Tyron Woodley has plenty of experience with opponents who can’t make weight.
Back in 2015, the reigning welterweight champion faced off with Kelvin Gastelum, who came into their fight a whopping 10 pounds over the limit. Following that win, Woodley was supposed to take on former champion Johny Hendricks, but he suffered through such a brutal weight cut that he ended up dropping out of the fight because he couldn’t be medically cleared to compete.
This past weekend at UFC 224, Mackenzie Dern came into her fight against Amanda Cooper seven pounds over the strawweight limit. It was the third time in her career that she’s failed to make weight while competing in the 115-pound division.
Dern was ultimately fined 30-percent of her show purse and another 15-percent of her win bonus after she submitted Cooper in the opening round of their matchup.
While Dern certainly faced a financial penalty for not making weight, Woodley doesn’t believe that she paid enough considering she still got the win, which is ultimately what matters most in the sport.
In fact, fighters who have missed weight in 2018 in the UFC are currently 6-0
In his opinion, Woodley believes that when a fighter comes in so severely over weight that the financial penalty should be that much stiffer to hopefully curb it from ever happening again.
“I’m a big welterweight, I’ve got to cut a lot of weight and I’ve fought and competed against guys that missed weight,” Woodley explained on the latest episode of “UFC Tonight”. “I don’t know if it’s a technique to say ‘hey I’m just not going to try to make weight, this is my game plan’ but it is unprofessional. I think once you get above five pounds, I think the penalty should be higher.
“I think you should forfeit the entire win bonus if you win the fight.”
It’s an interesting suggestion considering that would pretty much eliminate the financial incentive coming into a fight that far over weight.
Commissions across the world have different percentages for what they charge a fighter if they miss weight. Certain states like California are taking even more drastic steps to curb severe weight cutting such as forcing a fighter to move up a division if their weight cut is deemed too much.
The UFC has been keeping a closer eye on weight cutting including fight week weigh-ins when athletes arrive to the city where they are competing but obviously no plan is perfect just yet.
