On December 13th, the UFC is all set to end its seven-year partnership with ESPN as it prepares to start next year under the historical Paramount+ CBS deal. However, the promotion will close this year, and their final event under the current broadcasting partners will be the UFC Vegas 112 Fight Night card, headlined by Manel Kape and Brandon Royval’s flyweight scrap. Now the weigh-ins have wrapped up with everyone hitting the mark on the scale.

Well, this week’s Apex headliner definitely looked cursed and almost seemed like it would never happen. Both 125 contenders were first matched up in March, but ‘Rawdog’s injury pulled him out of the bout. Following that cancellation, the UFC tried to pair them again at UFC 317, where ‘Starboy’ injured his foot, causing another cancellation and opening the door for Joshua Van to step in. However, the third time truly worked, as they finally made weight and now look ready to close out the year with a bang.

UFC Vegas 112 weigh-in goes unblemished

The last ESPN fight card weigh-ins wrapped up at the UFC Apex, where all the fights will take place this weekend. To curb the fans’ curiosity, Brandon Royval and Manel Kape both made weight, each hitting the flyweight limit of 126 lbs to finally break the curse. A little drama was created in the final minutes of weighing as Kape was the last to do it, and he barely beat the buzzer. But he did it ultimately, and now the card’s ready. 

Following the main event, the co-main event moved smoothly as well, with Giga Chikadze weighing 146 lbs and his opponent Kevin Vallejos coming in at 145 lbs.

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Further down the card, Cesar Almeida weighed 186 lbs while Cezary Oleksiejczuk came in at 185.5 lbs, keeping their middleweight bout intact. The featherweight clash between Morgan Charriere and Melquizael Costa also held strong, with both fighters hitting 145.5 lbs. As for the heavyweights on the main card, the big men stayed well under the radar. Marcus Buchecha weighed 251.5 lbs, and Kennedy Nzechukwu hit 243 lbs, both far from the divisional cap.

For the main-card opener, Lance Gibson Jr. and King Green both weighed 158.5 lbs to make their catchweight bout official. For the unversed, the UFC veteran accepted this fight on just four days’ notice against Gibson Jr., who is debuting in the UFC 25 years after his father, a rare milestone in today’s fight game. With the main card set without any hiccups, the prelims followed the same pattern.

Here’s the full list of UFC Vegas 112 prelims weigh-in results:

• W-Strawweight: Amanda Lemos (115.5 lbs) vs. Gillian Robertson (116 lbs)
• Featherweight: Joanderson Brito (145.5 lbs) vs. Isaac Thomson (146 lbs)
• Welterweight: Yaroslav Amosov (171 lbs ) vs. Neil Magny (171 lbs)
• Heavyweight: Steven Asplund (261 lbs) vs. Sean Sharaf (251 lbs)
• Bantamweight: Melissa Croden (136 lbs) vs. Luana Santos (136 lbs)
• Heavyweight: Allen Frye Jr. (242 lbs) vs. Guilherme Pat (238 lbs)
• W-Flyweight: Tereza Bleda (126 lbs) vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth (126 lbs)   

Now that the ESPN era is about to end for the UFC, Dana White has already stepped up and addressed them, giving a huge shoutout before their partnership officially wraps on 13 December 2025. 

Dana White acknowledges ESPN’s role ahead of the final event 

After going through plenty of ups and downs, the UFC has grown into a multi-billion-dollar powerhouse, and its broadcasting partners played a huge role in that rise. But it’s under ESPN that the promotion truly found its voice with modern viewers. Because of that, Dana White stepped up and thanked the sports broadcasting giant for an amazing seven-year partnership, appreciating the key members of ESPN who helped push the sport forward.

“I want to thank Bob Iger, Kevin Mayer, Jimmy Pitaro, Burk Magnus, Matt Kleny, Glenn Jacobs, and everyone else at ESPN for all their hard work and for helping build the sport and the brand over the last seven years. The relationship with ESPN has been incredible. It’s been a really good experience, and we appreciate everything they did for us.” Dana White said at the UFC 323 post-fight presser.

Since White views the professional broadcasting bond almost like a relationship, it was only natural that a few bumps happened along the way, especially when technical issues at UFC 313 created a rough viewing experience. But outside of a handful of moments like that, ESPN and the UFC enjoyed a strong run delivering fights to the fans.

As the promotion steps into a new broadcasting era with Paramount+ CBS, do you think they can make this chapter even bigger than the ESPN era? Let us know in the comments section below.