Josh Emmett and Jeremy Stephens Ready to Go, but One Fighter Misses Weight at UFC on FOX 28 Weigh-ins

Emmett and Stephens Ready to Go, but One Fighter Misses Weight at UFC on FOX 28 Weigh-ins

February 23, 2018

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Orlando, Fla., this week for UFC on FOX 28, and the fight card is now official following Friday morning’s early weigh-in.

UFC on FOX 28 features a featherweight battle between two men trying to get in line for a title shot, but under very different circumstances.

Jeremy Stephens (27-14) has been fighting for well over a decade and has become known as the UFC’s human highlight reel. Now, however, he’s gunning for his first crack at a UFC belt, having recently defeated Gilbert Melendez and Doo Ho Choi.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is his opponent, Josh Emmett. Emmett is actually a year older than Stephens, he’s 32 to Stephens’ 31, but he has been fighting for just under 7 years, but amassed an impressive 13-1 record. His only stumble was a split-decision loss to Desmond Green at lightweight before he returned to featherweight, where he has since taken impressive victories over Felipe Arantes and Ricardo Lamas. He hopes to add Stephens’ name to his hit list and forge a quick route to a UFC title shot.

Emmett weighed in early, tipping the scale at 146 pounds, the upper limit for a non-championship featherweight bout. Stephens took a good bit more time to make his way to the scale, but also weighed 146 pounds.

In addition to what should be an exciting main event, Jessica Andrade and Tecia Torres will battle it out in the co-main event, trying to earn a shot at the winner of the upcoming UFC strawweight title fight between Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Both ladies weighed in at 116 pounds.

While nearly all of the fighters on the card made weight, Alex Perez, the final fighter on the scale weighed 126.5 pounds, which was 0.5 pounds over the limit for his flyweight non-championship bout. He was given an hour to cut the additional half pound.

A scheduled bout between Gilbert Burns and Olivier Aubin-Mercier was canceled earlier in the week, when it was deemed medically unsafe for Burns to try and make the contracted weight for their lightweight preliminary bout.