How to Make Fighters Make Weight
by Nate Wilcox on Jun 15, 2008 4:01 PM EDT
in MMA News
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PrintBuilding on a suggestion from MMA-Analyst's Leland Roling, Fight Opinion's Zach Arnold has a piece on MMA Memories that outlines a pretty interesting proposal for ensuring that fighters will do their damnedest to make weight:
1) If you fail to make weight for one fight, you lose a third of your fight purse and get suspended for three months by the athletic commission.
2) If you fail to make weight for a second fight, you lose half of your fight purse and get suspended for six months by the athletic commission.
3) If you fail to make weight for a third fight, you lose your entire fight purse and get suspended for a full year by the athletic commission.
I think this is a really solid suggestion. The only thing I would add is something to clarify that the three failures to make weight must occur with in a two year time frame or something to incur the increased punishments.
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Sounds good
In my horribly unprofessional opinion, it seems almost as if the fighters are willing to lose some of their purse for the advantage of not cutting weight.
A win will propel you to bigger fights and purses, so I’m thinking the strategy may be – take a hit now for a future pay off.
I'm done for that
I think there should be more punishment then the slap in the hand given now. There is plenty of time to cut the weight and a failure to is inexcusable. Make these guys pay for breaking the rules.
I’m not sure how this plan is broken down, but I feel that they need to take a percentage of the potential win money and show money from the offender on the spot. In other words, if the fighter that missed weight would make a $50,000 bonus to win, the other fighter should get $25,000 (if the penalty is 50%) right there at the moment the weight limit was missed. It shouldn’t matter if the overweight fighter wins or not. The other fighter should get a portion of the win bonus before the fight begins.
I think this keeps a fighter who’s getting a significantly smaller win bonus from having to take a pay cut if they beat they’re overweight opponent. This scenario was discussed after the Carano/Young fight. This also gives the promotion some incentive to keep their big names in line. They don’t want to have to give a lower draw opponent a percentage of their star’s win bonus before the fight even begins.
I don’t know if I made any sense, but I feel strongly that this issue must be dealt with in order for MMA to be taken seriously as a professional sport.
Rules like this aren’t incentives to cut weight. They’re incentives to pull out of a fight for missing weight.
What's the answer?
Let the fight happen at whatever weight? I’d rather them abolish the weight divisions than have fighters not living up to their commitment; of course, that’s not realistic. As pissed as I am about the situation, the people getting screwed the most are the opponents who made weight but are compelled to fight, anyway. No punitive measures are going to make for a perfect outcome. Diminishing the importance of making weight seems to be a much less viable option.
by Cannon Jacques on Jun 15, 2008 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Exactly...
...I’d rather give up 50% of my purse than make no money after all the training that goes into fight prep.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison
by Brent Brookhouse on Jun 15, 2008 7:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Better to pull out and miss the pay for one show than taking half pay and facing six months of suspension with no pay.
by George Lucas on Jun 15, 2008 9:28 PM EDT up reply actions
And fighters who are suspended for six months somehow do?
by George Lucas on Jun 15, 2008 9:29 PM EDT up reply actions
i made this suggestion in leland’s thread so i’ll repost it here….
1st failure…. forfeit any and all win bonus, locker room bonus, KO/Fight/sub of the night bonuses to your opponent
2nd failure… make them move up a weight class or lose their contract
make that diuretic taking goof alves move up to mw
That's pretty extreme.
I don’t think your suggestions would get be enacted, but I like them anyway.
by Cannon Jacques on Jun 15, 2008 8:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Take my arm ... please!
These suggestions are a bit silly, not least because someone would get rewarded for getting KTFO or submitted by getting a bonus for it!
Clarification on fighters not making weight
It’s a big deal that fighters don’t make weight, but lets look at the facts, or even “facts” or the last 3 notable failures in making weight:
Alves: he hurt his ankle in the week leading up to his fight and notified the UFC ahead of time that he was unable to do cardio so he didn’t think he could make weight. Better than cancelling the fight.
Diaz: As per the story on the site, he seemed to have ingested salt water (so he said) and couldn’t get enough water out of his system. He also told Mushin ahead of time and paid Mushin more out of his own pocket than he would’ve lost in purse deductions.
Carano: she didn’t have time to train much less the time to cut properly before her last fight. And she’s just heavy for her weight class anyways.
Of course you can not believe Diaz, but the other two instances are factual.
And besides, it’s the promotion responsibility and liability, not the regulating commissions.
I agree that the promotions should be held accountable. Especially in the cases of Diaz and Carano, the fighters and the promotion are working closely together. They’re heavily promoted by EXC as stars or the organization. You can blame them or you can blame Gary Shaw, but I think it’s irrelevant. As far as excuses go, these are professionals. It’s part of their job. If they know well in advance they have to fight, they should find a way to make weight.
It just seems horribly unfair for one person to cut down properly, and the other person is allowed to slide. If it’s not important to all the parties involved for fighters to make weight, I guess it doesn’t matter that much. I just find it ridiculous to have a weight limit and then ignore it.
by Cannon Jacques on Jun 15, 2008 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions
The Gina situation...
...isn’t an excuse for not making weight. It isn’t an injury or illness. “I didn’t have time to cut” and “I am big for my division” are reasons to a) decide if you have the time to be a fighter…making weight is a part of the game and b) fight at a different weight.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison
by Brent Brookhouse on Jun 16, 2008 12:11 AM EDT up reply actions
Gina doesn't decide her weight class
If they make the fights at 140 lbs and all the other fighters are at 140 lbs or less, then she’s forced to fight at that class.
Or more directly EliteXC is forced to make her fight at the weight class.
Gina can’t fight at a weight class that isn’t there. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind fighting at 145, but first someone has to let her.
EXC...
has been creating their own weight classes for a while now. In fact they made the 140 division (rather than 135) basically FOR Gina.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison
by Brent Brookhouse on Jun 16, 2008 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Furthermore...
if you’re “too busy to make weight” then you’re probably “too busy to be a professional fighter”
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison
by Brent Brookhouse on Jun 16, 2008 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Don't make weight, don't get paid..
I’d like to say “dont make weight, dont fight” but with marketing ppv’s that’s not reasonable so if they miss weight, they should lose all of their base pay. Leaving them eligible for bonuses gives incentive to perform. If they refuse to fight at catchweight, then the organization and the fans know exactly what kind of person they are.
by ProCannonFodder on Jun 16, 2008 8:44 AM EDT reply actions
And also put them down on the list
So people like Diaz, who got a marked advantage by NOT cutting weight, doesn’t get a title shot for winning unfairly.
Honestly, it’s crap like this that makes it impossible for me to enjoy watching EXC.
by Richard Wade on Jun 16, 2008 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions
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