Cody McKenzie donates blood to make weight at BattleGrounds MMA

Guillotine magician Cody McKenzie may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Aside from forgetting his fight shorts at the hotel back at UFC on FOX 9 (and wearing blank Walmart shorts with pockets and tags still on them), this might be his most head-scratching moment to date.

The former 145-pound fighter weighed so much for his 170-pound BattleGrounds MMA fight, which takes place later tonight (Fri., Oct. 3, 2014) in Tulsa, Okla., that he felt his best option was not to sweat it out, but as MMA Fighting reports, to draw and donate a pint of blood, which weighs roughly one pound.

It's pretty astonishing that someone would even consider doing this, much less someone in McKenzie who has a suspicious gas tank as it is. Of curious note, in the above report, SB Nation medical expert Dr. Ali Mohamadi contends that McKenzie will most likely not suffer from any deleterious short-term effects from this bizarre form of weight cutting.

Following the weigh-ins, match-ups for the tournament's opening round were determined by a random drawing.

McKenzie will face fellow UFC veteran Brock Larson, Roan Carneiro will do battle with late replacement Randall Wallace, Luigi Fiorvanti's matchup is against Joe Ray, and Jesse Taylor will meet Trey Houston.

Many people expect either Taylor or Larson to win the tournament, but most likely an equal number of curiosity seekers will be tuning in to hear the commentating team of former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen (his thoughts here) and long-time WWE announcer Jim Ross (interview).

In case you were wondering, Oklahoma has an athletic commission and its mission is to "protect, maintain and improve the safety and welfare of the participants of professional boxing, wrestling, and kickboxing, as well as the general public."