Kamaru Usman is ready to climb back to the top of the welterweight mountain.
The former champion, who wore the UFC’s 170-pound crown from 2019-2022, successfully weighed in at 171 pounds (making use of the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight) Friday morning for his UFC Atlanta main event matchup against Joaquin Buckley. This marks Usman’s first fight at welterweight since March 2023, when he lost a trilogy bout against rival Leon Edwards and fell short of regaining his belt.
Buckley also successfully hit the mark for Saturday’s headliner, coming in at 171 pounds. Since moving down from middleweight, Buckley has been on an incredible run, winning six straight fights and picking up victories over longtime contenders Colby Covington and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. He is currently the No. 7 welterweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.
Saturday’s co-main event is also set with Rose Namajunas and Miranda Maverick both weighing in at 126 pounds. Namajunas, a two-time champion at 115 pounds and the No. 13 fighter in the world pound-for-pound, seeks to stay in the flyweight title picture by beating the surging Maverick, who has won four straight fights.
All 26 fighters set to compete at UFC Atlanta successfully made weight, though middleweight Mansur Abdul-Malik brought some drama to the proceedings.
Abdul-Malik was the last fighter to weigh in and he initially came in one pound over the limit. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the official weigh-in window, Abdul-Malik exited the stage and returned shortly after before stripping down and hitting the 186-pound mark under cover of a box.
See UFC Atlanta weigh-in results below.
Main Card (ESPN, ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET)
Kamaru Usman (171) vs. Joaquin Buckley (171)
Rose Namajunas(126) vs. Miranda Maverick (126)
Edmen Shahbazyan (185) vs. Andre Petroski (186)
Cody Garbrandt (136) vs. Raoni Barcelos (136)
Mansur Abdul-Malik (186) vs. Cody Brundage (186)
Alonzo Menifield (206) vs. Oumar Sy (206)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)
Paul Craig (206) vs. Rodolfo Bellato (205.5)
Michael Chiesa (171) vs. Court McGee (170)
Malcolm Wellmaker (136) vs. Kris Moutinho (136)
Cody Durden (126) vs. Jose Ochoa (125)
Ricky Simon (136) vs. Cameron Smotherman (136)
Phil Rowe (171) vs. Ange Loosa (171)
Jamey-Lyn Horth (126) vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (126)
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