Mohegan, Brazil implementing Foster plan to end extreme weight cutting
Mike Mazzulli: “Over the years, I have spoken to numerous fighters and they told me the worst thing about the sport is not the fight night, but the weight cut and weigh-in.”
It’s a great, great day for health and safety in mixed martial arts. The single most unnecessary danger in the sport is the culture of extreme weight cutting. A safety measure, designed to ensure fighters won’t face a much larger opponent, turned cancerous, killing several fighters and injuring countless others.
Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, crafted a 10 Point Plan to fix the lethal problem. It works. The ABC medical committee supports it. The ABC has adopted it. The UFC supports it and will continue to adopt further parts of it.
Some parts of Foster’s plan, like the addition of more weight classes, had already been in force at the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation. Director Mike Mazzulli, who is also the president of the Association of Boxing Commissions, tells Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting, that Mohegan will be implementing seven provisions including licensing by weight class and a second-day weight check and dehydration tests (specific gravity) to ensure fighters are not 10 or more percent above the contracted weight class. Mohegan is a smaller commission than CSAC, making implementation of most provisions rather than all more suitable.
Over the years, I have spoken to numerous fighters and they told me the worst thing about the sport is not the fight night, but the weight cut and weigh-in, said Mazzulli. The industry must do something to change the culture, and this is one step to assist in the matter. I can only hope that many other tribal and state commissions come aboard in an effort to make combative sports safer.
It’s parallel to CSAC and very, very close to what they do. If we can get more people doing it, the better off we’ll be.
Mazzulli’s actions are particularly important because of his stature in the regulation community, and because Bellator MMA hires Mohegan to regulate overseas events.
Bellator was all for it, said Mazzulli.
Guilherme Cruz spoke with Cristiano Sampaio, COO of Brazil’s CABMMA regulatory body, which approved the full 10-point plan at the last ABC conference in July. Sampaio reports that CABMMA has now begun implementation.
The first event to be affected by the new rules will be UFC Fight Night 125: Machida vs. Anders on Saturday in Belem, Brazil. The first event at Mohegan to be affected will be Bellator 194 on February 16 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Roy Nelson fights Matt Mitrione in the main event, in the quarterfinal final fight of Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix.
