Welcome to WrestlingObserver.com’s live coverage of the UFC On FOX 17: Dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2 weigh-ins from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The fighters will hit the scale at 4 PM eastern time. The card airs on Saturday with the main card on FOX at 8 PM eastern time. Preliminary card action kicks off at 3:30 PM eastern time on UFC Fight Pass before heading over to FOX Sports 1 at 5 PM eastern time with additional preliminary bouts. This is the second time the Octagon has appeared in Orlando and it marks the 41st and final UFC event of 2015.
The event is headlined by UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos making his first title defense against challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who enters his first UFC title fight riding an eight-fight win streak. They have met once before, at UFC Fight Night 27 in August 2013, a bout won by Dos Anjos. The co-main event will be a heavyweight battle years in the making as former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos takes on Alistair Overeem. The card also features the return of Nate Diaz after a year out of action as he takes on Michael Johnson.
MAIN CARD (FOX- 8 PM ET/5 PM PT): Rafael Dos Anjos (154.5) vs. Donald Cerrone (154.5) – UFC Lightweight Championship Junior Dos Santos (239) vs. Alistair Overeem (243) Michael Johnson (155.5) vs. Nate Diaz (156) Randa Markos (116) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (114.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 5 PM ET/2 PM PT): Charles Oliveira (150.5) vs. Myles Jury (146) C.B. Dollaway (185.5) vs. Nate Marquardt (186) Sarah Kaufman (136) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (134) Josh Samman (186) vs. Tamdan McCrory (185) Nik Lentz (156) vs. Danny Castillo (156) Cole Miller (146) vs. Jim Alers (145)
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT): Kamaru Usman (171) vs. Leon Edwards (171) Hayder Hassan (170) vs. Vicente Luque (171) Francis Ngannou (254) vs. Luiz Henrique (248)
*Danny Castillo missed the lightweight limit by two pounds. He later came back and made weight at 156 pounds.
*C.B. Dollaway missed on his initial attempt but made weight after the towel was brought in.
*Charles Oliveira missed weight badly, once again. He weighed in 4.5 pounds over the featherweight limit.
1500 tickets for a 1/16 NXT house show in Chicago at the Portage Theater, the group’s debut in the market, sold out in one minute today.
At this writing, there are 48 tickets left on Stubhub with a cheapest ticket price at $145. There are also tickets available in other secondary market sites and through area ticket brokers, but are for well above face value and there are not a great deal of them available.
Tickets for a 1/30 NXT show in Royal Oak, MI, just outside of Detroit, sold out their pre-sale allotment on the first day as well.
Also, it appears as if the entire pre-sale allotment for the NXT event on April 1st in Dallas, TX, is also sold out. The show, set for the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, seats about 7,000. A public on-sale is scheduled for Saturday, but it’s likely only a small amount of tickets will be made available which is usually the case in these situations.
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back tonight with our POST-CHRISTMAS SHOW EDITION. Yes, the show was taped tonight, it’ll air next week, but for now you’ll get the hangover special with our usual Granny Q&A plus full reviews of NXT Takeover and Monday Night’s Raw with the Roman Reigns title change. A fun show as always so check it out~!
We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s NXT show and we’ll also be doing a poll for tomorrow’s ROH show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer
Smackdown tonight on Syfy:
Alberto Del Rio vs. Ryback non-title
Titus O’Neil vs. Tyler Breeze
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Lucha Dragons non-title
Becky Lynch vs. Brie Bella
Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler non-title
New Japan from Korakuen Hall tonight/tomorrow on New Japan World at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time/1:30 a.m. Pacific time
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Jay White vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & David Finlay
Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall
Tiger Mask vs. Jushin Liger for NWA jr. title
Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan & Mascara Dorada vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi & Evil
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson & Kushida vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo
There will be another Korakuen Hall show headlined by Tanahashi & Shibata vs. Okada & Naito on late Friday night/Saturday morning at the same time. ROH has its Final Battle PPV tomorrow night, and UFC has its final show of the year on Saturday night.
Conor McGregor winning the UFC featherweight title and the story behind UFC 194 and the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title are the lead stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with coverage of so many major shows over the past week.
We look at McGregor’s financial goals, the business of UFC 194 and the records set, early PPV projections, what is next for McGregor, TV viewership numbers in the U.S. and Brazil, , as well as the path of McGregor to being the No. 1 male star in the promotion. We look at Frankie Edgar as a contender, potential of UFC 200 if Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are booked on the same show, the last two PPV shows, Rousey vs. McGregor as draws, Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title win, looking at the Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman judging and the future of the middleweight division.
