There are less than five days before the upcoming UFC Fight Night Tampa card and the main event may be in jeopardy.
A report from Raphael Marinho of Combate is stating that former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has informed the UFC that she isn’t going to make weight for the main event bout against Michelle Waterson, which is to be contested at 115 pounds.
The report also states that Waterson is refusing to face Jedrzejczyk at catchweight or face a potential replacement opponents in Amanda Ribas or Mackenzie Dern.
Marinho also reports that the UFC is speaking with Angela Hill about replacing Waterson on the card to face Jedrzejczyk in the main event at catchweight. Waterson, according to the report, would then be moved to next months UFC 244 card to face a yet to be named opponent.
If a new main event cannot be put together with either Jedrzejczyk or Waterson participating, a featherweight division bout between Cub Swanson and Kron Gracie would most likely occupy that slot.
There has been no comment yet from the UFC, Waterson, Jedrzejczyk or anybody else involved in the situation.
Jedrzejczyk, a short time after the above story was posted, would comment on the matter via Instagram stories (via Danny Segura of MMA Fighting):
“I don’t know what’s going on, the weigh-ins are tomorrow [They’re scheduled for Friday morning] and you’re all worried about. The fight is on, the weighs-in are on Friday. Keep it calm, guys. All fine, step by step. I will see you there. Did I miss something? Did I miss the weigh-ins today or what? Because the weigh ins are on Friday, isn’t it?”
UFC Fight Night Tampa takes place on Saturday, October 12 from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida with Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Michelle Waterson headlining (for now). Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.
