Angela Lee: Why ONE weight descent system is much better
Angela Lee: “It’s a much better system. You don’t have to feel all dehydrated the night before, and that’s a terrible feeling everyone’s gone through. I think it’s much better, and I’m happy to be in this new weight descent.”
Mixed martial arts suffers from a potentially fatal culture of extreme weight cutting. ONE Championship suffered the loss of flyweight Yang Jian Bing, and they fixed the problem, requiring that fighters compete at something like walking around weight.
ONE defines an eight-week competition zone prior to the fight, and in the initial two weeks, fighters must be within 8% of the contracted weight. By fight week, fighters have to be at fighting weight. And right up to fight day, a fighter can be disqualified for excessive hydration.
Women’s atomweight camp Angela Lee and VP of PR and Communications Loren Mack appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio and discussed how ONE ended the most dangerous solvable problem in MMA.
It’s just about being more responsible, like diet-wise, leading up to the fight, said Lee, as transcribed by Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie. It’s a much better system. You don’t have to feel all dehydrated the night before, and that’s a terrible feeling everyone’s gone through. I think it’s much better, and I’m happy to be in this new weight descent.
A cut is immediate, dangerous, and irresponsible. By contrast, the ‘descent’ that Lee employs is safe and responsible.
Fighters often refer to the cut as the fight before the fight. Now they only have to fight once, which is better for everyone.
What our athletes have learned going through the process of not weight cutting is that they compete at a much higher level, said Mack. They’re mentally and physically 10 times better during fight week. And they’re actually happy because they get to eat breakfast in the morning. And they compete better.
The UFC could adopt a similar process. And when a fighter dies, they will. The sole question is will they wait for a death first? With ONE addressing the issue responsibly in the East, and the UFC addressing the issue responsibly in the West, the culture of extreme weight cutting would cease. Then fighters wouldn’t have to fight twice, and would perform at a higher level. Fans would get better fights. And promotions wouldn’t see endless fights scrapped due to failed cuts. Everyone wins. No one dies.
Why isn’t the UFC doing this now?