A number of knowledgeable figures have identified the culture of extreme weight cutting in MMA as more dangerous than PED use. Two fighters have died to date from cutting, and countless fighters have been hospitalized. It is perhaps not widely understood that when a fighter like Khabib Nurmagomedov is hospitalized during a weight cut, long-term damage is being done. There is of course relief that the injury was not fatal, but when you’re hospitalized with organ issues, it’s bad for you.
ONE Championship experienced the death of a fighter, and ended the practice. They moved the numbers up for every weight division, and instituted hydration checks, so that fighters fight at their walking around weight. When John Lineker experienced a series of weight-cutting mishaps, his manager, the great Alex Davis, signed him to ONE, as he explains in his most recent column for MMA Junkie.
I love fighting. I do not think there is any other fighter in the world that steps up into the ring with as much joy and anticipation as I do,” said Lineker to Davis. “I really don’t worry about results – I just go in there and love the fight. But I was miserable for all my time in the UFC, even though it was no fault of theirs. I was miserable every time I even thought about the weight cut.
I tried everything! I would go on extreme diets just so I did not have to endure a sauna or a boiling tub. I got to the point where I was so worried about not making weight and all the problems that it created – like negative media, or seeing Sean Shelby shake his head at me and me looking like a dunce – that I would simply lock up. Weight would not come off no matter what I did. I sweat even just remembering it! Although I am small, I have heavy bones, and to make things that much worse, I enjoy eating! I would have to go on lengthy extreme diets for months, and even so, when I came to the final cut, I would freak out. I simply couldn’t do it, to the point where I got cut from the UFC (though I do not blame them) and thought it was the end of my career.
It wasn’t the end of his career. It was in fact the beginning of a new one. After two fights, “Hands of Stone” is a title contender in ONE’s bantamweight (145) division.
Introducing a system of fighting at walkaround weight would be good for promotions – to one more missed fights due to fighter collapse during the dehydration process. It would be good for fans – fighters will be in better shape. It would be good for fighters – no more having to cut.
CSAC ED Andy Foster has nobly taken the lead in North America in trying to reform the practice, but conventions are hard to break. The sole question is does a prominent fighter have to die for fundamental change to take place, rapidly and everywhere?
