Weight cutting is one of the most dangerous aspects in any sport, not only MMA. Except a strict rule, there seems to be no solution which could stop fighters from cutting weight up to a level which can be harmful.
However, a policy was adopted by the UFC which could make it easier for the fighters to rehydrate after cutting weight. Contrary to the earlier policy of weigh-ins in the mid-day, fighters were made to weigh-in in the morning 9-11 AM time frame since June 2016. However, this has lead to even more weight misses as 62 fighters have missed weight leading to 15 fight cancellations. Hence, UFC president Dana White on UFC Unfiltered podcast announced that the UFC are getting rid of their early weigh-in system.
“Yes, I do think it’s that,” White said, when asked if the early weigh-ins were behind the increase in fighters missing weight, “and guess what? We’re getting rid of it. We’re looking at taking the weigh-ins back to the way they used to be. So when the guys weigh in there, at the (ceremonial weigh-ins), that will be it. That’ll be the real weigh-in.”
“Here’s what I believe,” White said. “Any time you change something, everybody looks to take as much advantage as they can of the situation. I think that when we started doing morning weigh-ins, it was very good. Everybody was making weight, everything was great.
“But then people started cutting it closer and closer and closer, thinking they can put on more weight because they have more time to recover, and the reality is, it f**ked everything up. So we’re looking at going back to — at 4 p.m. PT — when we do the weigh-ins, those will be the real weigh-ins.
“The other thing is, I don’t know any fighters that are morning people. Most of them stay up half the night and sleep half the day, so that might have something to do with the morning weigh-ins too.”
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