why dont weigh ins?

**Shadowdean** · Posted On: 7/01/2008 8:10am

Cutting weight more than about 12-15 hours before hand is just retarded. Weigh ins should be maybe 2 - 3 hours before the fight.

**nisezoom** · Posted On: 7/01/2008 11:00am

Weight cutting isn't just about dropping a weight class to have a competitive edge. Fighters may need to compete at a higher weight class than they can would comfortably walk around at because a certain weight division requires fighters, has higher pay cheques or to replace injured fighters on short notice. Wanderlei Silva has arguably packed on more lean muscle since arriving in the US (as he no longer has the luxury of the lax Pride attitude to weight classes) to compete at LHW; Frank Shamrock admits to weighing in over his natural weight to make the better paid weight classes; BJ Penn let himself get out of shape competeing at WW as the higher profile fights against Hughes and GSP were above his normal weight; Jens Pulver competed over his natural weight at LW in the UFC recently despiting being a natural 145lber; Kenny Florian, Mike Swick, Mac Danzig and many other TUF fighters have dropped one or two weight classes since their debut as they were needed at MW, LHW and WW and appeared on the show much heavier than their typical fighting weight and in the cases of Swick and Florian both looked lethargic in comparison to their more recent performances (of course Swick has since looked drained at WW - being a more natural MW).

On the face of it weight cutting looks like an inequitable system favouring fighters who simply have a physical advantage in their ability to drop and regain weight and in main that is exactly what it is, however not all instances of a fighters moving between weight classes are about a greater liklihood of being dominant/competitive, a significant number of movements between classes are at the behest of the promoter/all about the dollars.