UFC lightweight striking specialist, Ross Pearson discusses his brief stint at featherweight and why he’ll never make the drop down again.
Weight cutting is no easy task, and for some fighters, it’s a daunting challenge. The argument that bigger is better has become ingrained in fighter mentalities, resulting in some of the most dramatic weight cuts seen in combat sports. The health and safety implications are abundantly clear, with serious brain injury topping the list of consequences.
Recently, we saw an announcement come from longtime UFC lightweight staple, Gray Maynard indicating that he would be dropping down to featherweight, at the UFC’s behest. You can’t help but wonder what the outcome of that kind of cut will be like for the Bully.
We also saw another lightweight/welterweight bounce-around, Diego Sanchez, make his featherweight debut recently. He ended up losing the bout by unanimous decision.
Finally, we come to Ross Pearson, who also had a brief, 2-fight stint at featherweight, despite finding success at lightweight. In a recent interview with the Three Amigos Podcast, Pearson discussed his short run at featherweight, and the conversation he had with the UFC that ended up being the catalyst for that move down.
It was the bright lights of winning a couple of good fights and fighting for the belt. At ’55 there was a big queue full of countless fighters, and I got told that if I won a couple of fights at 145, I would jump the queue there and go straight to the top.
Unfortunately, the bright lights of the belt just didn’t work out for us too good. The cut to 145 just took my fighting style out of it. It was just not how I like to fight. I left the fight in the plastics. That’s where the fight got taken out of it. There was too much of a weight cut, too much effort.
I was dying to make the weight. It just wasn’t me and I had just lost all the fun of the sport by killing myself and watching my colleagues in training, and just sweating and all the horrible stuff…it just wasn’t me.
I don’t think I’ll ever go back down to 145. I’d make the weight, but I can’t fight healthy there. Bad things would happen to me if I kept fighting at 145.
You can check out more from this great interview here or via the embedded player below. Pearson’s segment starts at the 1:56:25 mark of the audio. Remember, if you’re looking for us on SoundCloud or iTunes, we’re under the MMA Nation name. Follow our Twitter accounts: Stephie Haynes, Three Amigos Podcast, Iain Kidd and Mookie Alexander or our Facebook fan page, Three Amigos Podcast.