Middleweight prospect Ihor Potieria paid a huge price for a massive weight loss in his UFC Vegas 101 return.
If Marco Tulio had any UFC debut nerves during his middleweight bout against Ihor Potieria, it only took him a few minutes to get comfortable at UFC Vegas 101.
Potieria, a former light heavyweight, lost three pounds (188 pounds) on Friday ahead of his return against Tulio. After Potieria forfeited a percentage of his purse due to the weight loss, the fight was moved to a catchweight of 188 pounds to conclude the preliminaries of UFC Vegas 101.
Tulio opted to immediately take the center of the Octagon against Potieria and had his opponent on the back foot from the start. After landing a right hand that just missed the landing flush, he followed it up with another overhand as Potieria charged forward and found a home on Potieria's chin.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ihor Potieria gets squashed after a big weight loss at UFC Vegas 101
It was a brutal knockout for Tulio, who proved he was worth the purchase last year via Dana White's Contender Series. As for Potieria, it was another disappointing setback as he has now lost five of his previous six fights.
Potieria became one of the first UFC fighters to miss weight at the start of 2025, as he was one of two athletes who failed to make the agreed-upon limit on Friday. Flyweight Jose Johnson also missed weight by three pounds ahead of his clash with Felipe Bunes on the UFC Vegas 101 undercard.
Tulio has now won nine straight fights since a loss to Alexandre Silva at SFT 5 in 2018. He earned a shot in the UFC by finishing Matthieu Duclos with a spinning back-kick knockout on DWCS.
Ihor Potieria since he was the fighter who retired Shogun Rua: Lost to Ulberg ko Lost to Bellato ko (Beat Bryczek) Lost to Michel Pereira subLost to Cesar Almeida Lost to Marco Tulio ko
UFC just feeds him to all the Brazilians for revenge #ufcvegas101 pic.twitter.com/SA8SFQkdgf
— Kevin Thang (@Skip2MyJays) January 11, 2025
View Tweet
Fighters who miss weight are 0-2 in the UFC to kick off 2025
Potieria's UFC future is uncertain after massive weight loss and continued struggles inside the Octagon. Before the loss to Tulio, and after moving from light heavyweight to middleweight, César Almeida defeated Potieria by unanimous decision at UFC 307 last October.
Potieria made his UFC debut at UFC 277 after finishing Łukasz Sudolski on DWCS in 2021. After winning 19 of his first 21 professional fights, he has struggled to translate his success to the UFC Octagon in recent losses to Nicolae Negumereanu and Carlos Ulberg.
Potieria and Johnson both lost their fights in lopsided fashion after cutting weight ahead of UFC Vegas 101. Their performances show that missing weight does little to contribute to positive results in the cage.
Related topics
Comments