherweight
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Ryan Spann – Heavyweight
- Su Young You vs. AJ Cunningham – Bantamweight
- Josias Musasa vs. Carlos Vera – Bantamweight
- Sam Hughes vs. Stephanie Luciano – Strawweight
- André Lima vs. Daniel Barez – Flyweight
- Josiane Nunes vs. P. Cachoeira – Bantamweight
- Yuneisy Duben vs. Carli Judice – Flyweight
