Arbitrary Fight Cancellations for Weight Misses - What's the Reason? (Ulanbekov Fight Cancellation)

TheMMAnalyst

TheMMAnalyst

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After the weigh-ins this morning they canceled the Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Joshua Van fight (arguably the 2nd coolest fight on the card) because Tagir came in crazy heavy (129.5 so 3.5 lbs over the 1 lb. allotment weight of 126):

UFC Vegas 93 weigh-in results: 1 fighter badly misses weight, fight cancelled

Now obviously hat's an obscene miss, but just last week Andre Lima weighed in at 130 lbs for his 125 lb. fight vs. Mitch Raposo, and yet the fight still went ahead:

UFC 302 weigh in results as just one fighter fails to make limit ahead of Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier

They compete in the same division so the weight proportionality is consistent in comparison, and they didn't let the guy who came in lighter of the two go ahead with his fight. I would understand if the Athletic Commission canceled the fight because he was sick during the weight cut, but the fact that they had him actually weigh-in means he must've been fine to compete at the time if allowed to do so.

I just don't understand how they make these decisions with absolutely no consistency - why are they letting one fighter compete at 4 lbs over and then canceling the fight of another that is 3.5 lbs over?

My "Eddie Bravo" Tinfoil hat would tell me they have some sort of inherent bias/favoritism in certain match-ups regarding which guys they'll allow to cheat, but I'm curious to know if anyone has any further insight on the matter.

<EdgyBrah>
 
A bit like Nate Diva vs Chimaev who cried and quit preemptively as soon as given an excuse. Oh 3 Kg big deal.
 
TheMMAnalyst said:
After the weigh-ins this morning they canceled the Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Joshua Van fight (arguably the 2nd coolest fight on the card) because Tagir came in crazy heavy (129.5 so 3.5 lbs over the 1 lb. allotment weight of 126):

UFC Vegas 93 weigh-in results: 1 fighter badly misses weight, fight cancelled

Now obviously hat's an obscene miss, but just last week Andre Lima weighed in at 130 lbs for his 125 lb. fight vs. Mitch Raposo, and yet the fight still went ahead:

UFC 302 weigh in results as just one fighter fails to make limit ahead of Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier

They compete in the same division so the weight proportionality is consistent in comparison, and they didn't let the guy who came in lighter of the two go ahead with his fight. I would understand if the Athletic Commission canceled the fight because he was sick during the weight cut, but the fact that they had him actually weigh-in means he must've been fine to compete at the time if allowed to do so.

I just don't understand how they make these decisions with absolutely no consistency - why are they letting one fighter compete at 4 lbs over and then canceling the fight of another that is 3.5 lbs over?

My "Eddie Bravo" Tinfoil hat would tell me they have some sort of inherent bias/favoritism in certain match-ups regarding which guys they'll allow to cheat, but I'm curious to know if anyone has any further insight on the matter.

<EdgyBrah>
Click to expand...
up to the fighter to refuse or deny

KBE6EKCTAH_CCP said:
A bit like Nate Diva vs Chimaev who cried and quit preemptively as soon as given an excuse. Oh 3 Kg big deal.
Click to expand...

Nah, Nate was a triple OG for this move, Fuck the UFC. They were trying everything they could to squash nate diaz on his way out of the UFC they did not want him leaving the UFC on a win in a fight that was fair. they only wanted to use him to prop up their next pet project and it blew up in their face.
 
The only information out is "the UFC has canceled" the fight so I guess we'll know more once Van speaks about it.

I just didn't think he had the leverage to pull a move like this, even though he's very talented he's still a relative nobody/newcomer fighting on the prelims, the UFC will usually lean on the guy who made weight to take the fight (like they did last week against Raposo).

I guess Raposo had no leverage or juice whatsoever (first fight in UFC), while Van at least has a 3 win-streak going.
 
NoSmilez said:
It is fair. Those guys are not professional when they show up so overweight. Weight matters because these guys are so small.
Click to expand...

