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"Stupidity stops here."
BFL (battlefield fight league) taking steps in right direction
- Thread starter ShatsBassoon
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"Stupidity stops here."
Honestly, I'll take the existing weight cutting issues and shenanigans over an increased chance of cumulative brain damage.
Fighters will always try to cut weight to have an advantage, because it tends to pay off career-wise. There are safety concerns that arise from that, and also safety concerns that arise from fighting dehydrated, but to put all that entirely on them is dumb. Most fighters wouldn't be fighters if they could be trusted not to be reckless with their health.
To me, the decreased chance of a traumatic brain injury from being better hydrated is the lesser evil, so if it's a choice between that and same-day weigh-ins (one hour before the fight no less), I'm going with the former.
Ideally there'd be some sort of medical protocal set up to determine what someone's natural weight class should be, but since no promotion has really attempted this that I'm aware of, I'm not holding my breath.
Fighters will always try to cut weight to have an advantage, because it tends to pay off career-wise. There are safety concerns that arise from that, and also safety concerns that arise from fighting dehydrated, but to put all that entirely on them is dumb. Most fighters wouldn't be fighters if they could be trusted not to be reckless with their health.
To me, the decreased chance of a traumatic brain injury from being better hydrated is the lesser evil, so if it's a choice between that and same-day weigh-ins (one hour before the fight no less), I'm going with the former.
Ideally there'd be some sort of medical protocal set up to determine what someone's natural weight class should be, but since no promotion has really attempted this that I'm aware of, I'm not holding my breath.
I see where you're coming from but I think there needs to be some sort of culture shift. What BFL is doing probably won't change the game but is a step forward imo
I wish it were that simple but it's kind of like asking there to be a shift away from steroids. In the early 2000s some elite fighters were probably "clean," most were not. As testing became stricter and stricter, you started to see a lot less "enhanced" bodies. Even the ones who are probably still on the juice have a much narrower selection of what they can use now. Because there's severe imposed penalties, in addition to the public shaming.
I think they need to start with things like commissions forcing people up if they miss weight by more than 2-3 lbs., or do it repeatedly even if it is, and more than that other ABC commissions and the UFC and Bellator making that binding. Right now, if a fighter comes in too heavy in California, that really only affects them in California, and that's not how it should be.
Additionally, USADA needs to start carrying a scale with them. The way I'd do it, and I know this sounds lenient but still, if a fighter is found to be more than 25% above their weight divisions off-season, they must move up in their next fight if it's within a year, and then do a documented demonstration weight cut and get a doctor's certification before going back down. Maybe give them one mulligan if they've had no more than 5 pro fights. Other exceptions would be if someone has a major injury that would affect their cardio, or if they're a Heavyweight (although in the latter case they still need to do the test weight cut to show they can get back down and also aren't allowed to fight within 3 months of being overweight).
25% may seem awfully lenient but it's actually not that weird for some fighters to get that heavy off-season if they don't do a lot of maintenance conditioning, and it's those fighters who fucking balloon like Mackenzie Dern, Johny Hendricks, or Rampage Jackson that have traditionally been the biggest problem. And it's a start.