Bout pulled from UFC 246 after Grasso misses weight by 5.5 lbs
Warning: Story contains coarse language
The strawweight bout between Claudia Gadelha and Alexa Grasso has been removed from Saturday's UFC 246 lineup after Grasso missed weight by a significant amount, the Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed Friday, per ESPN's Ariel Helwani.
Grasso, the 11th-ranked strawweight in the promotion, tipped the scale at 121.5 pounds, which is 5.5 pounds over the division limit of 116 for non-title bouts.
In Nevada, strawweights must be within 3 pounds of each other on weigh-in day to be eligible to compete, according to the commission. Gadelha weighed in at 115.5 pounds.
Additionally, Grasso was not cleared by doctors, NSAC chief assistant Jeff Mullen told ESPN's Marc Raimondi.
Gadelha, a former UFC title challenger, said in a statement Friday afternoon that she wanted to fight Grasso despite the weight miss.
"I worked so hard for this and I was so excited to put in a show for you all tomorrow," she wrote on Instagram.
She added, "I still wanted the fight because I am a bad b---- but Nevada Commission athlete didn’t (allow) the fight to happen. ... We will run it back!"
Gadelha versus Grasso was scheduled to take place on the main card. Brian Kelleher vs. Ode Osbourne, originally slated for the early prelims, has been moved up to the pay-per-view portion of the event, UFC officials confirmed.
UFC 246 will take place Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the main event, Conor McGregor will meet Donald Cerrone in a welterweight bout.
This is the second time Grasso has missed weight in her UFC career. She weighed in at 119 pounds ahead of a fight against Randa Markos in 2017. That bout was not canceled and Grasso ended up winning by split decision.