You're one of like 4-5 guys that consistently makes sense on here.
Somehow you do that without coming across like a pompous ass, I respect that sir.
Much appreciated man. I just really don't like the "weight bully" term because I feel like it falls apart as a narrative with which to legitimately criticize fighters under even the most basic scrutiny. Most of the time it's misapplied to "fighters who are tall for the weight class" or "fighters with good top control" regardless of how much weight they actually cut. And no one ever mentions the fact that weight-cutting is very much a double-edged sword where those who engage in it are in many cases willfully undercutting their own durability and cardio. Not to mention the fact that fighters who spend large portions of their camp cutting weight & rehydrating leading up to a fight have
less time for skill-building, game-planning, and otherwise preparing (Poirier and Felder have talked about this, IIRC).
I'm not denying that some fighters are naturally better at cutting weight than others and exploit this natural advantage inside the cage: Islam, Jalin Turner, Ryan Spann, Paulo Costa, Alex Pereira, etc. They are big, big boys. But since when has
any sport been a level playing field? Ryan Phelps is maybe the best swimmer ever because he's a freak of nature who possesses a body that looks like it was hand-crafted for the sole purpose of gliding through water as efficiently as possible. Even if we just narrow our focus to MMA, other fighters enjoy all sorts of "unfair" physical advantages. Pavlovich & Jon Jones have orangutan arms that allow them to punch opponents from the other side of the cage. Max Holloway, Colby Covington, Tony Ferguson, etc. have endless gas tanks that would allow them to fight for ten rounds straight at elevation without even breathing heavy. Dudes like Holloway and Blagoy Ivanov seem physically impossible to knock out even with a sledgehammer. Some guys have the touch of death and are able to put their opponent to sleep with a half-hearted grazing jab.
These are all fundamentally "unfair" physical advantages which good fighters can and
do exploit over their opponents every day inside the cage. Yet it's comparably rare that we see anyone calling someone a "chin bully" or a "cardio bully" or a "power bully". It happens occasionally, but compared to weight bully accusations they're pretty infrequent and instead you often see fighters being
lauded for the above traits rather than insulted. This is despite the fact that the characteristics above are often natural and something the fighter in question is born with and does fairly little if anything to develop -- and they also often come with relatively few downsides. This is often not true for cutting weight, which as mentioned above is very much a double-edged sword and is a particularly intensive challenge for the fighter and their team.
I should note that I'm by no means singing the praises of weight-cutting here. I don't like it. I wish it wasn't a thing. If I had my way, fighters would all compete as close to their "natural" weight as possible. I don't know what that would take -- whether it be CSAC-style oversight, ONE's hydration tests, same-day weigh-ins, multiple weigh-ins, or all of the above -- but I'd like to see it.
However, with the sport and the way it exists today, weight-cutting is firmly entrenched as an institution and as such I don't think fighters should be stigmatized for attempting to gain a competitive advantage in one of the few ways they can so long as they're consistently making weight in a safe, healthy, and responsible manner (as much as is possible, anyway).
/rant
