Outside Source
Like many fighters, Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight contender Kevin Lee is hoping something is done sooner rather than later to address the weight cutting issues that have affected increasing numbers of fighters and matchups recently. Lee has been vocal about the need to introduce additional weight classes to help alleviate some of these issues so fighters do not feel the need to take extreme measures just to make weight.
The 25 year-old appeared on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour and told host Luke Thomas that he is frustrated by the lack of action to address the weight cutting issues.
“Everybody knows that this weight-cutting thing is a problem, but nobody is coming up with no f*cking solutions,” Lee said. “Everybody is kind of waiting for somebody to die. And I don’t feel like that’s the right thing to do. I think you have to take at least one step in the right direction and then just see how it goes. There’s really no downside to it.”
Lee said that at least one major athletic commission is on the front foot to combat weight cutting issues, with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) unveiling its 10-point reform plan. The Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) last year approved an official 165-pound weight division known as super lightweight, although the UFC has yet to adopt it. Lee believes these additional weight classes are a step in the right direction.
Lee walks around at approximately 178 pounds but is considered too small for the 170-pound division as some athletes competing there cut down from around 200 pounds, giving them a significant size advantage come fight night.
“Most people, especially 155ers that I talk to, they all want [a super lightweight division],” he said. “We all are about the same size. A lot of these [lightweights] are [185, 190]… We’re all doing the same thing to compete against each other. It doesn’t make sense. If we can make it a little bit safer and we can make it a little bit more fair, that’s all I’m calling for. Just a fair, even playing field for me to go out there and compete with somebody without having to kill myself to do it.”
“The Motown Phenom” believes a super lightweight division would thrive and scoffed at suggestions it would dilute the lightweight (155) and welterweight (170) divisions stating those divisions are arguably the most talent stacked.
“There’s so many guys, there’s so much talent,” Lee said. “The talent is there. It’s the same thing they said about adding 125 for the women. Yeah, it’s gonna take some time to cultivate that, but I think it’s gonna even be easier, because you have so many guys in between these weight classes right now that could fill that up. Where it’s at is the talent is always gonna show up.”
Lee experienced his own weight cutting nightmare at UFC 216 last October which he said “damn near killed” him. The worrying thing is that this is not an isolated incident. Most recently, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced to withdraw from his UFC 226 title fight against Brian Ortega after exhibiting concussion-like symptoms allegedly due to “water loading” which is a weight cutting method where athletes drink an excessive amount of water to help with the cut. UFC middleweight Uriah Hall has openly talked about his experience earlier this year where he suffered a seizure and a mild heart attack cutting weight. Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was rushed to hospital and former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks’ kidneys failed on him as a result of a weight cut gone wrong.
To date, no one in the UFC has died from weight cutting, which is why Lee believes nothing has been done. Lee pointed out that leading up to a ONE Championship event in Brazil in 2015, a fighter died due to a bad weight cut and a reform was instantly introduced.
“That’s what it’s gonna take,” Lee said. “It’s unfortunate. And people kind of gloss over it, too. Uriah Hall, who I train with, the man had a seizure cutting weight for fights. It kind of gets swept under the rug. And it kind of goes, ‘Oh, he was doing his own thing.’ … The man had a seizure getting ready for a fight. That’s not a joke. Its more serious than I think people realize. And it’s my health on the line, too, along with it. If all I gotta do is just step up and talk about it and try and make some change happen, then that’s what I’m gonna do. But the rest of these mother f*ckers, they’re too scared. They won’t do it, because they don’t want to step up and say what they really feel.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
