This year, fighters who have missed weight are now 7-1, and many fans, journalists, and fighters are searching for solutions to this problem. One such fighter is Ricardo Lamas, who has felt the frustration of losing to a fighter who has missed weight, most recently to Josh Emmett at UFC on Fox 28 last December.
“I knew the risks going into the fight, but it just always sucks when the other party doesn’t fulfill their contractual obligations and you end up losing anyway,” Lamas told Karyn Bryant in an interview last Friday. Lamas went on to present his solution to this growing problem in the sport, and it doesn’t go easy on weight-missers. Earlier today, Dana White announced that the UFC will move to eliminate early weigh-ins as a way to solve the problem. Lamas’s solution, however, has nothing to do with the time of day:
“I do think there does need to be more harsh punishments when you miss weight. Forget this 20%, 30%. You lose your show money, because you didn’t show. You didn’t make weight, you didn’t show. Your entire show purse goes to your opponent. And now if you want to make money, you have to win the fight. And apart from that I think you should be suspended for a year from competing at that weight class if you don’t make weight. If you start doing stuff like that, I think you’ll be seeing a lot less people miss weight.”
Ricardo Lamas will be facing Mirsad Bektic this Saturday at UFC 225, who has never missed weight in his career. Lamas is coming into the fight as a moderate underdog, and will be looking to get right back to his winning ways.
What do you think of Ricardo Lamas’s weight-cutting solution?
