At least for now, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is sticking with the early weigh-ins.
Jeff Novitzky, UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance, informed all fighters competing on next week’s TUF Finale and UFC 226 cards in Las Vegas that the promotion will hold morning weigh-ins and not move them to the afternoon, as has been discussed recently.
“We appreciate the feedback we’ve received to date as we continue to work with athletic commissions and federations to actively analyze the issue and consider implementing new policies to further support safe weight management practices,” Novitzky wrote in a memo sent to fighters and managers, which was obtained by ESPN. “Going forward, UFC athletes and support will be notified well in advance of any policy changes surrounding weigh-in times and weight management policy.”
The UFC adopted the early weigh-in format (typically from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday morning, local time) prior to UFC 199 in June 2016 after historically holding weigh-ins in the afternoon. The main objective was to give fighters more time to rehydrate before their Saturday night bouts. However, one unexpected by-product of the change was an unusual number of fighters missing weight.
According to a report by MMAJunkie.com, from June 6, 2014, to May 30, 2016, the UFC held 950 fights with only 32 fighters missing weight prior to those bouts using the afternoon weigh-in format. However, from June 3, 2016, to May 31, 2018, 62 fighters missed weight during the early weigh-ins ahead of the 962 fights the UFC put on during that stretch.
Earlier this month, UFC president Dana White said the promotion intends to move the weigh-ins back to the afternoon in light of all the misses, which was met with a lot of criticism from fighters.
“We’re getting rid of it,” White told the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “We’re looking at taking the weigh-ins back to the way they used to be. So when the guys weigh in there [in the afternoon], that will be it. That’ll be the real weigh-in.”