Johnny Walker faces another big – literally – test in his second heavyweight fight at UFC Vegas 124.
At the official weigh-ins for Saturday’s show at Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Waldo Cortes-Acosta weighed in at 262 pounds, 23 pounds heavier than Walker for their main event clash. Walker made a successful move up from light heavyweight at UFC 332 this past October, when he knocked out Mick Parkin in the first round.
Cortes-Acosta and Walker both make quick turnarounds for the short-notice call, with Cortes-Acosta having
fought less than two month’s ago at Noche UFC 4, and Walker competing for the second time in 35 days. Their matchup was thrown together when the originally scheduled welterweight headliner featuring Gabriel Bonfim and Sean Brady fell through due to a Brady injury.
For the co-main event, Tatiana Suarez and Virna Jandiroba successfully made weight for what could be Saturday’s most important fight. Suarez registered at 115.5 pounds and Jandiroba at 116 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins. Both women took advantage of the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight and aim to get a big win to keep themselves in the championship conversation.
Suarez – No. 3 at 115 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings – challenged Zhang Weili for the strawweight title at UFC 312, where she lost a unanimous decision, but has bounced back with consecutive wins over Loopy Godinez and Amanda Lemos. Jandiroba (2) also had her chance to become champion, but fell short against Mackenzie Dern in a vacant title bout at UFC 321. She is already back on the winning track, having defeated Tabatha Ricci this past April.
All 28 fighters competing Saturday successfully made weight.
Check out UFC Vegas 124 weigh-in results below.
Main Card (Paramount+ at 8 p.m. ET)
Waldo Cortes-Acosta (262) vs. Johnny Walker (239)
Tatiana Suarez (115.5) vs. Virna Jandiroba (116)
Davey Grant (135.5) vs. Elijah Smith (135.5)
Billy Elekana (206) vs. Lucas Fernando (205)
Priscila Cachoeira (136) vs. Nina Milosevic (136)
Mitch Raposo (125.5) vs. Marcos Degli (126)
Preliminary Card (Paramount+ at 5 p.m. ET)
Keiichiro Nakamura (145) vs. Ollie Schmid (145.5)
Gabriel Lorenco (234) vs. Thomas Petersen (253.5)
Karine Silva (125) vs. Gabriella Fernandes (126)
Jose Delano (145.5) vs. Murtazali Magomedov (146)
Austin Bashi (145.5) vs. Carlos Calderon (145.5)
Mantas Kondratavicius (186) vs. Andre Petroski (185.5)
Seokhyon Ko (170) vs. Wellington Turman (171)
Jonny Parsons (169.5) vs. Jose Souza (171)
