UFC fighter Kevin Lee has been speaking out against the dangers of weight cutting for quite some time now, even suggesting a 165 pound weight class to help ease the problem.
The lightweight fighter is a firm believer that people are just waiting to see a competitor die from weight cutting before anything gets done to make things right.
“Everybody knows that this weight-cutting thing is a problem, but nobody is coming up with no f*cking solutions,” Lee said on The MMA Hour. “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.”
While no fighters have died during weight cutting under the UFC banner, instances have happened in the past with MMA and in other combat sports where fighters have passed due to the effects of cutting weight.
Lee claims to have talked to other lightweights and they are apparently with him when it come to making changes in weight cutting.
“Most people, especially 155ers that I talk to, they all want it,” 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.”
Dana White recently stated that the weigh-ins will go back to the late afternoon instead of the early weigh-ins, but no date has been given yet as to when that will happen.
