The answer is weighing in minutes before you step in the cage

[Finnish Fan]

Fighters would be dehydrated though. You want them to fight when they’re dehydrated?

You can test hydration these days.

Same day weigh in plus hydration test.

Fail weight, fight is catchweight and you get automatically raised to the next weight class.

Fail hydration, fight is cancelled and you get fired.

 

[xyzxyz94]

Fighters would be dehydrated though. You want them to fight when they’re dehydrated?

Why would they cut water if they can't rehydrate?

 

[VegetaGD]

There is a reason why mma and boxing don't do same day weigh ins. It's because Kim Duk Koo died after his fight because he fought dehydrated because there was a danger day weigh in

Same day weigh ins will NEVER happen

I'm familiar with the Kim Duk Koo story. I challenge anyone to dig up the intricate details of the weigh-in. I've looked, but I can't find details on how many hours before the fight the weigh-in took place. I'm not simply suggesting same-day weigh-in which would put fighters in a position of partial dehydration heading into the fight. I'm suggesting pre-fight weigh-in (like 2 minutes before your opponent is trying to decapitate you) which would change the dynamic considerably. Had Kim Duk Koo weighed in before he stepped in the ring, his performance would have been so negatively impacted that it's likely he'd be stopped in the first round. The brain clots come after a partially dehydrated fighter takes repeated head trauma. In MMA, a weakened dehydrated fighter could easily be taken down and choked out. Not a good look.

 

[Adjutant]

And fights cancelled at last second

Never thought of that. That’s a solid rebuttal to his proposal. Imagine the outrage from everyone. UFC, fighters and camps, and fans.

Also, I don’t bet, but it would seriously fuck up wagers placed if someone come in over or fights get cancelled

 

[613]

Why would they cut water if they can't rehydrate?

Who knows. They did in the past though

 

[Workaholic]

So you want to increase the risk of death to stop people missing weight as often?

Pass

 

[VegetaGD]

Never thought of that. That’s a solid rebuttal to his proposal. Imagine the outrage from everyone. UFC, fighters and camps, and fans.

Also, I don’t bet, but it would seriously fuck up wagers placed if someone come in over or fights get cancelled

Please reread some of my suggestions that mitigate last minute cancellations, they're critical to the concept of pre fight weigh-ins.

 

[VegetaGD]

So you want to increase the risk of death to stop people missing weight as often?

Pass

Conjecture

 

[Gnosisrausch]

TS, you are 100% right, but people here will come up with the most hilarious nonsense to defend the current way of weight-cutting and weigh-ins. I've seen a number of similar threads in the past.

 

[VegetaGD]

fighters will make extreme decisions regardless but the chances of someone making such a stupid, dumb decision to go dehydrated minutes before competition is lesser unless they wanna commit suicide

imo you still have fighters coming in not fully hydrated even 24 hr weigh ins

Another guy that gets it. Why don't fighters start amputating limbs to compete at lower weight classes? Answer? Because the negative outweighs the positive. They'd quickly discover that weight cutting would be an enormous detriment in reference to pre fight weigh-ins and completely abandon the practice.

 

[MonkeyGirl]

Fighters would be dehydrated though. You want them to fight when they’re dehydrated?

no, what ts is proposing is them fighting at their real weight, so no dehydration needed

 

[VegetaGD]

no, what ts is proposing is them fighting at their real weight, so no dehydration needed

Exactly. If you structure the sport in such a way that weight cutting becomes a disadvantage, people stop doing it. If groin strikes remain illegal, but refs are no longer allowed to take a point away from the fighter commiting the foul and/or there is no recovery time for the fighter impacted by a groin strike, you'll see a huge spike in groin strikes because, all of a sudden, they'll create a competitive advantage. This general concept is not hard to fathom.

