Robert Whittaker knows a thing or two about fighting opponents who miss weight. In his last bout, he went to war in what might be the consensus fight of the year thus far when he defeated Yoel Romero at UFC 225 in Chicago, Illinois. At the next pay per view, another fighter who has become notorious for missing weight, Darren Till, will get a shot at the welterweight title when he challenges Tyron Woodley at UFC 228. Whittaker finds it all illogical for such fighters to get a title opportunity and also unfair to any fighters who have done things the right way to be asked to fight an unprofessional fighter:(Via MMAFighting.com):
“It’s like me going down to bantamweight, not making weight, winning because I’m much bigger, and then getting a title shot,” said Whittaker at a media luncheon Monday “It’s not fair. It’s not fair. Because on the flip side, the guys that are making weight don’t make it easy. It wasn’t easy to cut weight and make weight and do the job. We still had to struggle, we still had to diet weeks out. We’re just more professional at it. We just did it right.
“The people who do make weight are also in a hard position,” Whittaker continued. “Because they’re in a position where they still need to make money to pay the bills, to earn a wage, to do their job. But they also have the support of hundreds of thousands of people who have come to see them fight or that are watching them on TV to watch a fight. The fans. That’s kind of why you fight — they drive the sport.
“When you ask a guy, ‘Are you gonna take a fight if your opponent doesn’t make weight?’ Is it really asking? Does he really have a choice? When you back them into a corner like that, is there really a choice to be made? You have to look at the whole process behind it.
“It’s a very funny topic, missing weight and getting title shots. I think the punishments should be more severe, but I don’t know.”
Ironically, Whittaker will be defending his middleweight championship against a man who was forced to move up due to missing weight repeatedly in the welterweight division, Kelvin Gastelum, who will be coaching opposite of Whittaker in The Ultimate Fighter 28, which Whittaker was promoting in the luncheon.
Do you believe fighters who make weight should accept fights with opponents who missed weight?
