Cris Cyborg was looking forward to ending the final fight of her PFL contract with another defense of her featherweight title in Tampa. However, her opponent, Ketlen Vieira, missed weight by a significant margin, drawing criticism from fans and MMA figures.

At the weigh-ins, the former UFC fighter weighed in at 152.2 pounds for her 145-pound featherweight title bout, missing the mark by a staggering 7.2 pounds. On the other hand, Cris Cyborg made weight without any issue. At first, it seemed like the PFL would call off its August 22 main event, but Cyborg revealed that she accepted the fight at a catchweight after consulting with her team.

“I think they were going to cancel the fight and everything, but there was a conversation to make sure the fight wouldn’t get canceled, and they reached a catchweight agreement,” Cyborg told ESPN Brazil. “I’m happy that I made weight. I’m really happy that the fight is going to happen. A lot of things happened that could have prevented the fight from happening, but thankfully, everything worked out. Let’s go! Saturday, it’s on!”

Fortunately, the PFL Tampa main event has been saved thanks to the Brazilian MMA legend accepting the fight at a catchweight. However, Ketlen Vieira will be unable to win the featherweight title even if she ends up defeating the 41-year-old on Saturday. Addressing the reason behind her weight miss, ‘Fenômeno’ stated that she faced severe kidney and stomach pain throughout the night, which ultimately sabotaged her weight cut.

“I had severe pain in my kidneys and stomach since last night,” Vieira said in her statement. “I felt really sick throughout the entire night. Master ‘Dedé’ slept in my bed with me, massaging my back so I could get some sleep. This morning, I felt sick again and had another severe episode. I can’t explain why this happened. I was doing well on weight. I’m a bantamweight fighter, and it had nothing to do with my weight.

“I was in a lot of pain, and ‘Dedé’ wouldn’t let me continue losing weight. I was doing well and sweating properly, but then I had this very severe episode, and [Pederneiras] chose to prioritize my health.”

Though Vieira made a wise decision not to continue cutting weight while dealing with existing health problems, she has faced issues making weight before. During her UFC run, the Amazonas native missed weight for her bantamweight fight against Yana Santos, then known as Yana Kunitskaya, in 2021. She weighed in at 138 pounds, two pounds over the 136-pound non-title fight limit for bantamweight. Still, Santos went on to beat her via unanimous decision.

Later, Vieira encountered another weight-management issue ahead of her fight against Macy Chiasson last year. Because of her difficulties making bantamweight, the UFC moved the bout to featherweight, where Vieira went on to win by unanimous decision

Therefore, Vieira has officially missed weight on the scale twice during her professional career: once against Yana Santos and now against Cris Cyborg. Her difficulties ahead of the Chiasson fight resulted in a change of weight class rather than an official miss.

Despite Ketlen Vieira’s explanation, fans didn’t hold back while criticizing the Brazilian for potentially compromising Cyborg’s final MMA fight.

Fans call out Ketlen Vieira for missing weight by seven pounds vs Cris Cyborg at PFL Tampa

Right after Vieira missed weight, prominent MMA Journalist Adam Martin wrote, “This is actually embarrassing from Ketlen Vieira and incredibly disrespectful to Cris Cyborg. Smh.”

The Brazilian’s weight miss definitely affected Cyborg’s chance to defend her belt once again. However, the more concerning issue is Vieira facing trouble cutting weight in the featherweight division. Other than a few occasions, she had consistently made the 135-pound limit during her UFC run. So, making 145 pounds should have come much easier for her, especially considering that she had previously competed in the weight class.

Although it remains unclear whether Vieira’s health problems were caused by the weight cut, if that turns out to be the case, the 34-year-old could face a serious dilemma when she returns to action.

Continuing the wave of backlash, another fan wrote, “Ketlen went to the minor leagues, got fed to Cyborg and stopped trying.” A different fan also took a shot at her, commenting, “Vieira also missed weight several times in UFC.”

As we discussed earlier, Vieira missed weight on the scale only once during her UFC career against Yana Santos, while the other incident was more related to her struggles with weight management. Still, she isn’t the only fighter to miss weight by a massive seven pounds. Khamzat Chimaev famously missed weight by 7.5 pounds ahead of his scheduled fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 279.

One fan called out the former UFC fighter for criticizing her former promotion on The Ariel Helwani Show after the company parted ways with her despite her being a ranked fighter at the time of her release.

The fan wrote, “Goes on a rant about how she doesn’t understand why or how the UFC released / didn’t resign her and then does THIS?!?! Smhhh talk about clueless.”

Lastly, another fan took aim at the PFL, writing, “Organization is a joke.”

Ketlen Vieira’s seven-pound weight miss has undoubtedly added another layer of intrigue to her showdown with Cris Cyborg. However, given the circumstances surrounding her failed weight cut, the focus will now shift toward whether she can safely compete and how the catchweight contest ultimately unfolds.