We also look at the path of Roman Reigns to the WWE title, the increased viewership on Raw, where the new viewers came from and how viewership differed from recent weeks. We look at the reaction to Reigns, and the storylines that led to that reaction.
We’ve also got complete rundowns on WWE TLC, NXT Takeover, as well as all three UFC events, including match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings and more.
We also have a look at Mauro Ranallo’s signing with WWE, his background, how the deal came to fruition and the path from announcing pro wrestling on TV while a teenage on national television in Canada to the WWE 30 years ago, with stops in kickboxing, MMA and boxing in between.
We also have news on a new Takeover special and WrestleMania weekend, WWE week on the USA Network, dates Brock Lesnar is booked, WWE making a deal with Coca Cola, new season of Total Divas, Slammy Awards notes, why it is unlikely Dwayne Johnson will be at WrestleMania, Ronda Rousey and WrestleMania, William Regal injury update, death of Jim Dotson, Daniel Bryan update, offers made to Bryan, Bryan talks WretleMania and bringing back stars from the past, HHH talks NXT, why Raw is three hours and why that isn’t going to change soon, WWE injury updates, NXT touring in 2016, Cena in the movies, Lineup of DVD releases for 2016, how ECW ended up being a financial success, difference in the makeup of Raw and Smackdown viewers and what viewers are more likely to watch both shows, plus we’ve got reports from all the WWE & NXT arena events over the past week with business and overall highlights.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com” target=”_blank”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com
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If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
There were a lot of pro wrestling people at the Combate Americas MMA show last night on NBC Universo at the Florentine Gardens in Hollywood,CA. Gene LeBell was a judge. Konnan did the color commentary. Court Bauer was a Co-executive producer. Also at the show included Frank Shamrock and Taya Valkyrie.
Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte) is on the cover of the new issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers that comes out in a few days.
Dwayne Johnson and girlfriend Lauren Hashian had a baby girl yesterday. Congratulations to both.
Tickets for the 1/2 PWG show in Reseda, CA sold out instantly last night.
POP TV, the new home of TNA, has been cleared by Cablevision as of mid-January. It won’t be airing on Cablevision in time for the 1/5 show, but it will be airing in time for the 1/29 show.
WWE
When they taped Smackdown in Newark for tonight, in Roman Reign’s opening interview, he said that HHH hadn’t been seen since TLC anywhere. So there were wires crossed between those running the show and HHH.
Also in a rarity, on tonight’s show during the national broadcast they will plug the Brock Lesnar appearance at the show on Saturday night at the Forum in Los Angeles. That show has a surprisingly weak advance. Lesnar faces Alberto Del Rio on that card in a U.S. title match.
All the allotment of pre-sale tickets put on sale today for NXT live events in Royal Oak, MI and Pittsburgh in January have sold out.
The Baron Corbin win over Apollo Crews was to set up some Finn Balor vs Corbin matches for the NXT title.
Joe Rogan has apologized for saying that Jose Aldo looked different in Saturday’s fight and any insinuations regarding that.
John McCarthy will be the referee for the 1/2 Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit welterweight title match. The judges will be Derek Cleary, Chris Lee and Tony Weeks.
Nate Diaz showed up in great shape for Saturday’s fight with Michael Johnson. He wasn’t happy he wasn’t on the event poster, so today he drew himself on an event poster.
Rafael Feijao vs. Ovince Saint-Preux has been added to the 2/6 UFC show in Las Vegas, which is the Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez show.
Martin Sevensoon vs. David Teymur, both off the recent TUF season, and both from Sweden and Conor McGregor’s team, will face off on the 2/27 sold out UFC show at the O2 Arena in London.
Paul Bradley (22-6, 2 NCs) vs. Chris Honeycutt (6-0, 1 NC) in a battle of former All-American Division I wrestlers in a rematch of a fight that went to a no contest a few months back, has been rescheduled for the 1/29 Bellator show in Fresno. Also announced for prelims were Anthony Avila (12-4) vs. John Reedy (11-6), Javy Ayala (8-4) vs. Carl Seumanutafa (9-6) and Art Arcienega (14-5) vs. Justin Smiley (9-7).
Rockstar Pro Wrestling tomorrow night at the Rockstar Pro Arena in Dayton.
