Where Are The Consequences For Not Making Weight?

[Firemass]

Originally Posted by thecoylewis

Lots of fighters get injured during training. No one comes in 100 percent. And Alves has a history of struggling to make weight. If you succumb to an excuse of being injured, tons of fighters are going to fail to make weight because of "injuries." His foot sure looked fine when he loaded that flying knee to Hughes shoulder and when he was dancing like a maniac on the way to the cage.

That's cool, I can see where you're coming from with how his ankle looked in the fight, I had no idea he had a history of weight cutting problems, to my knowledge he's never come in overweight.

It can be used as an excuse by the more lazy fighter I agree, there isn't going to be any regulations to solve this overnight I guess.

[KnowledgeKnown]

Yeah Diaz was actually classy about it. Everyone was aware of what was going on. However I really feel as though it's a trend that should be nipped before it gets out of control.

Obviously there are exceptions, like a promotion asking you to fight twice within a 2-3 week period. I'm sure that when they asked Diaz, he, and they, knew it was a very strong possibility he wouldn't make weight.

But as for not making weight due to injury, or hell, just not making weight, it's kind of bizarre to me. I wrestled for like 20 years, and if I hadn't made weight, i'd be out of the match. That simple.

Hey maybe this won't happen very often at all, but if fighters don't think there's any consequences, or very little, this could escalate.

[Bigshanks666]

I think there should be stiffer penalities for fighters like Gina Carano who repeatedly dont make weight. I dont however think that suspensions by the AC is appropriate. To me that seems like they would be lumped together with the people who get busted for steroids. I think maybe just an increase in the deduction from the fighter purse every time they fail to make weight. Or perhaps the amount taken from there purse should reflect how far they were from making weight. I dont think Alves should be penalized as much for being 4 pounds over as Diaz would be for being 9 pounds over.

[ninjastix]

Originally Posted by KnowledgeKnown

But as for not making weight due to injury, or hell, just not making weight, it's kind of bizarre to me. I wrestled for like 20 years, and if I hadn't made weight, i'd be out of the match. That simple.

Hey maybe this won't happen very often at all, but if fighters don't think there's any consequences, or very little, this could escalate.

Absolutely no disrespect when I say this (former wrestler myself) but you're not a main or co-main event on a PPV or cable show...

Different rules and standards apply at different levels. It's not fair and it's not right but when money is involved standards are compromised. That's reality I'm not claiming to foster it.

I'm sure both fighters have a reason for missing weight, so long as it doesn't happen again I can see the policy of forgiveness or light punishment in this case. But I don't think you're going to see it get to the point of the fight being called off any time soon...

Hopefully these are isolated incidents that just happened to have occurred at the same time. Most fighters make weight, I don't know if its setting a dangerous precedent or not but I can assure you that if it's a name like Diaz or Alves they will continue to be allowed to fight...

[KnowledgeKnown]

Originally Posted by ninjastix

Absolutely no disrespect when I say this (former wrestler myself) but you're not a main or co-main event on a PPV or cable show...

Different rules and standards apply at different levels. It's not fair and it's not right but when money is involved standards are compromised. That's reality I'm not claiming to foster it.

I'm sure both fighters have a reason for missing weight, so long as it doesn't happen again I can see the policy of forgiveness or light punishment in this case. But I don't think you're going to see it get to the point of the fight being called off any time soon...

Hopefully these are isolated incidents that just happened to have occurred at the same time. Most fighters make weight, I don't know if its setting a dangerous precedent or not but I can assure that if it's a name like Diaz or Alves they will continue to be allowed to fight...

I agree with your points, however here's the real question. Should a fighter be able to climb the rankings ladder in a weight class and get a title shot if his wins were not within the weight limit?

I'm just asking, because this could very well happen. Having to suck those extra couple pounds to fight for contendership ( <----not a word i know, but I like it)
could weaken a fighter just enough to make him less effective.

[Firemass]

It's tricky, especially on a high-profile event, you can't risk losing a fanbase by removing a fighter last second because they don't make weight and you can't reduce the event by one bout.

I think the most appropriate thing is to have the fixed amount of your purse going to you opponent then it increases if you repeat offend like was suggested in the original post.

I can't see removing someone from a fight as a viable option unless their opponent strictly opposes fighting that person.

[ninjastix]

Originally Posted by KnowledgeKnown

I agree with your points, however here's the real question. Should a fighter be able to climb the rankings ladder in a weight class and get a title shot if his wins were not within the weight limit?

It's a tough question cause either way you're going to make people unhappy... but in my opinion I would say that if you win a fight but don't meet the requirements of the fight that the win counts (since the fight was agreed upon by both fighters) and you can't be denied a title shot if no contender of equal to near equal standing exists...

Let's say the Alves fight had happened at the same exact time as Fitch's last fight, and let's also say that Fitch didn't already hold a win over Alves...

Based on that, Fitch wins by decision in his last fight but makes weight. Alves wins by TKO in fairly dominant fashion but missed weight.

IMO, title shot goes to Fitch. However if Fitch had lost or didn't exist, then the shot goes to Alves basically by forefit...

Sorry for the rather ramshackle example, just couldn't think of a better way to explain it...

[thecoylewis]

Originally Posted by Firemass

I had no idea he had a history of weight cutting problems, to my knowledge he's never come in overweight.
It can be used as an excuse by the more lazy fighter I agree, there isn't going to be any regulations to solve this overnight I guess.

As far as I know he's never not made weight before then but he was suspended for a banned substance used to cut weight.

Originally Posted by ninjastix

You're not a main or co-main event on a PPV or cable show...

Different rules and standards apply at different levels. It's not fair and it's not right but when money is involved standards are compromised. That's reality I'm not claiming to foster it.
Hopefully these are isolated incidents that just happened to have occurred at the same time. Most fighters make weight, I don't know if its setting a dangerous precedent or not but I can assure you that if it's a name like Diaz or Alves they will continue to be allowed to fight...

I think if you fail to make weight on more than one occasion and are fined heavily for it even to the point of a fight being called off, the fans will turn against you quickly. If they are expecting to see you fight and you fail to make weight, 1 time they may say okay, mistakes happen. But if it becomes habitual and the fans don't get to see their guy fight, how long before they lash out at their guy.