"I just think guys should fight [at] their weight. And as it is now, it's not really the fighters, it's the rules. And the fighters are just taking advantage of the rules, and they're working it the way it is. And they're actually fighting guys their weight, because everybody cuts so much weight, except me maybe and a few others. But, I think they should change it so that people can just fight closer to the weight, so that people don't have to be cutting all this weight to have to fight people their size. I just think it's a stupid, ridiculous situation that we've built up, and I feel like there's ways around it and there's ways to get rid of it. Like, that you can't exceed into the next weight class, or over the next weight class above you, or something like that. You know, when you're walking into the Octagon, if you're fighting at 77 kilos, and the next weight class is 84 kilos or something, you can't be over 84 kilos. ‘Cause then you're over the next weight class. That could be a rule, or something like that. I don't want to think about this too much, but I definitely have an opinion on this, and that is it. Just that people don't have to go through all this cutting. Like I said, there's been a lot of accidents, and it's definitely not good for the athletes in this sport. It's not good for your health, it's not good for your brain. It's just it's not good. And I don't see why we should be doing this. I think we should get rid of it, and I think we should get rid of it quickly."
Gunnar Nelson, training partner of Conor McGregor, was a recent guest on "Submission Radio," bemoaning the fact that so many fighters engage in harmful weight-cutting techniques in an attempt to gain competitive edges.
We've seen time and time and time again that this type of behavior can be exceedingly dangerous to both body and career. Weight-cutting has been part of the fight game, seemingly, for as long as we can remember. And certainly since Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) implemented weight classes rather than the open weight system it began with more than 20 years ago.
As of October, new policies by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which serves as the independent administrator for UFC's new drug-testing policy, prevent fighters from rehydrating using intravenous (IV) methods. This will make weight-cutting even more dangerous in the future ... unless fighters ignore the edict.
It's a troubling issue, one that California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) plans to address head on in an upcoming summit "before someone dies."
Nonetheless, the timing for his statement is ironic given that Nelson's next opponent is Demian Maia, a former Middleweight title challenger who cuts a significant amount of weight to make 170 pounds. The two will face off at UFC 194, which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Dec. 12, 2015, where Nelson nevertheless vows to submit the Brazilian jiu-jitsu master.
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