The UFC Vegas 99 weigh-in video features 20 fighters stepping on the scale Friday morning in Las Vegas. Watch a live stream of the event above, courtesy of Ag. Fight.
In the main event, Anthony Hernandez and Michel Pereira have to hit the middleweight limit of 186 pounds for the non-title fight. Hernandez has won five straight fights, while Pereira has reeled off eight straight victories.
Rob Font and Kyler Phillips have to hit the 136-pound limit for the non-title bantamweight fight in the co-main event.
The UFC Vegas 99 official weigh-in video begins at 12 p.m. ET.
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Check out UFC Vegas 99 weigh-in results below.
Main Card (ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)
Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Michel Pereira (185.5)
A.J. McKee has some business to handle on Saturday but if all goes well it looks like he’ll finally get the fight he’s been chasing for over a year.
At the upcoming PFL: Battle of the Giants event, McKee faces fast-rising prospect Paul Hughes in the first bout on the pay-per-view main card but it seemed like a showdown against Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov was inevitable. An injury knocked McKee out of the Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix, which prevented him from chasing the fight back then, but a recent encounter with Usman’s cousin and coach Khabib Nurmagomedov gave him the news he’s been waiting to hear.
“That’s the fight everyone wants is Usman and McKee,” McKee told MMA Fighting. “I think that’s what’s on the roster next. That’s what everybody wants and I don’t think there’s any other fights to make.
“I was down at [Usman’s] fight in San Diego and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] walks by and says ‘see you in Dubai.’ I’m like I’ll see you in Dubai so it looks like they’re pushing for it and I’m pushing for it. So it looks like we’re going to make it happen. There’s really no other fight to make happen.”
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Since moving to lightweight, McKee has gone undefeated with a perfect 4-0 record including a lightning quick finish over PFL favorite Clay Collard back in February.
This time around he’s facing an up and comer in Hughes, who just signed with PFL as a free agent earlier this year and only has one fight under his belt with the promotion. Going from a win over a journeyman like Bobby King to a fight against arguably the No. 1 contender in the lightweight division might seem like an almost unrealistic step up in competition.
McKee can’t get inside Hughes’ head to know what he’s thinking but he plans on showing him there are levels to this game when they meet on Saturday.
“He really hasn’t dealt with any pressure,” McKee said. “He’s just been kind of walking through guys. How’s he going to react when things get a little nitty gritty and sticky? I’m not one to back down. So I’m going to be in his face the entire time. That’s what we’re going to have to see. How does Paul Hughes react when things aren’t going his way? What is he going to be capable of in those moments?
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“I remember wanting to be neck and neck with the best. But it’s like Fast and the Furious — too soon Junior. That’s the quote I’m looking to drop in this one.”
Truth be told, McKee didn’t even really knows Hughes before he got offered the fight because he leaves scouting up to his father and trainer, Antonio McKee.
Maybe Hughes really is the next big thing but McKee promises he’s not going to be the stepping stone on his ascension to stardom.
“I don’t really pay attention [to my opponents],” McKee said. “My dad’s the one who watches video and footage and puts together the game plan. For me, a name is a name. The hit list is the hit list and I’m just going to continue to go in there and take out people one at a time. Paul Hughes, he’s a tough cat. I can’t take anything away from him. He’s been in there, he’s been fighting and I’m just going to go in there and show him I’m a different breed.
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“I’ve been in his position so I know that young, hungry feeling. I remember the first time I fought a vet. My first vet was Pat Curran. So I remember that hungry feeling. I remember wanting that moment. I’m older but I ain’t that old. I’m still holding my ground. I’m going to do what I do best and that’s come out victorious by any means.
“He lacks some game time, but that is normal,” Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said Friday. “He is feeling very well, doing well, has good sensations and has trained very well this (international) break with us. He is ready.”
Adams was limited to three EPL games last season because of a hamstring injury that sidelined him from Sept. 27 until March 13. He returned for two matches, then didn’t play for Bournemouth after March 30 because of back spasms.
The 25-year-old Adams played a full game for the U.S. when it was eliminated from the Copa América with a 1-0 group stage loss to Uruguay on July 1 and had back surgery days later.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 245 weigh-ins took place Friday, and the fighters came face-to-face one final time before Saturday’s event.
The weigh-ins took place at the UFC Apex, which hosts Saturday’s event (ESPN+). Check out the video above to see the athletes from all 11 scheduled matchups come face-to-face, and don’t miss the photo gallery below.
UFC featherweight veterans will collide as part of the promotion’s final 2024 event.
Tampa-area resident Billy Quarantillo will face UFC Hall of Fame fight combatant Cub Swanson at the Dec. 14 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
Quarantillo (18-6 MMA, 6-4 UFC) announced the bout on social media Oct. 4 with Swanson (29-14 MMA, 14-10 UFC) confirming Thursday.
Quarantillo, 35, has alternated wins and losses in his most recent eight outings. He most recently fought in March, when he lost by submission to Youssef Zalal. It was the first submission loss of his career.
