Should The UFC Scale Purse Deductions Based on How Much You Miss Weight By?

Zebra Cheeks

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I’ve noticed a trend as I know a few of you have. Fighters at some point begin losing their weight as they approach a bout. At some point there has to be a conversation with their coaches where they say “hey man, not feeling great about the weight cut. It always sucks, but this….this is too much. I can’t do it”.

At that point fighters are presented with two options:

Option A: Try your best to push through. Cut the weight the best you can, and who knows, maybe you make weight? However, if you keep cutting and still don’t make weight, you risk losing from your purse, AND you risk being depleted.

Option B: Fuck it. 3 pounds off or 8 pounds off I get paid the same. I might as well look good. After all, I’m already being docked my pay, and the only thing worse then that is having a bad performance on top of it. I’m not gonna cut at all, and I’m gonna feel great kicking their ass. We’ll address the weight next time around during camp.

So what do you do? What do you want fighters to do? I think it’s pretty clear that the “correct” choice is “A”, but that the smartest choice is “B”. There’s no reason for guys to kill them selves and keep it competitive when the punishment is equal regardless of what you do. It’s like saying that murder and punching someone in the leg are the same thing. They are both violence, but they aren’t the same.

So what if we create brackets?

Over the Limit by 0-2 LBs=25% of your purse
Over the Limit by 2-4 LBs=50%
Over the Limit by 4-6 LBs=75%
Over the Limit by 6+ LBs=100%

There’s a serious argument that the more you weigh, the larger the risk your opponent is making by stepping in the octagon with you. So shouldn’t their compensation be reflective of the actual risk?

The only realistic downside I see is that you can argue that fighters who should stop cutting may continue to cut, and it could result in increased health risks. But to a certain extent I think there needs to be a responsibility on fighters to make sure they are at the right weight class and prepared appropriately.

What are your thoughts?
 
I’ve noticed a trend as I know a few of you have. Fighters at some point begin losing their weight as they approach a bout. At some point there has to be a conversation with their coaches where they say “hey man, not feeling great about the weight cut. It always sucks, but this….this is too much. I can’t do it”.

At that point fighters are presented with two options:

Option A: Try your best to push through. Cut the weight the best you can, and who knows, maybe you make weight? However, if you keep cutting and still don’t make weight, you risk losing from your purse, AND you risk being depleted.

Option B: Fuck it. 3 pounds off or 8 pounds off I get paid the same. I might as well look good. After all, I’m already being docked my pay, and the only thing worse then that is having a bad performance on top of it. I’m not gonna cut at all, and I’m gonna feel great kicking their ass. We’ll address the weight next time around during camp.

So what do you do? What do you want fighters to do? I think it’s pretty clear that the “correct” choice is “A”, but that the smartest choice is “B”. There’s no reason for guys to kill them selves and keep it competitive when the punishment is equal regardless of what you do. It’s like saying that murder and punching someone in the leg are the same thing. They are both violence, but they aren’t the same.

So what if we create brackets?

Over the Limit by 0-2 LBs=25% of your purse
Over the Limit by 2-4 LBs=50%
Over the Limit by 4-6 LBs=75%
Over the Limit by 6+ LBs=100%

There’s a serious argument that the more you weigh, the larger the risk your opponent is making by stepping in the octagon with you. So shouldn’t their compensation be reflective of the actual risk?

The only realistic downside I see is that you can argue that fighters who should stop cutting may continue to cut, and it could result in increased health risks. But to a certain extent I think there needs to be a responsibility on fighters to make sure they are at the right weight class and prepared appropriately.

What are your thoughts?
Only fair. Not too many fighters do this though.
 
Yeah that makes sense, I don't know if people would even fight if 50% or more of their purse is taken though. At a certain point, the fight just shouldn't happen.
 
WW Rumble Johnson hates this rule

But this makes sense. Half a pound overweight should be treated differently than 8 pounds overweight. Do it by a percentage of weight like one of the above posters suggested
 
Only fair. Not too many fighters do this though.
I mean it literally happened today with Nico Montano. I’m sorry. But do we really think these people coming in 6+ pounds over are stepping out of the sauna and on to the scale? I’m genuinely asking. Because it seems to me fighters either miss by a fraction of a pound, or a single pound…or they miss by 5+ pounds. Costas done it (just off the top of my head). I’m sure we could look at some of the events and find patterns & worse offenders. But imo if this is happening 10-15 times a year, that’s WAY too much.
 
Why not just ban people who can't cut weight from cutting weight?

If you're more than two pounds over, be forced to weigh in early on the next fight week and make sure they're hydrated throughout that fight week before weighing in again as normal.

If you're risking a serious potential weight disadvantage for the fight AFTER, maybe they won't try so hard to gain a potential weight advantage THIS time?
 
I’ve noticed a trend as I know a few of you have. Fighters at some point begin losing their weight as they approach a bout. At some point there has to be a conversation with their coaches where they say “hey man, not feeling great about the weight cut. It always sucks, but this….this is too much. I can’t do it”.

