Fighter Released After UFC 317 Weight Miss Gets DWCS Booking

Christopher Ewert had a rollercoaster ride of a fight week. The UFC brought Ewert in to serve as a late-replacement opponent opposite Jackson McVey on the UFC 317 fight card. However, Ewert was released by the promotion during the official weigh-ins for the event, with the UFC commentary team announcing that the fight was off after Ewert was 10 pounds heavy for the middleweight matchup.

While Ewert might not be a member of the UFC roster any longer, he will still reportedly get a chance to earn a UFC roster spot through the Dana White’s Contender Series.

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“People don’t understand how much we tried and we started the cut at 216,” Ewert’s coach Javier Torres told MMA Fighting after Ewert had been released. “When we got to Vegas, we checked in at 216 pounds. [Friday]

morning we got to 195. We got the call Tuesday [afternoon]. …

“[Our] flight was leaving from Phoenix 8:30 a.m., [and got] delayed until 11:05 a.m. and we got to Vegas 1 p.m. We did bunch of media, pictures, obligations for UFC. We [had] a small window from 4-6 pm, [so] we did a small cut — a 30-minute run, pad, mitts, sauna, [and] mummy.”

“We told our business partner [we wanted]

catchweight since Tuesday,” Torres said. “We always said 195.

“[Mick Maynard, our business partner] and I [talked] at 4 a.m., I told him what was happening. Chris started getting cramps, small ones. “I let him rest, he couldn’t sleep for shit. We checked his weight at 6:45 a.m., then we started [the cut again] at 7:15 — run and pads with the sauna suit on, and we got in the sauna and we did the mummy with sauna suit on. And we did this process again until 9:30 am.

“We did try super (expletive) hard. We cut 22 pounds from Wednesday to Friday morning.”

Ewert got the call for UFC 317 when McVey’s opponent Sedriques Dumas was forced from the card.

However, on Sunday, Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPNDeportes reported that Ewert, who was scheduled to compete on the upcoming season of Dana White’s Contender Series would remain on the schedule for an appearance on the August 12 edition of the DWCS against Yuri Panferov.

As for Ewert’s scheduled opponent for UFC 317, McVey, he weighed in at 185 pounds for the canceled bout.

Forbes reached out to the UFC for confirmation on Legaspi’s report.

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Ewert is 7-0 as a pro with five knockout wins and two victories via decision. His most recent fight came in January when he defeated Reese Watkins via unanimous decision on a Fury Fighting Championship card.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trentreinsmith/2025/06/30/report-fighter-released-after-ufc-317-weight-miss-gets-dwcs-booking/