Rafael Alves misses weight by almost 12 pounds for featherweight bout at UFC Vegas 19, fight canceled

One preliminary fighter was so far off weight at Friday’s official weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 19 that he would have been heavy a division up.

Rafael Alves weighed in at 157.5 pounds for a featherweight (yes, featherweight) bout with Patrick Sabatini scheduled for Saturday’s preliminary card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. That’s 11.5 pounds over the 145-pound limit.

Sabatini successfully made weight at 145.5 pounds. He took the Alves fight on short-notice as a replacement for Mike Trizano (ankle injury).

The bout has officially been canceled.

Earlier this week, Alves told MMA Fighting that his plan was to return to the lightweight division after UFC Vegas 19.

Alves issued a statement on Instagram shortly after the end of the official weigh-ins.

“Guys, I fell ill during my weight cut and my fight was cancelled,” Alves wrote. “I’m sorry, but my health above everything.”

MMA Fighting has reached out to Alves for further comment.

Also missing weight were bantamweights Ketlen Vieira and bantamweight Drako Rodriguez and featherweight Jared Gordon. Vieira came in at 138, two pounds over the limit for her co-main event bout with Yana Kunitskaya, while Rodriguez came in 4.5 pounds over the limit and Gordon four pounds.

Kunitskaya successfully weighed in at 135.5 pounds as did Rodriguez and Gordon’s respective opponents, Aiemann Zahabi (136) and Danny Chavez (145).

The co-main event bout between Vieira and Kunitskaya will proceed at a catchweight, with Vieira forfeiting 20 percent of her purse to Kunitskaya. Rodriguez and Gordon’s fights will also proceed as catchweights, with both fighters forfeiting 30 percent to their opponents.

See the UFC Vegas 19 weigh-in results here.