There was late drama at Thursday’s ONE Championship weigh-ins, where three fighters failed to pass their checks, forcing potential catchweight negotiations.
Elmehdi El Jamari ensured a frantic finish to the official three-hour testing window, making weight under the curtain on his fourth trip to the scales at Bangkok’s Best Western Wanda hotel.
That made Saturday’s ONE Fight Night 32 co-main event – a strawweight Muay Thai bout against Aliff Sor Dechapan – official, and the Moroccan celebrated wildly with his team.
Diego Paez, Ibragim Dauev, and Dzhabir Dzhabrailov were not as lucky. Paez and Dauev both failed late attempts at hydration, while Dzhabrailov passed his but missed weight.
Turkey’s Dzhabrailov can now negotiate a catchweight with Argentina’s Nicolas Vigna for their lightweight MMA bout. But Paez and Dauev must return and provide hydrated samples before any catchweight discussions can begin.
It was another rough weigh-in for Dauev, who failed hydration five times ahead of his last scheduled outing – a bantamweight fight with Jeremy Pacatiw in March – before the bout was scrapped when Pacatiw declined a catchweight.
Dauev had moved up to featherweight for this event, set to face compatriot Magomed Akaev, who passed hydration on his second attempt with just over 15 minutes remaining and then made weight.
Colombian-American Paez had been scheduled to face rising Malaysian star Johan Ghazali in a flyweight Muay Thai bout.
Seven fighters initially failed tests within the first 45 minutes of Thursday’s session. But two others – Thailand’s Jaosuayai and Colombia’s Johan Estupinan – returned to pass later, confirming their bouts as official.
Jaosuayai had been the first major concern after failing hydration, but came back to pass on his second attempt, clearing his flyweight Muay Thai main event with Nakrob Fairtex.
The weigh-in chaos followed a week of disruption to the card.
Shir Cohen’s withdrawal from her atomweight Muay Thai title fight with Allycia Rodrigues led to the original main event being scrapped. Maurice Abevi also pulled out of his lightweight MMA clash with Alibeg Rasulov, while Rambolek was hospitalised and forced out of his bantamweight Muay Thai matchup with Dmitrii Kovtun.
Two short-notice matchups were announced in response – Ricardo Bravo vs Arian Esparza, and Tagir Khalilov vs Liao Shixu – and all four fighters passed hydration and made weight on Thursday.
One of the night’s more colourful moments came from Estupinan, who failed his first two hydration attempts but passed on his third.
He celebrated by dancing at the back of the room with his twin brother, Jhordan Estupinan, and their coach JC Fernandez, who blasted salsa music from his phone.
Elmehdi El Jamari ensured a frantic finish to the official three-hour testing window, making weight under the curtain on his fourth trip to the scales at Bangkok’s Best Western Wanda hotel.
That made Saturday’s ONE Fight Night 32 co-main event – a strawweight Muay Thai bout against Aliff Sor Dechapan – official, and the Moroccan celebrated wildly with his team.
Diego Paez, Ibragim Dauev, and Dzhabir Dzhabrailov were not as lucky. Paez and Dauev both failed late attempts at hydration, while Dzhabrailov passed his but missed weight.
Turkey’s Dzhabrailov can now negotiate a catchweight with Argentina’s Nicolas Vigna for their lightweight MMA bout. But Paez and Dauev must return and provide hydrated samples before any catchweight discussions can begin.
It was another rough weigh-in for Dauev, who failed hydration five times ahead of his last scheduled outing – a bantamweight fight with Jeremy Pacatiw in March – before the bout was scrapped when Pacatiw declined a catchweight.
Dauev had moved up to featherweight for this event, set to face compatriot Magomed Akaev, who passed hydration on his second attempt with just over 15 minutes remaining and then made weight.
Colombian-American Paez had been scheduled to face rising Malaysian star Johan Ghazali in a flyweight Muay Thai bout.
Seven fighters initially failed tests within the first 45 minutes of Thursday’s session. But two others – Thailand’s Jaosuayai and Colombia’s Johan Estupinan – returned to pass later, confirming their bouts as official.
Jaosuayai had been the first major concern after failing hydration, but came back to pass on his second attempt, clearing his flyweight Muay Thai main event with Nakrob Fairtex.
The weigh-in chaos followed a week of disruption to the card.
Shir Cohen’s withdrawal from her atomweight Muay Thai title fight with Allycia Rodrigues led to the original main event being scrapped. Maurice Abevi also pulled out of his lightweight MMA clash with Alibeg Rasulov, while Rambolek was hospitalised and forced out of his bantamweight Muay Thai matchup with Dmitrii Kovtun.
Two short-notice matchups were announced in response – Ricardo Bravo vs Arian Esparza, and Tagir Khalilov vs Liao Shixu – and all four fighters passed hydration and made weight on Thursday.
One of the night’s more colourful moments came from Estupinan, who failed his first two hydration attempts but passed on his third.
He celebrated by dancing at the back of the room with his twin brother, Jhordan Estupinan, and their coach JC Fernandez, who blasted salsa music from his phone.
