Best way to prevent weight cutting?

change weight classes to height classes

monson vs dom for 5'8 height class
roop vs ngannou

5'6 and below
5'7 - 5'9
5'10-6'1
6'2-6'5
6'6-6'8
6-9-7'3
 
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Weight cutting is clearly a big problem in mma right now, both in terms of fights getting canceled, and with fighter safety.

Still though, I've yet to hear a solution that I think would really resolve the issue. One common suggestion is having guys weigh in right before the fight... to me it seems like that would just make guys cut weight the morning of the fight and go into the fight dehydrated, which is even worse. Another suggestion is 2 separate weigh ins, one a while before, the second right before the fight... seems like the same problem, guys would just cut weight twice, before each cut, which is just as bad or worse.

The best idea I've heard is requiring a hydration test at the weigh in so you have to meet a certain level of hydration to be allowed to weigh in. Another idea would be surprise weigh ins as part of the drug testing program that requires you be within a certain range when they show up for a surprise test. Still, neither idea seems like it would totally resolve it.

Thoughts?

I think the whole weight cutting thing sucks. I didn't really use to get it, but it slowly dawned on me over time. Why diet year round to fight at a specific weight, if you can just do a camp and cut a bit to make weight. The latter is likely for the sake of not being out sized by everyone else and their mother who is cutting, and since at the end of the day this is prize fighting where winning makes you rise. All in all, I think there is absolutely no solution unless you were to force people to be at weight months before the fight...and that doesn't make much sense unless the fighters get paid during off season, which they don't.
 
Solution 1:
You make the weight-in 10 minutes before the fight
- if you fail, you still fight, but you are obliged to give 75% of your pay to your opponent

Solution 2:
More weight classes, just like in boxing
- fighters will still try to get the maximum advantage, imo

Solution 3:
A Usada weight-in stuff, they come at you unnaunouced (outside competition) and see how much you weight
You must have the same weight all the time, outside competition and during the fight
If you want to go to another class, you announce.

Solution 4:
Openweight for everybody


Dana doesn't like any of that, by the way!
1. At what point would fighters get an opportunity to turn down their weight-missing opponent? Wouldn't fining fighters 75% of their purse for missing encourage them to cut weight despite the lack of rehydration time?

2. Most of boxing's weight classes are at the Mighty Mouse division or below, so this wouldn't have that big of an effect. For the top 7 divisions in the UFC, boxing has 9 weight classes. 2 more isn't as horrendously bad as people make out. If the UFC were to introduce those 165, 175, and god forbid 195 divisions, they'd actually be worse than boxing with its weight classes at that point. Plus anyway, like you say, fighters would still cut as much as they think is possible. Adding weight classes does very very little to solve the problem of weight cutting.

3 + 4 combined and you're onto something. Read my post above.
 
Shame them for wanting to fight smaller guys.
 
Do what ONE FC does -- hydration testing.

Keep the weigh-in the day before the fight because it's great marketing tool and a good chance for fans to see the fighters face off, but also do hydration testing at the weigh-in to ensure fighters aren't dehydrated. If a fighter fails the hydration test, it's the same as missing weight.

They should probably do a preliminary hydration test a few days before the weigh-in, so if anyone is dehydrated at that time, they can hydrate sufficiently to pass the official test at the weigh-in.

This. ONE FC has it right. I would actually go beyond hydration testing and have random weight checks whenever the fighters get drug tested. The USADA guys bring a scale with them when making their rounds and the fighters can't be more than 10% or something like that above their fighting weight, and if they are they have to either move up a weight class or make sure that they're within the limits when the guys come back to weigh them again. If a fighter misses his weight on a random check, he gets flagged for follow-up random checks and he has to pass all of them or he gets bumped up a weight class.

Weight cutting is bullshit, it's already gotten fighters killed outside the UFC and we don't need that shit to happen here. Unfortunately it's going to take someone in one of the major US organizations dropping dead before we even think about getting serious on stopping it.
 
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Fight at Heavyweight. Hell, HW should have a 300lb max
 
Any guy who fights dehydrated erases any advantage he would have had by being the bigger fighter
 
To me it seems like guys would still do it anyways, and it would maybe even be worse because they'd be dehydrated going in to the fight without having time to recover

In wrestling you cut 5-10 lbs, weighed in that morning and wrestled an hour later. That’s how you prevent massive weight cuts
 
same day weigh ins. if you miss weight twice you get sacked. if you cut too much on the day then you get knocked the fuck out by the hydrated fighter
 
They already have USADA taking doping samples, wouldn't be too much to ask them to weigh them at the same time and allow at max +10% to weight class. So a 205lbs (LHW) guy could weigh max 225lbs out of competition. Always morning weigh ins with a couple hours notice so no one gets completely stuffed just before the weigh in.
This seems like one of the better options. The only thing that is a little tricky is that your weight does fluctuate a good amount throughout the course of the day, bu
In wrestling you cut 5-10 lbs, weighed in that morning and wrestled an hour later. That’s how you prevent massive weight cuts
Yeah, not sure about you, but I also wrestled a lot of matches where a doctor would have told me I was too dehydrated. I've seen a teammate faint right on the mat as the ref was starting the match. Also, it's more dangerous in fighting because being dehydrated increases risk for concussions, not as much of an issue in wrestling. It's a hard question because guys will always go for as much of an edge as possible in any way they can.
 