I agree with the sentiment, just trying to make sense of how someone in the same weight class weighed in even heavier the week before and the fight went ahead still.
 
TheMMAnalyst said:
The only information out is "the UFC has canceled" the fight so I guess we'll know more once Van speaks about it.

I just didn't think he had the leverage to pull a move like this, even though he's very talented he's still a relative nobody/newcomer fighting on the prelims, the UFC will usually lean on the guy who made weight to take the fight (like they did last week against Raposo).

I guess Raposo had no leverage or juice whatsoever (first fight in UFC), while Van at least has a 3 win-streak going.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's a question of leverage. That's an athletic commission thing that can enforce this for protective purposes.
 
HHJ said:
I don't think it's a question of leverage. That's an athletic commission thing that can enforce this for protective purposes.
Click to expand...

So why didn't they enforce it last week?

It was the exact same weight class and an even more egregious miss....
 
TheMMAnalyst said:
So why didn't they enforce it last week?

It was the exact same weight class and an even more egregious miss....
Click to expand...
... because the other fighter was willing to fight?

What I mean to say is if someone doesn't want to fight an overweight opponent he doesn't have to. He has a right to refuse.

However it could also be that they checked the guy and though it's better to cancel rather then let him fight
 
HHJ said:
... because the other fighter was willing to fight?

What I mean to say is if someone doesn't fight an overweight opponent he doesn't have to. He has a right to refuse.

However it could also be that they checked the guy and though it's better to cancel rather then let him fight
Click to expand...

It just seems incredibly arbitrary.

I mean once you exceed 3 lbs over the 1 lb allotment it should be an automatic fight cancellation...unless they "check" you and your opponent agrees?

Again, seems like they move the goal posts for certain fighters/certain situations based on these distinctions.
 
TheMMAnalyst said:
It just seems incredibly arbitrary.

I mean once you exceed 3 lbs over the 1 lb allotment it should be an automatic fight cancellation...unless they "check" you and your opponent agrees?

Again, seems like they move the goal posts for certain fighters/certain situations based on these distinctions.
Click to expand...
Nah this is a money game. They only step in to stop the fight if it looks like a liability to let him compete. Otherwise it's left up to the opponent.
 
TheMMAnalyst said:
I agree with the sentiment, just trying to make sense of how someone in the same weight class weighed in even heavier the week before and the fight went ahead still.
Click to expand...
Van probably declined the fight. It is a ranked fight. I don't think he wants to take big risks since he won 3 in a row. The Lima fight was short notice for his opponent. Opponent felt probably he had to take the fight in order to make his debut in the UFC. If he declined then they might not call him again.
 
The Josh Van fight was one of the more interesting in the card.

Now the Aliskerov fight has gone and the Van fight gone, this card frankly is a disappointment to me.

Not gonna bother doing tap picks or much else.
 
HHJ said:
Nah this is a money game. They only step in to stop the fight if it looks like a liability to let him compete. Otherwise it's left up to the opponent.
Click to expand...

Khamzhat missed weight by 7.5 lbs and they didn't consider it a liability...

<{vega}>

I do agree with you though (re: this is a money game), so in that situation (headliner, PPV, multiple stars involved) they made the ARBITRARY decision to re-match the fights and pay the fighters more (because they had.....leverage).
 
TheMMAnalyst said:
Khamzhat missed weight by 7.5 lbs and they didn't consider it a liability...

<{vega}>

I do agree with you though (re: this is a money game), so in that situation (headliner, PPV, multiple stars involved) they made the ARBITRARY decision to re-match the fights and pay the fighters more (because they had.....leverage).
Click to expand...
It depends on his condition obviously. Not all weight misses are created equal. Some ppl quit trying to make the weight and rehydrate ahead of others, and obviously ready to fight and others have killed themselves in the attempt,and won't fully recover from the rehydration.
 
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