Maryland Championship Wrestling on 12/26 in Joppa, MD featuring Ethan Carter III, Chyna and Ashley Massaro as well as the area debut of Sean Studd, the real life son of Big John Studd.
The ECWA announced Jason Kincaid as the first person in the 2016 Super 8 tournament which takes place on 4/23.
L.A. Park & Laredo Kid vs. Mascara Maligna & Silver Star headline a Saturday show in Dallas at the Indoor Soccer Camp.
Solar vs. Blue Panther is headlining a Sunday show at Arena Coliseo in Monterrey. They also could have headlined the same arena 30 years ago.
40 years ago today in Miami Beach before 4,200 fans:
Omar Negro (Buddy Moreno/Omar Atlas) drew Bruce Swayze (Patrick’s uncle)
Mike Graham beat Bob Orton Jr. via DQ to retain the U.S. jr. heavyweight title
Karl Von Steiger beat Abe Jacobs
Bob Roop beat Bill Dromo
The Destroyer (Killer Kowalski) no contest Big Bad John
Billy Robinson beat The Great Malenko to retain the Southern title
Rocky Johnson & Thunderbolt Patterson beat Rip Hawk & Roger Kirby via DQ to retain the Florida tag team titles
Terry Funk beat Cyclone Negro to retain the NWA title (thanks to Barry Rose)
Rock Solid Pro Wrestling on 2/12 in Kirkland Lake, ONT at the Northern College Kirkland Lake Campus headlined by Cody Deaner.
Want to make mention of the work of Kathy Fitzpatrick for her work in helping organize a lot of Toys for Tots pick-ups at wrestling events in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas snd working with the Marine Reserve groups to come to the events, as well as transporting the toys
Bob Magee on wrestling promotions who have been working hard for charity during the holiday season:
* 3XWrestling presented Holiday Havoc 6 on December 4 in Des Moines, IA, and collected toys at its annual Toys for Tots Drive.
* 2300 (ECW) Arena presented the first of their Toys for Tots collection on December 5 at the CHIKARA Pro Wrestling season finale at the 2300 (ECW) Arena with an overflowing box of toys, as well as cash donations, and food donations to Philabundance being collected.
* New England Championship Wrestling held its annual Toys for Tots collection/meet and greet at West Real Estate in Wilmington, MA on December 5, collecting nearly 100 toys.
* The originator of Toys for Toys events in the Philadelphia/South Jersey region, United Wrestling Coalition, did it again on December 5 at Kelly’s Bar/Banquet Hall, 14 Railroad Avenue, Wrightstown, NJ with 300-350 toys plus 10 bikes.
* ECWA Pro Wrestling held its annual Toys for Tots show on December 5 at the Woodbury Heights Community Center, Woodbury, NJ with six boxes of Toys for Tots collected.
* Right Coast Pro returned to Newark, DE on December 5 and collected 2 shopping carts of canned and nonperishable goods for the “Feed the Need Ministry” in Newark, DE and $500 for the Josh Jones Fund.
* WAR Wrestling returns to Lima, OH on December 5 for United or Divided in a fundraiser for the Veterans Food Pantry; raising over $600 in cash and a whole SUV full of food.
* Crossfire Wrestling presented Jingle Bell Brawl IV on December 5 at The Merritton Community St. Catharine’s, ON, and raised $500 for The Niagara Children’s Centre Foundation.
* New Era Wrestling returned to Golden, CO on December 5, collecting dozens of toys at their Toys for Tots collection.
* Charity Wrestling Show came to Kingston Gospel Temple, Kingston, ON, Canada on December 5; with proceeds going to Hands of Hope, a charity that provides groceries over the holiday season to families in need.
* Pure Wrestling Association returned to Guelph, ON on December 4 and Kitchener, ON on December 5 for “Spirit of the Season” collecting scores of new, unwrapped toys and Guelph, ON on December 6 collecting many canned foods items.
* Old Time Wrestling collected numerous bags of food items at its December 5 weekly show in Williamstown, NJ.
* Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling returned to Warren, MI on December 6 for Hardcore With A Heart at The Ritz collecting hundreds of canned goods to benefit the homeless of metro Detroit.
