All weighted down — MMA’s newest trend
Published by Staff on June 15th, 2008 in Current Events

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By Zach Arnold

In 2007, it seemed impossible to miss a week’s worth of MMA coverage without finding a fighter who failed a state athletic commission drug test. In the past few weeks of 2008, it seems as if MMA’s newest trend of bad behavior on display features high-profile fighters failing to make weight for big-money match-ups.

Offender #1 is media darling Gina Carano. A serial offender when it comes to failing to make weight, Ms. Carano missed making weight for her last fight (against Kaitlin Young at Elite XC’s New Jersey event on CBS) by four pounds. Despite losing a small percentage of her fight purse, Carano was not heavily punished for her actions.

Offender #2 is Thiago Alves, UFC’s newest star to try to make waves in the 170 pound division. Except… he couldn’t make weight in his UFC 85 main event fight against the always dangerous and professional Matt Hughes. Alves missed making weight by four pounds and claimed that he hurt his ankle in training, which he says prohibited him from being able to train properly. Alves lost a percentage of his fight purse, but was obviously not heavily punished for his actions.

Offender #3 is the always-entertaining Nick Diaz, a man that Elite XC has spent many months marketing as a cornerstone of their company. Diaz has had quite a colorful career, which includes an encounter with Joe Riggs at a Las Vegas hospital, a failed drug test (marijuana) in the state of Nevada after he fought Takanori Gomi at a PRIDE event, and now an incident in which he failed to make weight for his latest EXC fight (against Muhsin Corbbrey) by more than nine pounds.

Yes, you read that right. Diaz failed to make a weight limit of 160 pounds for his fight by more than nine pounds. Cesar Gracie, Mr. Diaz’s manager, tried to clarify the story and put the situation into context. There’s just one problem with Mr. Gracie’s position — there is nothing to clarify and there is nothing to put into context here.

Compounding Mr. Diaz’s violation of the contractually-agreed-to 160 pound weight limit are these outstanding factors:

1) Diaz used to fight at 170 pounds in the UFC.
2) He fought Gomi at 155 pounds and simply couldn’t cut the weight long-term to fight in this weight class.
3) EXC created a separate weight class of 160 pounds for Mr. Diaz.

All three violators (Carano, Alves, and Diaz) won their respective fights, and in relatively easy fashion, too. Other than losing a percentage of their fight purse, none of the three fighters paid any sort of significant price for their actions.

So far, there seems to be absolutely little or no outrage by MMA fans towards these individuals for not making weight. No lawsuits filed by opposing fighters, no long-term suspensions by athletic commissions, nothing. Unlike fighters like Sean Sherk who have publicly taken a beating for failing a drug test, there really has not been much of an outcry in media circles for our three wonderful offenders.

Guess who’s paying a price for the actions of these three individuals who failed to make weight? You guessed it — the opponents they faced in their respective fights.

Kaitlin Young was in no position to turn down her booking against Gina Carano at the last minute. She needed the money and the spotlight that the CBS media platform gave her. In other words, she had no other real business choice to make here.

Matt Hughes was boxed into a dangerous corner by the actions of Mr. Alves. Hughes was in the main event slot of the UFC 85 event in London. If he backed out of his fight against Alves, suddenly there is no main event. How could Mr. Hughes put the screws to the promoters who made his career and made him the man he is today? He couldn’t. When Hughes went into the cage against Alves, Alves looked much bigger than him. He was stronger and faster. It was a no-win situation for Hughes. After losing badly to Mr. Alves, Mr. Hughes took a brunt of criticism from various keyboard warriors in the media. There were catcalls for Mr. Hughes to retire from MMA competition. There were not catcalls on the same vociferous level for the actions of Mr. Alves, however.

Muhsin Corbrrey and his manager found themselves in the same position as Kaitlin Young. They were never likely going to sue Diaz for violating his fight contract and missing the weight limit. Instead, they had to accept the situation at hand, accept a part of Mr. Diaz’s fight purse, and take the fight. The Hawaiian booking for Mr. Corbbrey was his make-or-break chance on a big stage in the MMA landscape. Predictably, Corbbrey lost to the bigger fighter (who failed to make weight).

It’s the victims who are losing out in the end here. The same keyboard warriors that rip into someone like Matt Hughes are deafeningly silent when it comes to the violators who fail to make weight for their fights. Pathetic!

What can be done to solve this problem? It’s a difficult question to answer. MMA promoters are already under-the-gun for booking fighters, hoping and praying that none of the fighters they are heavily marketing fail a drug test. If it’s bad enough that a fighter fails a drug test, it’s another headache to have to deal with a fighter who can’t make weight. Promoters can make the best-laid plans for a fighter and then get completely screwed over. What recourse does a promoter have for a fighter’s stupidity? None.

Unfortunately, the only temporary solution to the problem of fighters not making weight may involve some draconian measures. How about trying on this policy for size:

1) If you fail to make weight for one fight, you lose a third of your fight purse and get suspended for three months by the athletic commission.

2) If you fail to make weight for a second fight, you lose half of your fight purse and get suspended for six months by the athletic commission.

3) If you fail to make weight for a third fight, you lose your entire fight purse and get suspended for a full year by the athletic commission.

It’s time that someone stands up for fighters who handle themselves professionally, who don’t fail drug tests, and who end up having to put up with shenanigans from other fighters who pay little or no price for not being able to handle their own affairs in a proper manner.

Fightopinion.com