In the fallout of Uriah Hall’s very real health scare, that saw the fan-favorite UFC fighter hospitalized on Saturday, MMA’s top reporter Ariel Helwani is not pleased at all with the UFC’s handling of events.
MMAImports.com touched on the same exact topic earlier this morning, stating that the UFC’s press release on the cancellation of tonight’s UFC St. Louis co-main event failed to hit the mark.
In it, the UFC placed blame on Hall for his inability to make weight, and didn’t take the necessary steps to educate their fans Hall was stricken with a seizure and hospitalized as a result of a bad weight cut.
From the outside looking in, the exclusion of this information seems like damage control on the UFC’s part. Not wanting to bring to light that their new early morning weigh-ins policy has indeed put fighters and fight cards in harms way.
The UFC has an obligation to people who buy fight cards on T.V., and who spend their hard earned money on tickets to go to live events, to deliver the product as promised. They also have an obligation to protect their athletes.
Instead, their own policies have done the opposite. Since implementing early morning weigh-ins, the UFC has seen 51 fighters miss weight over the 18 month time span. By contrast, in the prior 18 months only 17 fighters missed weight.
The side effect is that many fights have been cancelled, many fights have been unfairly altered to new weight classes, and an overall protection for their fighters has taken a second seat.
These changes have come under the UFC’s new ownership.
In 2017, the company recorded record low T.V. and pay-per-view ratings, and an alarming number of bout cancellations.
Now, Uriah Hall has become the most ill-stricken fighter as a result of these new policies, and it seems as if they UFC is waiting for a fighter to die, before it will acknowledge there’s a real problem here.
Ariel Helwani is pissed at the UFC’s press release regarding Sunday’s co-main event cancellation, and the circumstances surrounding Uriah Hall, and he’s now speaking out.
Check it:
This is UFC’s official statement on Belfort-Hall getting canceled. Yes, Hall didn’t make weight but much more occurred, as has been reported, and by all accounts it was a very scary scene.
This is UFC’s official statement on Belfort-Hall getting canceled. Yes, Hall didn’t make weight but much more occurred, as has been reported, and by all accounts it was a very scary scene. pic.twitter.com/tYcZAevHq1
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 14, 2018
For good measure, here’s the UFC’s press release that has Helwani up in arms. Let us know if you see anything wrong with their approach.
Hall-Belfort Fight Off
Sunday’s UFC Fight Night co-main event between Uriah Hall and Vitor Belfort has been called off after Hall was unable to make weight for the bout at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
The card, which airs on FS1, will proceed with 11 bouts. Moving to the main card is the featherweight bout between Darren Elkins and Michael Johnson, while the bantamweight clash between Kyung Ho Kang and Guido Cannetti moves to the FS1 prelims.