* The stars of Juggalo Championship Wrestling will join forces with legendary rappers to deliver 6 shows to benefit Saint John’s Children’s Hospital of Illinois. The Rassle Rap Charity Festival Tour features all the stars of Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) like 2 Tuff Tony, Crazy Mary Dobson, Madman Pondo, The Weedman, The Ring Ryda’s, Kongo Kong, The Rudeboy, Super Strong Tiger, The Spider Monkey, The Iron Demon Shane Mercer, Moshpit Mike, Samantha Heights, and many more competing in the ring. All proceeds from the tour will go directly to Saint Johns Children’s Hospital, and that includes not only ticket sales, but also the various support packages available which include a special edition t-shirt, the opportunity to be a lumberjack in one of the matches, a VIP meet and greet with every performer on the show and more!!!
Show dates are:
12/10 Valparaiso, IN – Big Shots 12/11 Sauget, IL – Pop’s 12/12 Kokomo, IN – The Stage 12/13 Columbus, OH – The Newport 12/16 Glen Jean, WV – Glen Jean Armory 12/17 Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom
* Texas Wrestling Association returned to the Texas Wolverine All-Star Gym, San Antonio, TX on December 11 for Gold Envy, part of the annual Toy Drive for Mujeres Unidas benefit Children’s Hospital of San Antonio; collecting 75 toys for area children.
* Old Time Wrestling collected yet more bags of food items at its December 12 weekly show in Williamstown, NJ.
* Grumpy’s Bail Bonds Operation Christmas sponsored a show in Portland, TN at the Richland Park Gym on December 11 with Ricky Morton, Bill Dundee, and TNA’s Crimson which raised nearly $1,000 for local youth organization HYPE Mentoring. Children received nearly 200 toys from Santa.
* Brew City Wrestling ran its annual Headlock for Hunger on December 11 at the Knight of Columbus Hall in West Allis, WI. The show featured a food drive for the Hunger Task Force of Greater Milwaukee, collecting 600 canned goods and non-perishables.
* Chaotic Wrestling ran its second Toys for Tots show of the year on December 11th at the Woburn, MA Elks Lodge.
* Combat Zone Wrestling presented its annual Toys for Tots collection (in conjunction with the Marine Corps Reserve) at Combat Zone Wrestling’s 17th annual Cage of Death on December 12 at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ as part of an all day CZW event, including a Combat Zone Wrestling afternoon student show at 2:00 pm. The day’s events produced 420 toys donated by CZW fans on Cage of Death day…an 11 year record for toys collected tonight at a CZW show….more than any Flyers Skate Zone or ECW Arena CZW show ever did, and twice what the promotion did in 2013.
* Grand Slam Wrestling returned to the Moosic Youth Center in Moosic, PA with 50 toys collected for Toys for Tots.
* Wrestling for a Cause ran Night of Miracles: The Fight for Luther on December 12 in Pryor, OK (7:00 pm belltime). 100% of the show’s went to the family of a child with cancer.
* All Star Wrestling presented Bodyslams For Toys on December 12 at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, 6050 176 St, Surrey, BC, collecting nearly 50 toys.
* Definitive Wrestling International held a Toys for Tots show on December 12 at Rivercrest Community Clubhouse in Riverview, FL, collecting numerous toys.
* Old Time Wrestling again collected food items at its December 12 weekly show in Williamstown, NJ as part of its holiday food drive.
* Game Changer Wrestling held a Toys for Tots fundraiser in Howell, NJ on December 12 with “Reckless Youth” Tom Carter, WWE Hall of Famer George “The Animal” Steele and Terri Runnels.
* GALLI Lucha Libre presented its annual GALLI Toy Drive Navidad event in Villa Park, IL on December 13
Here are the events still scheduled in December and January:
* WrestleMerica returns to Griffin, GA on December 18, with a Toys for Tots collection for the children of Spalding County. The show features The Bullet Club’s Doc Gallows, 12 of the IWGP Tag Team Champions, Knux, Glacier, and Brad Attitude. Bring a new, unwrapped toy for get a discount on your ticket.
* 2300 (ECW) Arena and Ring of Honor present a Toys for Tots collection at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle PPV on December 18 at the 2300 (ECW) Arena on December 18 with an 8:30 pm bell time.
* 2300 (ECW) Arena and Ring of Honor present a Toys for Tots collection at Ring of Honor’s TV taping on December 19 at the 2300 (ECW) Arena with an 6:00 pm bell time.
Additionally, ROH and Donovan Dijak are doing a Go Fund Me page to benefit national Toys for Tots. You can donate directly to national Toys for Tots at this link
* Old Time Wrestling will collect numerous bags of food items at its December 19 afternoon and evening shows in Williamstown, NJ as part of its holiday food drive.