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The results for Swanson, 40, have been similarly consistently inconsistent. He’s alternated wins and losses over his most recent six, having most recently dropped a split decision to Andre Fili. The June bout earned them Fight of the Night honors.
With the addition, the UFC Tampa lineup includes:
Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas
Dustin Jacoby vs. Vitor Petrino
Tracy Cortez vs. Miranda Maverick
Manel Kape vs. Bruno Silva
Billy Quarantillo vs. Cub Swanson
Josefine Knutsson vs. Piera Rodriguez
Navajo Stirling vs. Tuco Tokkos
Davey Grant vs. Ramon Taveras
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
Check out these photos from the PFL: Battle of the Giants ceremonial weigh-ins and fighter faceoffs ahead of the pay-per-view event (ESPN+, DAZN) taking place at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Photos courtesy of PFL)
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
Former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons alleges she was “groped” on two occasions by the football club’s late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
The former Harrods boss tried to “forcefully” kiss her at his department store in 2000, when she was 20, she told The Athletic website.
“Speaking my truth and finally telling my story will hopefully help me heal and be rid of the shame, embarrassment and pain I have carried for years,” she said.
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Lawyers from the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said they were representing four former players of the club.
Fulham FC told the BBC it was trying to establish whether anyone at the club “had been impacted” by Al Fayed.
“The club is profoundly troubled to learn of the experiences told today by former Women’s Team captain, Ronnie Gibbons,” Fulham said.
“She has our deepest empathy and support.”
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Al Fayed owned Fulham between 1997 and 2013.
In 2000, Fulham’s women’s team – known at the time as Fulham Ladies – became the first female football team in Europe to turn professional.
Gibbons, who was captain at the time, said she was driven to Harrods by club staff. Once at the luxury department store, she said she was left alone with Al Fayed, who was then in his 70s.
“He pulled me in close and tried to kiss me on the mouth,” she said of their first meeting.
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“He had his arms holding my arms, like at my side, so I couldn’t push him away or anything like that. It was a real kind of control stance, like ‘I’m dominating you’.
“I was just like, ‘What do I do here?’ I just felt like a huge responsibility on my shoulders at that point because we’d just turned professional.”
Gibbons said that Al Fayed tried to forcefully kiss her again: “He even may have stuck his tongue on me or something. I just remember feeling sick, just really physically feeling sick, when I left there.”
Later that summer, she said a member of staff told her she had been summoned to Harrods again by Al Fayed.
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In the interview with The Athletic, she recalled: “This time he groped me. As he was saying goodbye, he was sort of grabbing me, trying to sort of hold on to me and kiss me. He was like, ‘You’re not scared are you? You don’t need to be scared, I’m not going to do anything like that, you’re very precious, you’re a very special girl’.”
Fulham FC told the BBC: “We unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the Club is or would have been impacted by Mohamed Al Fayed in any manner as described in recent reports.”
The allegations follow a BBC documentary and podcast, containing testimony from former Harrods employees who said the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them.
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Since the documentary first aired in September, a further 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Al Fayed, with allegations stretching beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977.
‘Extra precautions’
Last month, the former manager of Fulham’s women’s team Gaute Haugenes told the BBC that extra precautions had been put in place to protect female players from Al Fayed.
Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, said members of staff became aware that the late billionaire “liked young, blonde girls”.
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Gibbons was reported to be angered by these comments.
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Haugenes, who is Norwegian, said he could completely understand her frustration.
“All I can say is I am really sorry for saying something that could have put more wood on the fire. I honestly thought we protected the players,” he said.
“I knew that he liked Ronnie because all the girls, they joked about it. But I thought he was an old man, she was a young woman. I was 30 at the time, I didn’t think people his age were thinking about sex.
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“I might have been naive, it might have been some of the language barriers that I didn’t pick up details in their joking.”
He added that he had not been aware she had been told to go to Harrods.
Asked whether club staff could have done more, he said it was difficult to know what could have been done differently.
“But you should have had a system that picked up things like that,” he said. “It was before I was a manager that she went there.”
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He added: “It is sad to hear she had those kind of experiences as a professional player.”
The CEO of Women in Football (WIF) told the BBC there are “significant challenges” in the female football environment.
“It brings to the fore the prevalence of power in balances and the risk towards women in the industry working both on and off the pitch,” Yvonne Harrison said.
“For players it is really important that they are protected, they are safeguarded and that their voices are first and foremost listened to – and that is the same off the pitch as well.”
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The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said the abuse Gibbons had endured from Al Fayed was “yet another horrible example of the monstrous abuse aided and abetted by the businesses he owned”.
They added: “We salute our client’s bravery and are proud to advocate for Ronnie and others at Fulham who are searching for justice. We will do whatever we can to lift the lid on abuse, no matter where it was perpetrated, or who it was perpetrated by, including any enablers of Al-Fayed’s abhorrent behaviour.”
A spokesperson for Harrods said it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed.
It said: “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.
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“We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise.”
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