The weigh-ins are in the books for UFC on ESPN 56, but the event will go on with one fewer fight than expected.
Jared Gooden (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC), who has had two bad weight misses in the past several years, never came to the scale Friday for his welterweight bout against Kevin Jousset (10-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC). UFC officials announced the preliminary card bout has been scrapped due to medical concerns with Gooden. No specific details were provided.
A little more than a year ago, Gooden was 177 pounds for a welterweight fight against Carlston Harris. The fight went on, but he lost by unanimous decision. In late 2021, he was 174 pounds ahead of a decision loss to Randy Brown in his first stint in the UFC.
In the main event, two-time heavyweight title challenger Derrick Lewis (27-12 MMA, 18-10 UFC) takes on Rodrigo Nascimento (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC). Nascimento was first to weigh in and was 264.5 pounds. Lewis came to the scale about 50 minutes into the session and was 264 to make the bout official.
The weigh-ins took place at the UFC host hotel in St. Louis. The nearby Enterprise Center hosts Saturday’s event (ESPN/ESPN+).
The full UFC on ESPN 56 weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
- Derrick Lewis (264) vs. Rodrigo Nascimento (265)
- Joaquin Buckley (170) vs. Nursulton Ruziboev (170.25)
- Alonzo Menifield (205.5) vs. Carlos Ulberg (205)
- Diego Ferreira (155) vs. Mateusz Rebecki (155.25)
- Alex Caceres (145) vs. Sean Woodson (145)
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta (262) vs. Robelis Despaigne (262.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)
- Viacheslav Borshchev (155) vs. Chase Hooper (155)
- Terrance McKinney (155.25) vs. Esteban Ribovics (155)
- Tecia Pennington (115) vs. Tabatha Ricci (115)
- Billy Goff (170.25) vs. Trey Waters (170)
- Jake Hadley (125) vs. Charles Johnson (125.5)
- Jared Gooden ()* vs. Kevin Jousset (170.5)
- JJ Aldrich (125.25) vs. Veronica Hardy (126)
*Gooden did not come to the scale. His welterweight fight with Kevin Jousset was canceled due to medical issues for Gooden during his weight cut.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 56.
