Maybe i'm just imagining but it felt like in the past everyone weighed in 1 pound above the allowance. But today only 2 of 8 fighters used their extra pound.
- Ronaldo Souza (186) vs. Derek Brunson (185)
- Dennis Bermudez (145) vs. Andre Fili (146)
- Gregor Gillespie (155) vs. Jordan Rinaldi (155)
- Frank Camacho (169) vs. Drew Dober (170)
I think you are just
imagining things. I picked 2 random UFC events, UFC 99, which was from 2009 and UFC 150 from August 2012, to illustrate my point that you are just imagining things.
UFC 99
Main Event
Rich Franklin (194) vs Wanderlei Silva (194)
Cain Velasquez (239) vs Cheick Kongo (230)
Ben Saunders (169) vs Mike Swick (169)
Dan Hardy (170) vs Marcus Davis (171)
Caol Uno (155) vs Spencer Fisher (154)
Mostapha Al-Turk (236) vs Mirko Cro Cop (233)
Justin Buchholz (155) vs Terry Etim (156)
Dale Hartt (156) vs Dennis Siver (156)
Paul Taylor (169) vs Peter Sobotta (169)
Roli Delgado (155) vs Paul Kelly (156)
Stefan Struve (248) vs Denis Stojnic (241)
Rick Story (169) vs John Hathaway (170)
Outside of the 3 HW fights, there were 8 other non-title fights which allows for fighters to be 1lb over the weight limit. Of those 8 fights, which had 16 fighters total, only 4 came in 1lb over while 4 fighters also came in 1lb under.
UFC 150
MAIN EVENT – UFC LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Frankie Edgar (154.6) VS Benson Henderson (154.4)
PAY-PER-VIEW MAIN CARD
Melvin Guillard (157.5*) VS Donald Cerrone (155)
Ed Herman (185) VS
Jake Shields (185)
Buddy Roberts (184) VS
Yushin Okami (185)
Max Holloway (145) vs
Justin Lawrence (145)
FX FIGHTS
Tommy Hayden (144) VS
Dennis Bermudez (145)
Michael Kuiper (185) VS
Jared Hamman (184)
Erik Perez (135) VS
Ken Stone (135)
Chico Camus (135) VS
Dustin Pague (136)
ONLINE FIGHT
Eiji Mitsuoka (145) VS
Nik Lentz (145)
Of the 9 non-title fights, only one fighter came in 1lb over, but Melvin Guillard did miss weight coming in at 157.5. Then there are two fights who came 1lb under the limit.
So yes, it is just your imagination.
There's are a few reasons why you don't see it happening much or more often but the main reason is:
Fighters don't have the state sanctioned scale in the back. You have the UFC's scale, which isn't official so you have to err on the side of caution. Anyone who weighs themselves often and has owned more than one scale or has weighed themselves on numerous scales will see that the weight can vary by as much as a pound or more depending on scale. You can't aim to come 1lb over, based on the scale in the back, thinking you've made it, be excited, elated only to go to the official scale to find out you are more than a 1lb over and have to cut more weight...or with the current morning weigh ins, you don't get the 2nd weigh in unless it is a title fight.
To those who are professional, they know it's no joke. Do you want to risk 20% of your purse?
