13 Fighters Have Missed Weight in 2018… What Should the UFC Do?
Darren Till Beat Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson by narrow decision yesterday in his hometown of Liverpool. Winning in front of one of the most passionate crowds in the UK must be an incredible feeling, but it left a bitter taste in the mouths of neutral fans.
Till had missed weight and was given extra time on the day of the fight to cut to a point that was still two pounds above the welterweight limit. He’s a big guy for the division, and every little factor counts. Meanwhile, Thompson turned up like a professional, hit 170, and went on to lose.
Over the last number of months, a crazy amount of fighters have missed weight – many of them in high-profile fights. Think Yoel Romero in a middleweight interim title fight, the rising star Mackenzie Dern, and many others. It’s time for the UFC to review their divisions or the way they make fighters cut weight. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Rising Star
There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that Till is a rising star. Even though he fought the type of fight that Dana White absolutely hates, he had the crowd behind him to the end. He went on to beat the No. 1 ranked fighter in the division. Theoretically, he should get a title shot against either Tyron Woodley or the totally unnecessary interim champion.
“I missed weight, so I don’t feel I deserve a title shot anyway,” Till said, in his post-fight interview. “I missed weight. So there you go, right away. I don’t deserve it. I feel like Stephen deserves it. Whoever wins out of the interim, maybe Stephen or Kamaru Usman. They deserve it more.”
Respect to Till because he speaks the truth. He doesn’t deserve it. If you don’t make the weight cut, you’re technically not fighting in the division. Therefore, despite beating ‘Wonderboy’ he shouldn’t move up the ranks. It’s not fair on the opponent and it corrupts the ranking system.
Advantage
There’s no doubt about it: missing weight gives you an advantage in the cage. 13 fighters have missed weight in 2018. That’s an insane number. Yesterday Gillian Robertson stopped Molly McCann to be the first fighter this year to beat another who hadn’t made the limit. The other 12 have all won.
That includes Mackenzie Dern, who was 7lbs over the limit when she fought Amanda Bobby Cooper in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month. Dern submitted Cooper and rose in the division rankings, despite almost fighting as a bantamweight instead of a flyweight. An uproar saw her removed from the numbered rankings.
Look at Yoel Romero. He missed weight against Luke Rockhold in an interim middleweight title fight in Perth, Australia, earlier this year. Sure, he became ineligible to win the title, but at the end of the day he still got the shot to fight the champion next, so it didn’t really mean anything. Something needs to be done.
June 3 represents the 2-year anniversary of first-ever UFC "early weigh-in"
The 2 years leading up that point: Just 22 instances of fighters missing weight for UFC fights.
In 2 years since early weigh-ins began: Nearly triple, with 62 fighters having missed weight for UFC bouts
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) May 26, 2018
Reform
One solution is that instead of losing 20 or 30% of your purse as is standard now, you should lose 10% per pound. So in Dern’s case, she would have lost 70% of her earnings. When you have to fly your team to Brazil and do a fight camp, that’s a lot of money to lose.
The ranking systems need to reflect what has happened as well. Look at ‘Wonderboy,’ losing to Till. He had very little to gain from this fight in the first place. Now, he’s set to drop places in the division because he lost to an overweight opponent? That’s not fair. At the end of the day, he turned up, was professional, and arguably won the fight.
Finally, the early weigh-ins need to go. Clearly, they’re not working. You can see the stats above, released by Mike Bohn on Twitter. There’s been a lot of positive change in the UFC. For example, they’ve totally cleaned up the sport with the whole USADA testing pool. It’s time to realize that they made a mistake with early weigh-ins. It’s costing them credibility.
