Despite internal discussions lead by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White to eventually get rid of early weigh ins, the promotion has decided to keep things the way they are for the time being.
While White has lobbied for a return to later weigh ins in effort to limit recent scale fails, nothing will change for next week’s TUF 27 Finale and UFC 226 events in Las Vegas. Fighters will be asked to step on the scales in the early morning like they’ve been doing since the policy’s adoption two years ago.
“We appreciate the feedback we’ve received to date as we continue to work with athletic commissions and federations to actively analyze the issue and consider implementing new policies to further support safe weight management practices,” Jeff Novitzky, UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance, wrote in a memo sent to fighters competing next weekend, which was obtained by ESPN. “Going forward, UFC athletes and support will be notified well in advance of any policy changes surrounding weigh-in times and weight management policy.”
For now, this is a small win for the fighters, especially those who have voiced their opinions on keeping early-morning weigh ins in order to help themselves re-hydrate faster before fight time. Of course, not all fighters agree with the current policy and would enjoy a few extra hours to cut weigh and not miss their target benchmark.
This most certainly isn’t the last time this topic will be brought up for UFC and its athletes. The promotion simply hasn’t compiled enough information and meaningful statistics to change the system right now so things will remain the same entering the dog days of summer.
TUF 27 Finale will go down on July 6 and be headlined by a middleweight showdown between undefeated contender Israel Adesanya and divisional veteran Brad Tavares, while UFC 226 will take place on July 7 and showcase a heavyweight superfight between current UFC champions Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.