Ilia Topuria has an idea that would help the UFC stop fighters from cutting huge amounts of weight.
The former featherweight champion recently relinquished his belt and announced a move up to the lightweight division, even though he is just 5ft 7in and will be one of the smaller men in the division.
Ilia Topuria claims the UFC bosses promised him an immediate title shot, but now he believes that 155lb king Islam Makhachev will take another fight after Joe Rogan suggested Dana White is thinking of matching the Russian with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad.
Still, ‘La Leyenda’ has offered the UFC a practical solution for an issue that has plagued MMA for years.
Ilia Topuria’s plan to eliminate weight cutting
In the days before their fights, many UFC stars dehydrate themselves to cut an absorbent amount of weight and gain a competitive advantage over their opponent, who is almost always doing the same thing.
It’s not an aspect of the sport Topuria enjoys, hence why he decided to move up a weight class.
Now he’s called for the UFC to introduce a new system that would stop fighters cutting too much weight.
“If you walk around 8% or 10% over your weight, I would obligate you to move up the weight class,” Topuria said during a recent appearance on Rogan’s podcast.
“Just to give you an example, if you’re fighting at 100kg [220lbs] and I go to your house, I put you on the scale, and you weigh 110kg [242lbs], I would force you to go to the next weight class.”
Joe Rogan hates weight cutting
Rogan famously hates weight cutting, so he unsurprisingly responded well to Topuria’s idea.
In January, he pitched his own plan to revolutionize MMA and remove the ‘worst aspect of the sport’.
“I think weight-cutting should be eliminated,” Rogan declared. “I said this to Ari Emanuel [CEO of Endeavor] when they first bought the UFC. I said, ‘Listen, man, you know what we should do? Get rid of weight-cutting, just stop it.
“Look, if you can randomly test people for drugs, you can randomly test their weight. Show up with a scale, say. ‘Hey, buddy. Step on the scale, you’re 190 pounds, how the f— are you making 145?’ Do something like that.
“And come up with more weight classes. There should be a weight class every 10 pounds. This idea of these giant gaps like 185 to 205, that’s a 20-pound gap, that’s huge! That doesn’t exist in boxing. You have giant guys who can’t fight in the UFC because the weight limit is 265.”
“It’s just like getting steroids out of fighting. It’s sanctioned cheating. Instead of having weight cuts, just find out what the champion weighs. Don’t get rid of the championship belts. Find out what does Islam Makhachev weigh. Islam Makhachev is a UFC champion, the best pound-for-pound fighter on Earth. Find out what he weighs. What do you weigh if you were healthy?”
