Weight Issues Don’t Spoil Card in Toronto
As the UFC brings MMA into the mainstream sports world they are always under a bigger microscope.
The things that the big leagues have had to deal with and are continuing to deal with are a part of the UFC more than ever.
There is more criticism from more people and the UFC is required to deal with that criticism constantly.
One of the biggest issues is the fact that MMA is one of the most violent sports in the world.
At a time when leagues are coming under fire for their ability to deal with serious injuries including head trauma.
It has become a major concern in sports and in MMA there is almost a guarantee that someone is getting hurt every night.
So in this era of concern over the health of athletes, the UFC is attempting to do what they can to make things better.
They can’t eliminate the fighting as that is their product but they can make things healthier for the fighters outside of the octagon.
Changes have been made by commissions and organisations around North America and the UFC is following those changes.
The USADA banned the use of IVs to rehydrate this past year making fighter rethink their weight cuts and rethink their weight classes.
The UFC has also adopted a creation of the California Athletic Commission of allowing fighters to weigh-in early for their fights.
The UFC has adopted this as well in all of their fights hoping to make weight cutting less harmful to the fighters.
The idea was to allow fighters to rehydrate and get back to a normal weight before they fight.
With more time to do that they had a better chance of getting back to a normal weight and being much healthier as they fight.
It is another attempt to make the weight cutting process better for the fighters but that doesn’t mean that the fighters don’t struggle with the cut.
That struggle was certainly on display in Toronto at UFC 206 as a fighter who was known for missing weight was moved from UFC 205 to UFC 206 due to missing weight.
The morning weigh-ins also showed it as three fighters missed weight including main eventer Anthony Pettis who came in at 148 lbs for a featherweight fight.
It was another shot to the card that had already lost a main event as Pettis was now no longer eligible for the interim featherweight title.
It made things a little more interesting for the card but it certainly didn’t dampen the fact that the card was full of great fights.
The sneaky good card turned out to be a great one as the main card featured some surprises and some amazing fights.
The first surprise came when Kelvin Gastelum, who missed weight for UFC 205, finished Tim Kennedy.
Gastelum became the first person to ever finish Kennedy in a fight where nobody was giving him a shot.
Then came the fight of the year between Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi as the UFC paired one of the best young fighters against a great veteran.
Both fighters came in swinging and for three rounds they continued exchanging big shots that would have dropped most fighters.
They continued to come forward in an amazing fight that ended with Swanson taking the win but both fighters gaining the respect of fights fans around the world.
Donald Cerrone was up next in a fight that seemed like it was built for fight of the night before the Swanson-Choi fight began.
Cerrone’s fight against Matt Brown wasn’t as active as some thought but it as still full of action until the final round.
That is when Cerrone landed a massive head kick that ended the fight in another highlight reel knockout for Cowboy.
The final fight had a lot to live up and although it wasn’t a slugfest it was a very active fight between Max Holloway and Pettis.
Both fighters got their shots in but Pettis was hurt quickly breaking his hand in the first round and getting damage on his right eye from the straights of Holloway.
Eventually, Holloway’s volume of shots caught up to Pettis and a body shot sent him to the mat where Holloway finished with a flurry of punches.
The fight was over and Holloway took the interim title and a shot at featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
The fight was mired in weight cut issues but that didn’t stop it from being a great card full of great fights.
Some fighters will have decisions to make after this card though as Pettis already said he will move back to lightweight after admitting that the cut is too much.
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