Luana Carolina has once again had issues with weight. This time, it prevented her from even competing.
For the third time in her UFC career, Carolina struggled with her weight cut and did not appear at Friday’s weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 103. It was reported that Carolina’s flyweight fight against Montana De La Rosa was canceled, and this was later confirmed by UFC.
A representative for De La Rosa mentioned that Carolina couldn’t get within five pounds of the 126-pound limit, while Montana was on weight. Because of this difference, the commission wouldn’t allow the fight to proceed, even though Montana was willing to fight Carolina despite the missed weight.
Carolina has a history of weight issues, previously missing weight by 2.5 pounds in May 2021 for a fight with Poliana Botelho, and by three pounds in February 2024 for a fight with Julija Stoliarenko. She won both of those matches.
The main event weigh-ins were successful, with Asu Almabayev being the first to weigh in at 126 pounds. He and his opponent Manel Kape both weighed 126 pounds, utilizing the one-pound allowance for non-title fights.
Kape is currently ranked No. 10 in the flyweight division, and Almabayev is close behind at No. 13. Almabayev, with a 4-0 UFC record, is stepping in as a replacement for the injured Brandon Royval.
Another fighter, Lucas Almeida, also missed weight, coming in two pounds over the featherweight limit. His fight against Danny Silva will still take place at a catchweight, with Almeida losing 20 percent of his purse as a penalty.
Shortly after the weigh-ins, officials announced the cancellation of a 140-pound catchweight fight between Douglas Silva de Andrade and John Castaneda due to medical issues on Silva de Andrade’s side.
Here are the UFC Vegas 103 weigh-in results:
Main Card (ESPN+)
Manel Kape (126) vs. Asu Almabayev (126)
Julian Marquez (186) vs. Cody Brundage (186)
Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Esteban Ribovics (156)
William Gomis (146) vs. Hyder Amil (146)
Danny Barlow (170.5) vs. Sam Patterson (170.5)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Austen Lane (249.5) vs. Mario Pinto (246.5)
Ricardo Ramos (146) vs. Chepe Mariscal (146)
Douglas Silva de Andrade (140) vs. John Castaneda (140) — CANCELED**
Lucas Almeida (148)* vs. Danny Silva (145.5)
Andrea Lee (126) vs. JJ Aldrich (126)
Charles Johnson (125) vs. Ramazan Temirov (125.5)
Luana Carolina vs. Montana De La Rosa — CANCELED***
*Almeida missed weight. His bout with Danny Silva proceeds at a catchweight with Almeida forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty
**Silva de Andrade vs. Castaneda is off the card due to medical issues on Silva de Andrade’s side
***Carolina vs. De La Rosa is off the card due to weight management issues on Carolina’s side