 

[Beta Wolf]

Well, you have to think about the scenario actually playing out in real life. Fighters would cut far less weight, and might not cut weight at all. And there would be a preagreed upon pay penalty structure. For example, there could be a fixed penalty scale that followed a linear trajectory up to 3% over a fighter's weight class. Let's use WW for example.

170lbs
3% over = 175.1

If a fighter comes in at 172, they're 39.22% of the way to the 175.1 and lose 39.22% of their purse if they fight. Anything up to 3% over, both fighters contractually MUST fight.

If they're over the 3% the following takes place:

• Fighter that misses loses 100% of their purse, and is contractually committed to compete if the fighter making weight wishes to proceed with the fight
• If the fight takes place, the fighter that makes weight would be competing for a possible win, whereas the fighter that missed would get a draw even if they "win" in the traditional sense.
  • Keep in mind that the fighter that makes weight has the option to back out, yet the incentive of getting 100% of their opponent's pay would almost guarantee that they'd fight. Considering that the worst possible outcome for them would be a draw, it would be a good proposition for them to compete.

If you don't think the aforementioned system would provide a STRONG disincentive to game the system, your business acumen might be in dire need of reevaluation.

Cutting off a fighter's balls if they miss weight would be an even stronger disincentive, but both are impracticable. Let's do common sense before we talk about "business acumen". I'm all for devising a system that reduces weight cutting and missing weight as much as possible, but they're not going to force a fighter to fight for no money without even getting a win on his record if he wins. I'm sure there'd be legal problems with that in some states.

 

[Beta Wolf]

You can test hydration these days.

Same day weigh in plus hydration test.

Fail weight, fight is catchweight and you get automatically raised to the next weight class.

Fail hydration, fight is cancelled and you get fired.

Fail both weight and hydration on the same day, and your hands get chopped off.

 

[Timurd123]

The key is rehydration
A guy weighing in at 170 can’t weigh 185 on fight night, they do this in boxing and everyone stays in their lane

 

[Deleted member 391673]

it's not the answer, but they should do a weigh in right before the fighter steps in the cage so the audience is given all the information.

i like to be entertained but i also like to be informed. it is a sport. they list the height, reach, age, weigh-in weight, but they don't list prior PED offenses and minute-of-the-fight weight.

that would build more excitement and help casuals pick a fighter to root for.

 

[blaseblah]

One FC has already fixed the weight cutting issue, UFC just needs to adapt it.

 

[VegetaGD]

Cutting off a fighter's balls if they miss weight would be an even stronger disincentive, but both are impracticable. Let's do common sense before we talk about "business acumen". I'm all for devising a system that reduces weight cutting and missing weight as much as possible, but they're not going to force a fighter to fight for no money without even getting a win on his record if he wins. I'm sure there'd be legal problems with that in some states.

Much of the thrust of my position is being missed. This system isn’t intended to “deal” with fighters that miss weight. It’s to prevent these situations all together. Do you think Till would even be fighting at 170 with such a system in place? Absolutley NOT. Same reason he isn’t trying to fight at 145, he has an idea of what’s within his reach.

He’d have never signed the contract if he knew in advance that making 170 cageside was unnattainable. Need more proof? Fighters regularly duck other fighters that they’re unsure of beating. These guys are world class athletes and know their bodies. They’d adjust to the new system and fight considerably closer to their natural weight which is the whole purpose of implementing such a system.

I’d even be ok with a permanent weight class ban for a fighter who goes 3% over twice. In such a system, Till (and Gastelum) would never be allowed to compete at 170 again.

 

[IsNormal]

Imagine watching the main event live.
Both fighters walk out to the scales and we find out one of the missed weight.
Rogan goes "Well, the fight is off. Thank you for watching, but I guess that's it. Thank you and good night!" and the broadcast ends.

 

[eternaldarkness]

The fix is simple and right before our eyes. Weight classes should stay the same and fighters literally step on the scale after their walkout and before they step in the cage.

Add a 225lb division for the small HWs and let em bang.

this is the only correct answer. you will have heaps of people disagree though.