At that point fighters are presented with two options:

Option A: Try your best to push through. Cut the weight the best you can, and who knows, maybe you make weight? However, if you keep cutting and still don’t make weight, you risk losing from your purse, AND you risk being depleted.

Option B: Fuck it. 3 pounds off or 8 pounds off I get paid the same. I might as well look good. After all, I’m already being docked my pay, and the only thing worse then that is having a bad performance on top of it. I’m not gonna cut at all, and I’m gonna feel great kicking their ass. We’ll address the weight next time around during camp.

So what do you do? What do you want fighters to do? I think it’s pretty clear that the “correct” choice is “A”, but that the smartest choice is “B”. There’s no reason for guys to kill them selves and keep it competitive when the punishment is equal regardless of what you do. It’s like saying that murder and punching someone in the leg are the same thing. They are both violence, but they aren’t the same.

So what if we create brackets?

Over the Limit by 0-2 LBs=25% of your purse
Over the Limit by 2-4 LBs=50%
Over the Limit by 4-6 LBs=75%
Over the Limit by 6+ LBs=100%

There’s a serious argument that the more you weigh, the larger the risk your opponent is making by stepping in the octagon with you. So shouldn’t their compensation be reflective of the actual risk?

The only realistic downside I see is that you can argue that fighters who should stop cutting may continue to cut, and it could result in increased health risks. But to a certain extent I think there needs to be a responsibility on fighters to make sure they are at the right weight class and prepared appropriately.

What are your thoughts?
I think it should be like Fast and furious.
You miss by 0.1Lbs or 10 Lbs it doesn't matter. You missed it.
But the consequence of the purse is stupid.
They all need to get the Kelvin Gastelum treatment.
Banish them to the Weight class above.
 
Would incentivize certain fighters to go elsewhere too, if the percentages of cutting their purse is a little bit to high, because they're all there to make money.
 
Whatever is already done by the AC is what it should be, anything more than that and you get a LOT of pullouts before they go out and try to make weight, so they wont lose anything but there is no fight.

Would incentivize certain fighters to go elsewhere too, if the percentages of cutting their purse is a little bit to high, because they're all there to make money.

They will just pullout and fight another day.
 
If someone is going to lose 75% or 100% of their purse they probably just won’t fight. I mean what’s going to motivate them to take the possible damage for free? At that point they’d probably just accept the fight being cancelled. Over 5 pounds the fight should just be scrapped and the fighter who did make weight makes his show and win money. They should also have a one strike policy you miss weight under 5 pounds you pay the appropriate fine and get to fight. Miss again you’re gone, go fight elsewhere and prove you can make weight and maybe get a chance later.
 
Is this satire? Those fines are way too severe. Canceling the fight is a much better punishment. Pay the opponent their show money and send the weight missed home to marinate on the shelf for 6 months. They just lost a ton of potential money from the fight and are likely in the red from training camp costs for a fight that never happened.
 
I mean it literally happened today with Nico Montano. I’m sorry. But do we really think these people coming in 6+ pounds over are stepping out of the sauna and on to the scale? I’m genuinely asking. Because it seems to me fighters either miss by a fraction of a pound, or a single pound…or they miss by 5+ pounds. Costas done it (just off the top of my head). I’m sure we could look at some of the events and find patterns & worse offenders. But imo if this is happening 10-15 times a year, that’s WAY too much.
She clearly knew she was way off and said fuck it. To your point, they should either reprimand more harshly or cancel the fight over a certain % of weight missed. Imagine a LHW male coming in at 220. It should be cancelled.
 
I mean it literally happened today with Nico Montano. I’m sorry. But do we really think these people coming in 6+ pounds over are stepping out of the sauna and on to the scale? I’m genuinely asking. Because it seems to me fighters either miss by a fraction of a pound, or a single pound…or they miss by 5+ pounds. Costas done it (just off the top of my head). I’m sure we could look at some of the events and find patterns & worse offenders. But imo if this is happening 10-15 times a year, that’s WAY too much.
I think it would be good to implement your plan. I wonder if the commission tells fighters to cut as close as possible even if they can't make it. I'm also genuinely wondering if this happens behind closed doors.
 
A weight miss should be an L on your record

See how quickly massive weight cutting gets abolished
 
1.1-1.9 10%, 2.0-2.9 20%, and 10% for each additional pound. You are fined no matter if the fight is "cancelled" or not. Don't pay the fine, your license is suspended.
One point deduction to start the fight, only round one.
Loss of rank no matter the outcome, even if the fight is "cancelled".
Miss by a certain (huge) percentage, you can no longer fight in this current weight class.
 
Brackets might be fine but there’s the larger problem of weight cutting in general. It’s clearly bad for you and it negatively impacts your pay when you miss weight. Could this all be resolved with additional weight classes or a simple restriction on how much a fighter is permitted to cut (you’d market the latter as obviously-fake concern for fighter safety)?
I get that it’s born out of strategy but if everyone is doing it the benefit is limited anyway. Additionally, this would reduce the number of fights canceled for weight issues which is a win for everyone.
 
You missing weight should be like a failed drug test, In that you get a NC if you win and a loss is a loss.

A person's opponent getting paid less in an important fight (title eliminator) means fuck all to them.
 
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