* Elite Canadian Champion Wrestling presents Wrestling with Hunger on December 19 in Port Coquitlam, BC, supporting the Share Family Services Food Bank. Feature matches: Artemis Spencer/Buddy Wayne vs. King Khash/Jorel Nelson, “Kingpin” Johnny Flynn vs. Andy “The Dreadful” Bird, Shotgun Stevens vs. Nick Pesky, Xavier vs. Mike Everest
* Premiere Wrestling Xperience is offering an opportunity for spectators to bring a new unwrapped toy to the Hickory National Guard Armory, 1251 8th St NE in Hickory, NC on December 19. Spectators who bring a new unwrapped toy (with a suggested minimum value of just $10) can attend their event for only $10 and any child, aged 12 and under, who also brings an unwrapped toy will be FREE in rows 3-8.
* SCW Entertainment returns to the Coronaca Fire Department in Coronaca, PA for the 5th annual Toys for Tots event on December 19. Featured matches: Anderson Strong (c) vs. Dean Richards in a SCW Heavyweight Championship/30 Minute Iron Man Match, TJ Boss vs. Ben Wright in a Cage Match/Loser Leaves SCW/Winner is # 1 Contender to the SCW Heavyweight Title, and Kat Daddy (c) vs. Karl Hager for the SCW Internet Championship
* Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling will hold Wrestling With Hunger at the Elks Hall #49 ,2272 Leigh Square, Port Coquitlam, BC on December 19 (8:00 pm belltime/ 7:30 doors open) to support Share Family Services Food Bank. All seats ONLY $16
* Supreme Pro Wrestling returns to Sacramento’s SPW Arena on Sunday, December 20, with Brian Tannen defending the SPW Heavyweight Title against Scoot Robertson — The Beautiful People defending the SPW Tag Team Titles against the Honor Society — Michael Hayashi defends the SPW Xtreme Title against Airon Skye — and Joe DeSoul in a grudge match against Ring Announcer Ethan White. Fans donating an unwrapped toy will get half-price admission in our annual Toys For Kids promotion!
* Smash Wrestling presents Infinity Chapter 3 & 4 on December 27 at Harmony Creek Community Hall, 15 Harmony Rd. N, Oshawa Ontario. This is the annual Christmas show for local food bank. Fans are asked to bring donations for Harmony Creek food bank. No matches yet announced.
* On Point Wrestling presents its third anniversary show on January 2 at the Old Time Wrestling Arena, 1041 Glassboro Road (Monroe Business Center) Building C/Suite 1 – Williamstown, NJ. Doors open at 6:30 pm/7:00 pm bell time. Main Event, for the On Point Championship/No Rope Barbed Wire; Joey Janela defends against Oz Tyler (with Loudy). A Toys for Tots collection will take place at the show.
Between all of these over the years, tens of thousands of children have been able to have a Christmas or Hanukkah. Please help your local independent promotion do the same, or encourage them to schedule an event soon for the Holidays if they haven’t already. If you’re a promoter, PLEASE email me and let me know of your holiday charity themed plans (fund-raisers/collections for clothes, food pantries, Toys for Toys, etc.) at wrestling or MMA events to bobmagee1@hotmail.com.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez returns today with a packed show! Notes from WWE Takeover on Wednesday night, tons of MMA and wrestling news notes with Dave Meltzer, then Jay Briscoe joins us to talk ROH FINAL BATTLE on PPV this coming Friday night! A fun show as always so check it out~!
We’re still reeling from all of the implications of last week’s UFC 194 and UFC Fight Night shows. To help clear the fog in the harbour like a giant lighthouse is Sherdog writer and radio host Jordan Breen, who joined Josh Nason’s Punch-Out this week for a full hour.
On this show (free for non-subscribers), Josh & Jordan discussed:
– Jordan’s 10 year anniversary of working for Sherdog that is coming up next year
– What he’d be doing if he wasn’t working in MMA
– Jordan’s pro wrestling watching habits, and how to explain wrestling to someone that has never heard of it before
– His big takeaways from UFC 194
– Whether the UFC has a Conor McGregor problem
– What the most important part of McGregor’s rise to fame truly is
– Why people are focusing on the wrong things when it comes to Luke Rockhold’s win over Chris Weidman
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including the death of Lizmark, WWE’s NXT special from London, Smackdown tapings, Raw ratings from Monday night, ROH’s PPV this weekend, Conor McGregor and his huge UFC numbers, questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Weight cutting in MMA is a problem. Actually, It’s a problem in any sport that puts fighters into weight classes. The problems range from the health and safety concerns of the fighters, as we saw recently with the death of a fighter in the Philippines, to fighters attempting to gain a competitive advantage.
