California State Athletic Commission Takes Step Forward in Stopping MMA Weight-Cutting Problem

By Muk

The CSAC took a big step forward in the fight against weight-cutting today when they enacted a new rule that will fine a fighter's win bonus, on top of the fine to their show money. One of the biggest problems in all of MMA, and really all combat sports, is poor weight cutting. A ton of fighters have poor weight management, and fight at weights that are far below their natural weight. This leaves fighters hospitalized, big fights cancelled, and money wasted - for all parties involved. 

Clearly the health of these athletes is the most important thing in this situation, and the extreme dehydration that a lot of them put their bodies through is not something they should sustain over the course of there whole career, and often they can't. We've seen the case with Johnny Hendricks, who early in his career was a World Champion and always up there for the next title shot, but as his career went on he began missing weight more and more often, whether it be 1 pound or 6 pounds. Because of this we saw him jump up to 185 for his last fight against Hector Oxbard (Lombard), and earned himself his first win in a while. You could see the effect the weight problem was having on Johnny, both physically and mentally, and he truly looked healthier and livelier after the move up.

Besides the effect is has had on the health of the fighters, the amount of great fights, and key fights, that have been scrapped from a card or made a non-title or contender fight because of missed weight is growing to be a problem. Khabib was the most recent culprit, blowing up the Lightweight division's plan by missing his Interim Title fight against Tony Ferguson, which now leaves Tony, Conor, and Dana in a tough position.

I hope all of the Athletic Commissions take after California and start fining the fighters as much as possible, because either the fighters need to get better diet and weight management plans, or they need to make a move up a weight class. There's a reason Conor has stayed away from the Featherweight division, and it's because he looked like a corpse at those weigh-ins, and at 155 and 170 he looks healthy and full. If you can't handle the weight cut, don't do it, for your own sake, and the sake of the fans.  

Dana speaking on Khabib, will he move up to 170? Or will he make changes?