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For example, when Tyron Woodley defended his welterweight championship against Darren Till, there was some concern the Englishman might not make weight. As a result, the UFC hired Kamaru Usman to cut weight and prepare as if he were going to fight should his services be required.
However, Woodley was against the concept and said he didn’t like the idea of taking a fight against a competitor completely different to who he was originally preparing for. Luckily, Till made weight and nobody had to worry about any of that. But it looks like UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker echoes his fellow UFC champion’s sentiments.
Whittaker recently spoke to media to promote his upcoming title defense against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234 in February. “Bobby Knuckles” said the UFC’s backup fighter concept is a ‘silly’ one to him (via MMA Fighting):
“I think the idea behind backup fighters is a little silly or there should be different incentives and things involved in it,” said Whittaker. “I think it should be more thought out, I can’t envision a guy getting paid to make weight. That’s not the sport, that’s not the name of the game.
“I think fights need to be made and deadlines need to be made, I think athletes themselves need to be more professional about the sport, I think a lot of guys are getting lax, a lot of guys are taking advantage of different loopholes they can exploit.”
Whittaker has been in this situation before. In his last fight against Yoel Romero, the contest was not for his 185-pound title because the Cuban wasn’t able to make weight. Instead, Whittaker and Romero competed in a five-round non-title contest. However, should Whittaker have been forced to fight a replacement opponent, it puts him in a corner.
While he’d like to refuse such a fight on short-notice, he’d have had to traveled across the world from his native Australia to the United States, all for nothing, as he wouldn’t be paid if he refused to fight:
“Again, you’re putting me in a corner, aren’t you?” Whittaker said. “It’s like we get to the fight night, my opponent can’t make it and you’re like, ‘You still gonna fight?’ What am I a pussy? You’re kind of forcing my hand when you put me in a corner like that.
“Does no one else see any holes in that plan? I think there are a lot of holes to be exploited in that plan. It seems silly to me, because the whole idea between fighting is you have an opponent that you prepare meticulously for, for weeks.
“And then all of a sudden, the guy says, ‘Can’t fight.’ And the backup guy is conveniently there? Nah, dude.”
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