Cormier: New CSAC weigh-in rules are better for me
Daniel Cormier: “It will actually be better for me, because I’ll get down in weight earlier. That’s the way I used to do it when I first moved down to 205.”
The culture of extreme weight cutting has killed two MMA fighters, hospitalized countless others, and has caused internal damage of varying degrees to many, many more. California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster, who serves as chair of the medical committee for the Association of Boxing and Combative Sports Commissions, created an aggressive 10-point plan to protect fighters and the sport.
The plan will go before the full ABC body at the annual conference, which will be held this year from July 22-26 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. However, California is not waiting for the vote, or another death in the sport. Implementation of the new program will begin on June 15, and the new plan will be in effect at UFC 214 on July 29 in Anaheim, California.
UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is no stranger to the dangers of weight cutting. The captain of the US freestyle wrestling team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was unable to compete at all after suffering renal failure during a cut. He said it almost killed him. And that was for 211. Now he has to make 205.
One of the changes is licensing by weight category. A doctor will certify that the athlete can cut weight safely to the required division. Anything over 10% of body weight is considered an unsafe cut, so at his physical about a month before the event, Cormier will want to weigh about 225.
I have to be careful, said Cormier to Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. It will actually be better for me, because I’ll get down in weight earlier. That’s the way I used to do it when I first moved down to 205.
In order to make weight for his last fight, vs. Anthony Johnson, Cormier had to pull out a high school wrestling trick to bamboozle the green New York commission deputies.
This was the hardest [weight cut] by far, said Cormier. I think the beginning of my 205-pound career was easier because I was fighting so often. Like, if you remember, I fought Patrick Cummins, then I fought Dan Henderson, then I fought Jones and I fought Gustafsson, Rumble. They were all within the first year-and-a-half. So every three or four months, I was fighting; whereas now, after Gustafsson, it was like nine months (until UFC 200), and then this time again it was like eight months. So it’s just a lot of time between fights. Just, I need to be a little more active, so that my weight doesn’t get as high, and also my body gets used to the weight cut again.
Andy Foster is the ideal point man for the weight cutting effort. No one likes to be told what to do by the government, but Foster is a former fighter, with a 9-2 record as a pro, and an undefeated 8-0 record as an amateur behind that. He’s also a former coach, promoter, referee, and judge.
Fighters don’t want to be told what they and they can’t do by people who have never done it before, said Cormier. If he was a fighter and he’s cut weight before, then he’s actually qualified to speak on it.
I think there will be changes that happen, eventually. It’s not a bad thing.
Cormier also noted that fighters always say after the weight cut that the hard part is done. Fighting is dangerous; there should not be something harder than fighting just one day before it, and when Foster’s plan is implemented, there won’t be, at last.