I've always been against weight cutting in MMA. There are many reasons why weight cutting is bad for the sport. I know you wrestlers are going to disagree but here me out.
Cutting is a lot like steriods, except it's legal. Forgetting the health reasons, I will never like it because it gives one fighter a size and strength advantage over the other. I can never respect a fighter who is only willing to fight fighters smaller than him, which is really what cutting boils down to. Cutting weight gives such a huge advantage that every fighter is forced to do it now, which makes doing it to gain an advantage essentially pointless.
We now have fighters weighing anywhere from 185 to 200 at fight time fighting welterweight. It lowers the legitimacy of weight classes substantially.
Cutting weight takes a lot of energy out of fighters, which leads to boring fights. Ever wonder why a fighter who trains several hours a day, 6 days a week can't even go 15 minutes without gassing? Is this guy a lazy bum who doesn't train his conditioning hard enough? No, eliminating carbs for the week prior to the fight and sweating out 20lbs of water will do that to you. Carbs are the bodies source of energy. And being short on energy during a fight is what leads to these snorefests in the UFC right now. I can almost garentee that any fighter who trains hard and is not forced to cut weight will be able to go all out for at least 15 minutes, which is what we all want.
Weight cutting hurts the UFC specifically by strinking the talent pool of the heavier weight divisions, which tends to be more profitable than the lower weight divisions.
So what is the solution to this? There has been no way to safely stop fighters from cutting weight.. unitl now!
Here is what I propose, it's a little elaborate: make weight cutting by dehydration illegal and... forcebly rehydrate fighters before weigh-ins. Fighters will show up 12 hours or even a day before a weigh-ins, they will be forced to drink a LOT of water/gatorade and given enough time to piss any excess out. Any fighter who cuts but dehydrating themselves will ballon in weight and fighters who don't will simple piss the water out.
I agree going through this whole process will suck a lot for the fighters, but it is needed.
First off, the whole "only willing to fight smaller guys" arguement doesn't really fly, as most of the time BOTH fighters are cutting weight.
But other than that, I tend to agree in that I personally wouldn't do it, just because I don't want to put my body through that. But I don't really have a prob with others doing it. The added muscle from cutting vs your body not being through the ringer, sort makes the advantage even out a bit.
The argument against cutting weight makes no sense when you concede that (1) each fighter is voluntarily cutting weight, and (2) each man is free to enter any division. Each man is obviously acting in his own self interest by going to his best fighting weight.
I totally agree that the fighter that cuts the most definatley has a big advantage in terms of strength. While we're at it we should ban working out too. Come as you are fighters, stop trying to get an advantage in a competitve sport.
whizzard: Both fighters voluntarily cut because they have to to remain competitive. A 205 lb guy who fights at 205 is at a disadvantge because everybody else who weighs 205 fights at 170.
That doesn't justify weight cutting if it is harmful or if it does indeed lead to shitty fights, which I think is an interesting point.
Cutting weight is completely different from working out. There are no rules against working out. Weight cutting is essentially a loophole in the rules. The only reason there is no rule against it today is people can't figure out a way to prevent it safely.
There's no evidence that I know of to suggest that the effects of cutting weight last until and through fight time. Your body can completely refill its water and carbohydrate stores in less than a day.
The reason people get tired is because they're fighting, and it's hard.
"I can almost garentee that any fighter who trains hard and is not forced to cut weight will be able to go all out for at least 15 minutes"
There is no person that can go "all out" for fifteen minutes because, by definition, if you can do something for that long, you're not going "all out."
Your issues about size have already been addressed. I surmise that none of your points has survived proper scrutiny.
"There's no evidence that I know of to suggest that the effects of cutting weight last until and through fight time. Your body can completely refill its water and carbohydrate stores in less than a day."
Have you ever cut 20+ lbs before?
1 How are the hw's and lhw's more profitable? Those two weight classes make the most money payday wise, therefore they are the least profitable for the org's. #2 A better way to prevent cutting is to just have the weigh in's the day of the fight's instead of the day before.
I don't have any right to an opinion regarding the "fairness" of weight cutting, since I've never had to do it (HW 4 life, baby!). As such, the only advice I ever give my students regarding weight cutting is to keep it as healthy as possible...if you're close to a weight class, cool, but don't unnecessarily punish your body trying to be something you're not built to be.
"#1 How are the hw's and lhw's more profitable? Those two weight classes make the most money payday wise, therefore they are the least profitable for the org's. #2 A better way to prevent cutting is to just have the weigh in's the day of the fight's instead of the day before."
They make more because there is more Americans have more demand for heavier weight fights. Same day weigh-ins are extremely dangerous because fighters will still cut and they are given no time to regain any of the lost water. There have been many deaths in boxing and wrestling from people cutting weight and not having time to regain all the lost water back.
Actually the doc who supported before-the-fight weigh-ins has now gone back on his earlier statement and supports same day weigh ins. Most of the deaths occur during the cutting process and not during the fights.
I hate weight cutting. Most of the people I knew in MD/VA that I used to train with told me that I should cut to around 175: from boxing to muay thai- my "natural" weight's closer to 230 or 240. I like food and eating nothing for months on end, then sweating out everything I can the day or 2 prior sounds as close hell as i can imagine. I've done it before and I was really hurting come fight time.
Rich Franklin is the easiest example I can point to. Yeah, he's successful, yeah the cutting doesn't hurt him; but i find myself rooting for whoever he's fighting coz I know that the guy should probly be fighting at 205, not 185.
"Cutting weight takes a lot of energy out of fighters, which leads to boring fights. Ever wonder why a fighter who trains several hours a day, 6 days a week can't even go 15 minutes without gassing?"
By that logic, shouldn't some non-cutting fighter then be able to enter the ring fresh and full of energy, and beat the shit out of the drained and gassing weight cutter? The truth is, weight cutting exists in whatever sport there is a weight limit, especially if the competitors get weighed in the day before. So long as the same rules apply to everyone, I don't have a problem with it. And if cutting really takes energy out of some fighters, they will pay the price in the ring and should reconsider just how much weight they want to cut next time.
"By that logic, shouldn't some non-cutting fighter then be able to enter the ring fresh and full of energy, and beat the shit out of the drained and gassing weight cutter?"