Lightweight Dober fought at 183 at UFC 214
CSAC document: “Fighter must be cleared by physician or must move up in weight due to greater than 18% weight increase.”
Weight classes exist for fairness and safety. A good big man can beat a good little man, and can hurt him in the process. As part of his 10-Point Plan to combat the culture of extreme weight cutting, at Saturday’s UFC 214, California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster measured fighters on fight day, in addition of course to the early weigh-ins the day before.
Fighters who put on more than 10% of their bodyweight are losing dangerous amounts of water weight and will be strongly encouraged to move up. All fighters stayed under or sufficiently close to that at UFC 214, with one exception.
UFC lightweight Drew Dober weighed in a pound under the non-title limit of 156, and on fight day, he was 183. That’s moving up two divisions. That’s a middleweight at lightweight – Anderson Silva vs. BJ Penn. That’s not fair or safe. That’s insane.
And Dober said it was easy, with the guidance of noted MMA nutritionist George Lockhart.
Lockhart really made the cut super easy — probably one of the easiest cuts I’ve ever had, said Dober to Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting.
Raimondi obtained the CSAC medical suspensions and they are clear.
Fighter must be cleared by physician or must move up in weight due to greater than 18% weight increase, reads the document. Fighter needs to be in a heavier weight class per medical evaluation.
Dober, 28, must now decide whether to try to build some Tyron Woodley sized legs and move up to welterweight, or focus instead on endurance and agility, and move his walking around weight down (when he took the fight he was 186 pounds with 10-percent body fat). But at 5′ 8″ his reach is not a lot for welterweight.
I’m a thick guy, said Dober to Raimondi with a laugh. I’m a Flintstone. I’m a dense individual. … We’re stuck in the middle. We’ve just gotta try to make the best decisions.
Dober says the new 165 pound division would be perfect, but UFC president Dana White said there are no plans to add one at present.
I think 55 is definitely not extremely thrown out the window, said Dober. If I make the correct decisions, I think 155 should be a realistic division.
Overall, I think it’s great they’re paying attention to the extreme weight cutting. One, I think it’s overrated and two, a lot of guys do it improperly and it can be very dangerous.
Overall, Foster’s new process was a success.
The weights were a massive improvement over previous UFC events, said Foster. I have the data and this was a lot better.
Medically speaking, dehydration is classified as mild, moderate, or severe depending on the percentage of body weight lost. Mild dehydration is 5-6%, while moderate is 7-10%. Severe dehydration is over 10% and is a life-threatening condition, requiring immediate medical care. Dober lost over 15%. Foster said he expects other commissions to honor the call for fighters like Dober to move up a division or get certified by a doctor for their old division, presumably due to a lower walking around weight.