But ultimately, it’s bigger than that. It’s a cultural problem. Weight cutting is generally accepted, even though EVERYONE knows it’s dangerous and stupid. The problem is that everyone is doing it, so everyone must continue to do it. After watching a glut of weigh-ins due to UFC running three shows in three days last week, I’ve given the matter a lot of thought.
First, let me support what I’m about to say by giving you some background about me personally.
As a former MMA fighter and high school wrestler, and current BJJ competitor, I’ve spent a lot of my life cutting weight. Heck, I even did two bodybuilding shows where I actually cut more weight than any of those previous endeavors. Over the last two decades, I’ve been a wrestling coach, personal trainer, and nutritionist. I’ve helped many normal people lose weight safely, and also helped many high level athletes take their bodies to the extreme. I’ve experienced enough weight cutting to have learned some tricks of the trade, and also learned what’s not going to work.
I also spent a few years working at an eating disorder facility where I saw firsthand just what awful effects both short and long-term “weight cutting” can have. It was an incredibly eye opening experience. One of the myths about weight cutting is that there is a healthy way to do it, but there is no perfectly healthy way to cut weight. Some ways are safer than others, but whichever method a fighter chooses, it will have consequences.
I don’t want to bore people with a biology lesson, but to put it simply, weight cutting has two phases; body weight loss and dehydration. Note I said body weight, and not exclusively fat. The goal is to lose as much body fat as possible while sparing muscle, but it’s next to impossible to do one with out the other, naturally. Phase one of losing bodyweight usually starts about 12 weeks out from a fight and comes in the form of changing nutritional habits and exercising more. The fighter simply cleans up their diet and reduces calories, and the weight comes off.
The second phase, dehydration, is the dangerous part. A fighter will most commonly use water manipulation to suck every ounce of both interstitial and intracellular fluid out of their bodies. This can be done through use of the sauna, steam room, exercise, diuretics, and a few other sneaky things like mineral manipulation. Here’s the problem; you’re not only dehydrating your muscles, but you’re also dehydrating your heart (since it’s a muscle) as well as your brain. This is incredibly dangerous.
Why? Fluid acts as a padding for your brain. If you’re lacking that padding, head impact can have a much more detrimental effect. Fighters sacrifice literal brain size by cutting fat (the brain is almost entirely fat), and now they are depleting the cranial fluid. Since fighters eat and rehydrate before fighting, this is generally mitigated, but it’s impossible to fully rehydrate in 24 hours, so without a doubt, most fighters are going into the cage with their brain less than 100% re-padded. For most fighters, they believe this is an appropriate risk level for their sport. I recall cutting weight for fights that final week and feeling like I was in a fog. It was noticeable too as people around me kept asking me why I was spacing out. My brain was starving!
Also, your heart can’t beat properly if dehydrated. This is how people die: your heart goes into arrhythmia or stops all together due to the lack of minerals, which were flushed out during the dehydration. Basically, you’ve reduced your intravascular blood volume. Most people have around 6-7 liters of blood circulating at all times, and since blood is mostly water, this is a big problem. The heart tries to compensate for the lack of blood by pumping more, which causes irregular blood pressure as it beats faster and faster, and eventually fails. This is most likely what occurs when people die in a sauna.
So now we know why weight cutting is dangerous, but what do we do?
There have been a lot of options floated around, but none have come to fruition, such as same day weigh-ins and creating more weight classes. The UFC, more specifically WADA and USADA, have outlawed the use of IV rehydration in an attempt to keep guys from risking the huge weight cut. The idea is obviously that if rehydration is more difficult, then perhaps the massive weight cut won’t be attempted. This may work, but ultimately, it doesn’t change the problem that guys are still going to cut a dangerous amount of weight and just try and rehydrate orally. Personally, I’ve rehydrated both with IVs and without, and never noticed any difference, other than I had to have my EMT buddy steal me saline and hook me up, which was unpleasant. At fight time, physically, I felt the same.
