Ricardo Ramos wants to explain himself after one of the biggest weight misses in UFC history.
The Brazilian featherweight weighed in at 154 pounds on Friday for his fight with Austin Lingo at UFC Las Vegas, eight pounds over the limit for the division (including the one-pound allowance). Officials announced shortly after Ramos’ miss that the bout was cancelled.
On Saturday, Ramos took to Instagram to explain the egregious error, citing a training camp injury.
“In this training camp I got an injury and I could not train as hard as I used to,” Ramos said. “I had to slow down and it was hard to keep cutting, but I didn’t want to jump out of the fight. I really wanted to fight and we made the decision and when we got in this fight week it was really hard to keep cutting the weight. So we had to talk to the UFC, see if they accept the fight and it didn’t work, so they cancelled the fight. That’s it.
“I just really want to say sorry to the UFC and thank you for everything, sorry to my opponent, and sorry for all the fans especially.”
Lingo also addressed the incident on social media, stating that he is “100 percent” ready to fight and wishing Ramos a “speedy recovery.”
First of all I want everyone to know that I am 100% ready to fight. After I weighed in I got word that my opponent was having complications and would not be able to fight. I pray for his speedy recovery. This is super disappointing but I will be back soon hungry and ready. #ufc pic.twitter.com/pTE5y0Ip5i
— Austin Lingo (@austinlingo) March 11, 2023
This was to be Ramos’ first fight of 2023, following a win in his lone appearance last year at UFC Austin where he defeated Danny Chavez by first-round knockout. Ramos moved from up from bantamweight to the featherweight division in 2019 and has gone 3-2 since. Friday was the first time he missed weight for a 145-pound bout.
Watch Ramos’ Instagram video below.