MONTREAL — A bantamweight contest between former UFC champion José Aldo and Aiemann Zahabi will now be contested at featherweight after Aldo had trouble making the lighter weight class a day before the bout.
Aldo (32-9) weighed in at 143 pounds Friday, and looked depleted in doing so. Zahabi (12-2) looked comfortable moments later at 142 pounds. The two are paired to fight at UFC 315.
Zahabi later revealed that the UFC alerted him that Aldo’s weight cut wasn’t going well. He also posted a video of himself cutting down to an early 136 pounds before rehydrating back to 142.
The now-featherweight bout is still on, and it’s unclear whether this will result in Aldo reconsidering weight class moving forward. He fought the majority of his career at 145 pounds, before dropping to 135 in 2019.
UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad will make his first title defense against Jack Della Maddalena in the main event Saturday night, while women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko puts her belt on the line against Manon Fiorot in the co-main event at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
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