Joe Rogan Says Dangerous Weight Cuts Are The Worst Shape Of Cheating!
Weight cuts are maybe the most dangerous part of the UFC. Some fighters dehydrate themselves too much and throw punches under water like Dada 5000. The most persistent ones even endanger their lives. Yet, there are fighters who use their power to dominate opponents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAik24xe3HE
Joe Rogan believes extreme weight cut is a higher level of cheating compared to performance-enhancing drugs! He talked about this topic recently on his The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. (via MMAFighting.com)
“It is stupid,” Rogan said. “What it is sanctioned cheating. It’s sanctioned cheating and it’s cheating at a much higher scale even than PEDs. If you get two people and they both weigh 135 [pounds] but they’re both totally hydrated and one of them has been doing steroids and one of them hasn’t been doing steroids, the difference will be far less than if one person weighs in at 135 [pounds] but then balloons up to 160 [pounds] and then gets into that octagon at 160 [pounds] but there’s no PEDs involved. That’s a much greater advantage than someone whose doing some sort of testosterone thing or something. They’re compromised but the benefit of being so much larger might outweigh being compromised.
“Dude, if I was running s**t, I’d fix that first. That would be the first thing I would fix.”
California State Athletic Commission tried to end the practice of dangerous weight cuts during the last year. The idea was related to adding fight-day weigh-in. If the fighter returns more than 10 percent of his weight, he would be recommended to go the division up. There were many life-threatening situations – Craig White, Kenny Florian, Renan Barao… Remember the UFC 209 fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson was canceled due to a botched weight cut too!
Joe Rogan believes ONE Championship has found the perfect solution. After the death of Yang Bian Jing two years ago, the promotion announced new rules. Fighters are having daily weigh-ins. Their weight is sent to a company database on a regular basis. Hydration tests are also performed. ONE even checks whether the fighters fight on a “walking weight”. Joe Rogan also stated that ONE Championship template should be followed by every organization.
“People push it, they do push it,” Rogan said. “If you give them more time, they are gonna push it. If they know that they can rehydrate longer – which is the idea, that it’s safer because you can rehydrate from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. instead of from 4 p.m. on. I just think give them all the time they need. ONE FC has laid out the ground work. Look at what they did with their hydration tests and implement that.”
What do you think, has ONE promotion really did a good job? Is weight cut cheating or a life threat? Is Joe Rogan wrong? Please leave your comments!