Weight cutting is clearly a big problem in mma right now, both in terms of fights getting canceled, and with fighter safety.

Still though, I've yet to hear a solution that I think would really resolve the issue. One common suggestion is having guys weigh in right before the fight... to me it seems like that would just make guys cut weight the morning of the fight and go into the fight dehydrated, which is even worse. Another suggestion is 2 separate weigh ins, one a while before, the second right before the fight... seems like the same problem, guys would just cut weight twice, before each cut, which is just as bad or worse.

The best idea I've heard is requiring a hydration test at the weigh in so you have to meet a certain level of hydration to be allowed to weigh in. Another idea would be surprise weigh ins as part of the drug testing program that requires you be within a certain range when they show up for a surprise test. Still, neither idea seems like it would totally resolve it.

Thoughts?

Weight CLASSES are the problem. They aren't necessary, and they are destined to make things messy because human beings don't come in perfect size variants 10 to 15 lbs apart.

They also make no sense. You're really going to tell me that it's safe for a guy who weighs 170 lbs to fight a guy who weighs 156 lbs... but it's unsafe for a guy who weighs 170 lbs to fight a guy who weighs 172 lbs? I call bullshit.

Just make fights between guys who are at the time of the fight signing, and have been in past fights, relatively close in size.

Done.
 
This seems like one of the better options. The only thing that is a little tricky is that your weight does fluctuate a good amount throughout the course of the day, bu

Yeah, not sure about you, but I also wrestled a lot of matches where a doctor would have told me I was too dehydrated. I've seen a teammate faint right on the mat as the ref was starting the match. Also, it's more dangerous in fighting because being dehydrated increases risk for concussions, not as much of an issue in wrestling. It's a hard question because guys will always go for as much of an edge as possible in any way they can.

It's also a little bit of an over simplification to say that it's all about getting an "edge." A guy signed to fight at a given weight and the promotion is going to hold him to that. We shouldn't be shocked if he actually tries to make the weight he's contracted to fight at.
 
More weight classes is the only solution. People will never stop cutting dangerous amounts of weight.
 
They need to do random year-round weigh-ins to develop long-term weight records for fighters. That's at a minimum. From there, they two clear options:

1. Fight-time weigh-ins, as you suggest. No rehydration time by enforcement = no dehydration time by choice. The idea would be that fighters would naturally get to a range within their weight class during camp. No fighter would set out to cut weight, because the advantage would be entirely removed along with that rehydration time. The problem with this idea would be fighters fucking up their diet during camp, and thus having to pull out of the fight, or worse, cut the remaining pounds without the intention of rehydrating, which is obviously very bad. This is why the year-round weigh-ins are essential. Matchmakers would have to take responsibility for the fighters they book. The culture of the sport would need to change, with fighters being encouraged not to drift too far from their fight weight out of camp. I don't know the science nor the effectiveness of these hydration tests I'm always hearing about, but they couldn't hurt either.

2. The solution I prefer would just be to get rid of weight classes. They're a dated idea. The UFC doesn't need them anymore. Unlike boxing, they're organized enough and have a finite (~500-600) number of bookable fighters, that it's possible to have a year-round random weigh-in system. Unlike amateur wrestling, matches don't and can't take place regularly, for health reasons; the average UFC fighters only fights twice per year. Anyway, fighters should just be matched up based on their known weight, height, and reach stats; a rigid division system isn't necessary. This'd remove divisional separations and allow for many more matchmaking possibilities. The only downside to me would be that fighters who get out of shape out of camp would be at a bigger disadvantage than they already are, as they'd be matched up against bigger fighters more often. But at least that'd provide more incentive for them to not get so out of shape. This would improve the title system too, which everyone's always complaining about. Titles wouldn't be attached to any particular size or weight. All champions would just be champions. No more interim titles, because there'd be no more divisions. Champions, like all fighters, would only be allowed to fight fighters who are of a similar size. If at any point, there are two champions of a similar size at the same time, it'd make sense to book a unification fight. If at any point, there are no champions around a certain size range, and there's a fighter who's dominant, he/she can be booked to fight for a new title.

This guy gets it ^^^.
 
Have Usada do random weight and hydration tests starting 4 weeks out from the fight.

You aren't allowed to weigh more than the weight class above which your fight is scheduled. Could also use 10lbs . This would lower the amount of weight people will be able to cut.

During weigh ins you must also pass hydration test.

Day of fight weigh ins and can't weigh more than weight class above you or 10lbs.

Failing any of the fight day or day before criteria is same as missing weight. Lose% of purse like currently.

Fail any of the weigh in criteria more than 2 or 3 times in a rolling calendar year you must move up a weight class.

Can only come back down after passing a mock weigh in procedure.
 
Out of curiosity I did some calculations with the current weight classes. Starting at 115, if the next weight class is 7.5 percent higher than the previous one (except LHW to HW), this is what the weight classes would look like (may not be exactly 7.5 percent due to rounding):

115
124
133
143
154
166
178
191
205
220
265

I chose 7.5 percent because I liked the results, plus it shrinks the gap between MW and LHW, which was 11 percent.

It does add two weight classes, so there would be that trade-off.
 
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