Jailton Almeida is facing yet another imposing challenge in the octagon. This time, the Brazilian heavyweight and former light heavyweight competitor arrived at the official weigh-ins for UFC Charlotte on Friday, weighing in at 231 pounds. Although this is a full 34 pounds lighter than his opponent, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who weighed in at 265 pounds, it is commonplace for Almeida to give up significant weight to his opponents.

This was also the case in his last fights against heavyweight competitors, Shamil Abdurakhimov and Parker Porter. However, Almeida’s most significant challenge yet is set to take place on Saturday in the main event against Rozenstruik.

Anthony Smith and Johnny Walker, the co-main event light heavyweight contenders, were able to successfully make weight and make their bouts official. Unfortunately, the preliminary card of the event suffered some setbacks. During Friday’s official weigh-ins, officials announced that due to weight management issues on Pete Rodriguez’s side, his lightweight bout against Natan Levy had to be cancelled.

This would have been Rodriguez’s first fight at 155 pounds, and Levy and his team shared their disappointment regarding this situation via social media. Levy even referred to his opponent as “Fat Pete” and claimed that Rodriguez rejected several catchweight alternatives that were proposed.

Eric Nicksick, Levy’s coach, confirmed that doctors had informed Rodriguez that he would not be able to compete due to his weight issues. It is noteworthy that Levy and Rodriguez were initially scheduled to face each other at UFC Vegas 72 two weeks ago, but Rodriguez withdrew from that event due to sickness.

Of the 22 fighters scheduled to fight at the UFC Charlotte, two fighters failed to make weight in the official weigh-ins. Welterweights Bryan Battle and Daniel Rodriguez had issues with weight management. Battle exceeded the limit for a non-title bout at 173 pounds, two pounds over the limit for his preliminary match with Gabe Green, who weighed in at 170.5.

Rodriguez was only half a pound over for his main card fight against Ian Machado Garry at 170.5. However, he was given an additional hour to cut off the extra weight and later successfully weighed in at 170 pounds.