Till makes 188 cutoff, fight is on

The UFC Fight Night 130 main event weigh-ins are a mess. The main purpose behind weight divisions is fairness and safety. The main purpose behind day-before weigh-ins is so fighters don’t fight dehydrated, increasing the risk of brain damage.

Main event fighter Darren Till weighed in at 174.5 on Saturday, three pounds over the required 171 for Sunday’s fight. He was fined 30% of his purse, which will go to opponent Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, and he was required to make 188. If he had failed there would have been another round of negotiation with Thompson. However, Stephen Thompson shows up to fight, and would have taken it.

In any case, Till weighed in at 187.3, so the fight is absolutely a go. Ariel Helwani posted an image of the successful moment.

https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/1000710222204293120

Helwani was told that Thompson weighed 185.2 pounds at 12:30 p.m. local time, and typically is less than 190 when he steps into the Octagon. Sports select for certain body types. Football players are large, strong, and fast. Basketball players are tall. MMA selects for the utterly useless quality of losing vast, dangerous amounts of water, and putting them back on rapidly. MMA without significant weight cuts could end up with better athletes, who simply don’t have the ability to drop and replace 20 pounds of water.

There is a 10 Point Plan for ending the culture of extreme weight cutting in the sport. One of the points is the addition of new weight classes at 165, 175, 195, and 225. A 175-pound division would have fixed this problem. But if both Till and Thompson are around 190 on fight day, then they should be fighting at 185.