Mirko Cro Cop called weight cutting the biggest scam in combat sports and used Conor McGregor‘s featherweight title run to explain why.
The clip is not a knock on McGregor’s skill. Cro Cop’s criticism is about fighters making one number at weigh-ins, entering the cage much heavier, and then using that route to chase another belt.
Nowadays, that is, this is an interesting topic and I have to talk about it.
Nowadays, the biggest scam in MMA is weight cutting. That’s the biggest scam in combat sports.
Cro Cop Said Fans Miss The Size Difference
Cro Cop started with the physical feel of the sport. His point was that a five-to-10-kilo swing can change clinches, takedown defense, and pressure exchanges even if the matchup looks official on paper.
People need this explained because they don’t understand.
Being in a clinch with someone your own weight, 5 kilos lighter or 10 kilos heavier, that’s a night-and-day difference.
The rules are crazy. What people don’t understand is that every body is different.
The McGregor-Aldo Example
McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194 on Dec. 12, 2015, to unify the featherweight title. Cro Cop used that night as the example because McGregor officially made featherweight, while Cro Cop claimed the fight-night body told a different story.
And then you see double champions. You’re a double champion? A double champion of what?
For example, Conor McGregor. He weighs around 83-84 kilos and he’s the 66-kilo champion.
When he had the fight with Jose Aldo, he had 66 kilos on the scale and he made the weight.
But in the fight he had 78 kilos in a 66-kilo weight class.
And you can see that Aldo, who he hit in the first round, came at him immediately.
You can see he looks like his older brother. They’re not the same weight class.
You can see he’s huge, much bigger than him and of course stronger.
It’s easier to defend takedowns, especially at that level of fighting.
The subtitle sequence is why the article needed more detail. Cro Cop was not only saying McGregor was bigger than Aldo. He connected that weight rebound to strength, wrestling defense, and the difficulty of fighting someone who is no longer close to the listed class by the time the cage door closes.
The Double-Champion Point
McGregor became the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion at UFC 205 in November 2016, when he stopped Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight title. Cro Cop’s issue was the ladder itself: cut low, return heavier, win there, then move up and market the next class as a new challenge.
And then he goes for a challenge while weighing over 80 kilos.
So he wins the belt at 66 kilos and now he’s going for a new challenge.
He will go for the 70-kilo belt? Wait a second, while having 84 kilos?
You fight at 78 kilos. That was your weight in the 66-kilo division. Your fight weight was 80 kilos.
OK buddy, now you’ll fight at middleweight and win the belt there.
You want to be a double champion? A legend? Then move up to light heavyweight and prove how tough you are.
That is the full challenge sequence from the clip: Cro Cop says a fighter already competing around 78-80 kilos should not be celebrated for jumping from a 66-kilo belt to a 70-kilo belt as if the move proves a new size test.
Why Cro Cop Brought Up Japan
Cro Cop then moved from McGregor to the broader incentive. He said fighters would keep cutting lower if the system rewards it, then contrasted that with his own career in Japan.
People would cut to 50 kilos if they could. What’s the lightest division, Ante? Hmmm, 59 kilos I guess. Cut to 59 kilos.
I get it, it’s business, people want to make money. A win is a win, no one is questioning it.
For them, it wouldn’t be an ethical issue at all.
In Japan, nobody cared about it. I fought smaller opponents but mostly I fought guys 15-20 kilos heavier than me.
Who cared? It was beneath my honor to do that. Doesn’t matter that he’s heavier.
Cro Cop finished his MMA career at 38-11-2 with one no-contest, with 30 knockouts. He won the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix and the 2016 RIZIN Openweight Grand Prix, and he fought across PRIDE, UFC, RIZIN, K-1, and Bellator.
McGregor is 22-7. His UFC legacy includes the Aldo knockout, the Alvarez lightweight-title win, and the sport’s biggest pay-per-view era. Cro Cop’s argument does not erase those achievements; it challenges the weight-cutting structure around them.
McGregor is now recovering from knee surgery after UFC 329. The weight-cutting debate still sits beside his broader legacy, including Daniel Cormier crediting McGregor with changing UFC pay expectations and Islam Makhachev reacting to the Holloway injury loss.
