Jennifer Maia ‘did everything possible to try to make weight’ for UFC 244, rules out move to bantamweight

Jennifer Maia is looking for explanations after missing weight for a second time this year in the UFC.

The former Invicta FC flyweight champion came in 1.2 pounds over the limit for her 125-pound contest with Katlyn Chookagian at the official UFC 244 weigh-ins on Friday morning in New York, and told MMA Fighting her body stopped losing weight when she had one kilo left to cut.

“I couldn’t make it, unfortunately,” Maia told MMA Fighting on Friday. “I can’t explain what’s going on with my body. It was going well, but the last kilo got stuck. I’m very upset because I did everything possible to try to make weight. We’re still looking at what we have to change.”

Maia, who was fined 25 percent of her UFC 244 purse, also came in overweight for her last bout in the Octagon, weighing in at 129 pounds for a rematch with Roxanne Modafferi at UFC on ESPN 4 in July.

The Brazilian told MMA Fighting at the time that “the women body is different, it doesn’t always work the way we expect.”

“I’m getting more mature, it’s not how it used to be when I was 20. I’m 30 now,” Maia said in August. “My last weight cuts were hard and I kept following the same strategy. This time my body said, ‘No, I’ve suffered too much and I won’t go through this again.’”

Despite having trouble on the scale once again, Maia rules out moving up to bantamweight because “this is my weight class.”

“It’s just a detail in my metabolism that I have to search for a more advanced medical help to find out what’s happening,” she said.

Maia was hoping to be next in line for 125-pound champion Valentina Shevchenko with a win at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, but understands that it’s highly unlikely that the promotion will trust her a title shot after missing weight twice.