Dana White Confirms UFC Looking to Get Rid of Early Morning Weigh-Ins
The UFC is working to get rid of the early morning weigh-ins.
That's according to UFC president Dana White, who revealed on the latest episode of "UFC Unfiltered" that the organization is already working with state athletic commissions to move the weigh-ins back to the afternoon rather than the early morning.
White addressed the subject on Tuesday when asked if he felt the early morning weigh-ins were the main culprit behind so many fighters missing weight recently.
"I do think it's that and guess what…we're getting rid of it," White confirmed. "We're looking at taking the weigh-ins back to the way they used to be. So when the guys weigh in at the fight, that will be it. That will be the real weigh-in.
"We're going to work with [the athletic commissions] to get it done."
The early morning weigh-ins actually kicked off almost exactly two years ago at UFC 199 in Los Angeles ahead of the card headlined by Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping.
While the majority of fighters have spoken out in support of the early weigh-ins thanks to the extra time it allows them to recover after cutting weight before stepping into the cage, there have been more instances of athletes missing weight than under the previous system.
According to calculations provided by MMAJunkie, a total of 62 fighters have failed to make weight in the two years under the new early weigh-in system. In the two years prior to that, only 32 failed to make weight when the weigh-ins were held in the afternoons.
Why Dana White Believes the Early Morning Weigh-ins Are Broken
White feels like the early morning weigh-ins were a great approach to allow fighters more time to recover, but some athletes tried to take advantage by cutting even more weight since they now had extra time before the event to pack the pounds back on.
"Here's what I believe — I believe that any time you change something, everybody looks to take advantage, as much advantage as they can of the situation," White explained. "I think that when we started doing morning weigh-ins, it was very good. Everybody was making weight, everything was great, but then people started cutting it closer and closer and closer thinking they can put on more weight because they have more time to recover.
"The reality is it f---ed everything up. So we're looking at going back to 4 o'clock when we do the weigh-ins, those will be the real weigh-ins."
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White also added that he feels like the early morning weigh-ins threw some fighters off considering most of them aren't even typically awake for the 9 a.m. start time.
"The other thing is I don't know any fighters that are morning people," White said. "Most of them stay up half the night and sleep half the day, so that might have something to do with the morning weigh-ins as well. You have to get up earlier to make sure you're on weight."
White didn't give a timeline for how quickly the promotion will work with the state athletic commissions to get the early morning weigh-ins eradicated, but it certainly sounds like he's moving fast to get this done sooner rather than later.
