McGregor says it’s not about the belts, it’s about ending dangerous weight cuts.
The idea of a 165 pound division in the UFC has been a ball that the MMA media and fans have been kicking around for over a year now, and especially after rumors came out back in February that Conor McGregor asked the UFC to create it.
When conor called the ufc he asked them create a 165lb belt. He thinks @danawhite was born yesterday. This is fact. Waiting for response Mr. Helwani. #BeefIsReal
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) February 22, 2018
The talk has grown into a fairly loud roar over the past weeks after Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier started stumping to have their UFC 230 fight changed into a 165 pound title fight. And now McGregor is adding even more heat to the fire, expanding on the topic by declaring there should be way more weight classes than the ones currently offered by the UFC.
”If there’s two things that’ll keep me away from this game, it’s the intense media obligations and the weight cuts and that’s it,” McGregor told The Mac Life in a new interview less than a week out from his UFC 229 fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. “They always come together at the same damn time. There’s a lot of work involved in the media, and a lot of different type of energy. And then of course factor in you’re cutting weight. It’s not enjoyable at all.”
”The weight cuts are ruthless,” he continued. “I have gone through every single one of them throughout the years and I’ve never released footage. I’ve seen Till release some footage and it was an eye opener for people. This is the game that we’re in. It’s a horrible, horrible part of the business and if I could correct or come in and help a situation like that, I believe I’d like to come in and spearhead many more divisions in the game so we can figure this situation out. Because it’s not correct. You don’t see it happening in other sports as far as weigh ins are concerned. It shouldn’t be like this in the game. We should be on top of this.”
”There should be many more weights to choose from. 155 to 170, it’s a 15 pound gap. Even 10 pounds is … boxing is every three pounds there’s a new f**king division. So I mean, there’s definitely space for more divisions and something needs to be done so we can keep an eye on the way people are cutting weight and manage it and make it more enjoyable for the athletes that are actually competing. You’ll get better fights for it. You’ll get fighters that are able to do extraordinary things when they’re going in full of energy and correctly prepared rather than killing themselves.”
”If I could do something, that would be something I’m interested in doing.”
What do you think, Maniacs? Is it time to expand weight classes drastically?