Askren lauds new ONE weight cutting ban
Ben Askren: “People are stubborn and sometimes even if change is good people will always oppose change. It’s good for us. We’re going to fight people our own size.”
Mixed martial arts has a massive and lethal problem with extreme weight cutting. Progressive state athletic commissions are taking steps to address the issue. However, SACs do not have the power that a promotion does.
ONE Championship recently took a revolutionary step, following the death of a contracted fighter who was cutting. ONE has ended extreme weight cutting. It is great for everyone. A fight should not be decided on whose kidneys and heart can better withstand potentially fatal levels of dehydration.
Most elite pro fighters cut 10-25 pounds of water to make weight for a fight. But complete rehydration is not always possible in 24 hours. A 2013 study found that 39% of fighters stepped into the cage with some degree of dehydration. This furthers the danger of cutting beyond damage to the kidneys. The brain sits encased in a protective wall of fluid. When dehydrated, that wall lessens, increasing danger to the brain.
That will no longer be happening at ONE.
*Three weeks out fighters must be on weight.
•Weight entered online during fight champ, and spot checked.
•Upon arrival for fight week, fighters are given a weigh in and specific gravity test.
•A fighter who is over weight, or who is on weight and dehydrated will be withdrawn.
•Weigh ins will continue through the week.
•Most importantly, fighters will be subject to a specific gravity test hours before the fight, to ensure they are not dehydrated. If they are, they cannot fight.
ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren said he is moving to middleweight, and believes the sport will eventually come around to ONE’s brave steps.
“Under my understanding, pretty much everybody is moving up a weight,” said Askren to Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “I don’t think anyone is staying at the same weight. That’s the kind of consensus they came to after talking to most of the fighters.”
“I was even talking to my teammates. They were like, ‘Who are you going to fight at 185?’ I don’t understand the issue. I’m fighting guys my size.”.
“If the UFC did that, people would follow course just like they did with USADA testing. It might be a little harder, but at the end of the day once fighters do it a couple times and they realize they’re fighting someone their size and they don’t have to do a severe dehydration, they’re gonna like it. It’s safer, it’s healthier. It’s better all around for the fighters.
“The worst 24- to 36-hour period of my whole camp, the part I like the least is the part where I’ve gotta cut 13 to 15 pounds of water weight. And now you’re telling me I don’t have to do that anymore. That’s not a punishment to me. I wasn’t saying, ‘Shoot, I was really looking forward to that.'”
“People are stubborn and sometimes even if change is good people will always oppose change. It’s good for us. We’re going to fight people our own size.”
“All fighting is going to make a move this way at some point. I don’t know what’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen or how they’re going to enforce it. But everyone is going to be taking a look at this and doing something like this.”
Mandating a procedure like this is beyond the scope of a regulatory body. The ABC cannot come in and force the entire sport to do it. But the UFC can force the UFC to do it. If a fighter dies cutting weight, the UFC will inevitably do it, but why wait for someone to die?