Weight cutting is a wide spread issue within the sport of mixed martial arts. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), largely considered the platform for some of the world’s top MMA talent, is no different.
Fighters on the UFC roster often suffer debilitating symptoms from their weight cuts. UFC star Uriah Hall even suffered hospitalization after losing consciousness from cutting too much weight.
Now UFC lightweight Kevin Lee has come forward with his thoughts on the matter. Speaking on The MMA Hour, Lee revealed that he believes the matter will not be taken seriously until someone dies from the weight cutting process.
“Everybody knows that this weight-cutting thing is a problem, but nobody is coming up with no f*cking solutions. Everybody is kind of waiting for somebody to die. And I don’t feel like that’s the right thing to do. I think you have to take at least one step in the right direction and then just see how it goes. There’s really no downside to it.”
“Most people, especially 155ers that I talk to, they all want it. We all are about the same size. A lot of these [lightweights] are [185, 190]. … We’re all doing the same thing to compete against each other. It doesn’t make sense. If we can make it a little bit safer and we can make it a little bit more fair, that’s all I’m calling for. Just a fair, even playing field for me to go out there and compete with somebody without having to kill myself to do it.”
“There’s so many guys, there’s so much talent. The talent is there. It’s the same thing they said about adding 125 for the women. Yeah, it’s gonna take some time to cultivate that, but I think it’s gonna even be easier, because you have so many guys in between these weight classes right now that could fill that up. Where it’s at is the talent is always gonna show up.”
“That’s what it’s gonna take. It’s unfortunate. And people kind of gloss over it, too. Uriah Hall, who I train with, the man had a seizure cutting weight for fights. It kind of gets swept under the rug. And it kind of goes, ‘Oh, he was doing his own thing.’ … The man had a seizure getting ready for a fight. That’s not a joke. Its more serious than I think people realize. And it’s my health on the line, too, along with it. If all I gotta do is just step up and talk about it and try and make some change happen, then that’s what I’m gonna do. But the rest of these mother f*ckers, they’re too scared. They won’t do it, because they don’t want to step up and say what they really feel.”