There’s actually data that supports the claim that oral rehydration is superior. In fact, the quickest most effective way to get lost electrolytes and other minerals back in to the blood is by rinsing the mouth with a solution and spitting it out. There’s a bunch of info you don’t need to know about gastric emptying involved. If someone wants to make a million dollars, go invent the perfect mouth rinse for fighters to use between rounds.
It’s often suggested that more weight classes be used, but I don’t like this idea at all. For one, it waters down the championships but that’s not nearly as important as the safety of the fighters. The real reasons why more weight classes is a bad idea is because it will actually encourage more weight cutting. I’ve seen it happen.
Each year, the people in charge of collegiate wrestling regulations adjust the weight classes. They do this for various reasons, but basically it’s done to better facilitate the current population. For example, suppose last year there were more wrestlers registered at 180 pounds than ever before. That would indicate that perhaps the sport needs a weight class adjustment, and maybe the addition of a 187 pound class instead of jumping from 180 to 195. This makes sense, but what usually happens is that athletes get greedy. Now, a wrestler that used to make 195 starts to think that maybe he or she could stretch it even further and make that new 187 pound class. So the athlete that was cutting from 205 to 195 is now going to cut an extra 7 pounds. Good coaching can offset some of this, but it doesn’t always happen.
At the lower classes, it happens even more as there is often only three or four pounds between a weight class. That seems like nothing to these competitors. When an athlete that walks around at 125 who cuts to 117 only has to drop three more to make 114, and only 4 more beyond that to make 110, for a total of only 15 pounds total, that’s incredibly enticing. People think, “Well, that’s only 15 pounds. Some of these big boys cut 30!” Right, they do, but 30 off a 235 pound person is actually cutting nearly the same percentage of total body weight as the 125 pound person cutting 15 pounds.
In this example, the smaller person lost 12% of their body weight while the bigger guy lost about 13%. Take into account the fact that the big guy has a lot more muscle and fat to drain water from, and you realize that the little guy’s brain is probably in way worse shape than the big guy’s. Amateur wrestling implemented the hydration testing before the season to determine the lowest weight class in which a wrestler can compete to keep things like the above example from happening, but MMA is a different beast.
I’d like to point out quickly that this past weekend, we saw two main events end the exact same way: flash KO. This is not to diminsh the punching power of Frankie Edgar or Conor McGregor, but Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo looked smaller and more depleted than usual IN THE CAGE than in the past. This was the first time either man has attempted to rehydrate without IVs, and both suffered KOs from punches that each has eaten dozens of times in the past. It’s purely speculation, but was that a pair of coincidences…or perhaps each was suffering from a dehydrated brain and could not withstand the impact?
Since more weight classes does not seem to work (at least in amateur wrestling where weigh-ins occur sometimes just an hour prior to competition), I’d like to propose something different: fewer weight classes.
Simply put, if the weight class gap widens, less people will attempt the cut. Of course, there are masochists out there who would go for it, but my guess is that it would stem the tide of dangerous weight cuts.
So now, where do we make the classes? How do we decide where to put the markers? It’s simple: use science. There would have to be a study of the human population to see where they are needed. (It may already exist.) First, determine the average size of the population and chart it out from there. It would be a bell curve.
I’m just guessing, but most adult men are probably somewhere around 150-160 pounds (at least in developed countries), with fewer at 200, and even fewer at 300 pounds, just as fewer are at 125 and still fewer are 100 pounds. Obviously, as a species, we are evolving to be larger, but we can determine the current bell curve for today. Put more weight classes in the middle and fewer towards the ends of the charts.
There are of course other factors to examine. For instance, we don’t need to know the average of the entire population, just those involved in fighting. Eight-year-olds and 80-year-olds can be left out. Just look at men and women (separately) likely to be involved, so from ages 18-50 (since Bellator still exists). Also, look at people most likely to fight. There aren’t many African pygmies in the UFC, so we can ignore that population.
Once we determine the bell curve, we then make the weight classes which doesn’t have to be every ten pounds. Since as we discovered above, percentage of body weight is also important thus the gaps should be larger toward the heavy end and smaller toward the light end. I have not done the studies or even tried to find the data, but as a jumping off point for discussion, here is my best guess at the new weight classes.
This would create ten total champions: six for men and four for women.
Each year, the weight classes could swing a pound or two in any direction. They don’t have to be set in stone. The names of the divisions and champions would stay the same. There would have to be some fine-tuning of this method, but it could be implemented, and it would make a difference.
The other option, of course, would be for fighters to just stop doing it, but we all know that’s not happening.
