Kay Hansen is searching for answers after missing weight for the first time in her career.
The 22-year-old strawweight tipped the scales at 118. 5 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins for UFC 273, which takes place Saturday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonille, Fla. That meant Hansen came in 2. 5 pounds over the limit (including a one-pound allowance for non-title fights).
Watch video of Hansen’s miss above.
Hansen’s preliminary bout against Piera Rodriguez will proceed at a catchweight with Hansen forfeiting 20 percent of her purse as penalty.
In 12 previous pro bouts, in which Hansen has competed at both 115 pounds and 125 pounds, she had never missed weight and shortly after the morning weigh-ins she shared a statement on social media to apologize for the gaffe.
— Kay Hansen (@KayHansenMMA) April 8, 2022
I have had over 14 professional fights (98% being at 115lbs) and have always made weight fairly easy. I am not heavy and I eat healthy all year. I have no excuses but I’m not sure what went wrong. I’m extremely disappointed and I wanna apologize to my team, opponent, the UFC.
With that being said I’m still grateful and excited to go out and perform at UFC 273. Going to put this behind me and address it later, and focus on my performance tomorrow night. Greetings
Hansen talked to MMA Fighting in November about her battle with an eating disorder. She was worried that it would ruin her career. She explained how confronting problems related to mental health helped her to overcome the disorder.
” I’ve been struggling with an eating disorder for some time,” Hansen stated. Hansen said, “It is something I have struggled with other than fighting.” However, being involved in a sport that revolves about peak athleticism and weight, it was easy to let it out of control .”
Hansen (7-5) most recently fought at flyweight, losing to Jasmine Jasudavicius at UFC 270 in January. Prior to that bout, she made three straight appearances at 115 pounds competing for the UFC and Invicta FC.
