Dana White: We’re Moving Back to Single Afternoon UFC Weigh-in
Prior to 2016, UFC weigh-ins took place in the late afternoon the day before an event. At 4 p.m., the fighters would step on the scale to have their weights officially logged before a crowd of spectators. That policy was changed in the name of fighter safety. For the last two years, the official weigh-ins have taken place in the morning during a two-hour time slot (generally at about 9 a.m. local time) to allow fighters several more hours to rehydrate after sweating out water weight.
Following UFC 225 on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago, UFC president Dana White announced that the weigh-ins would move back to the late afternoon despite several fighters competing on the fight card stating that they prefer to weigh-in during the morning.
“We talked to more fighters and they want 4 o’clock weigh-ins," said White. “There’s 550 fighters under contract, so there’s a lot of asking to do before you get a number where you think that the ratio is off.
“Believe me, we’re studied it. The numbers don’t lie. We talked to fighters. A ton of fighters want to go back to 4 o’clock. And there’s a lot of fighters that don’t," added the UFC president. "Eddie Alvarez made a strong case to me about, basically, people that don’t make weight are never going to make weight no matter what time you do the weigh-ins."
The number of fighters failing to make weight rose dramatically after the weigh-ins were moved to the morning. White insisted that the majority of fighters want them moved back to the late afternoon.
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“The numbers don’t lie. The percentages, they’re way off. I don’t know about you guys, but I know a lot of fighters and most of them are not morning people. They sleep all day. They’re usually up late at night. This whole morning thing, they’ve got to cut weight that night. God knows how late they’ve got to stay up cutting weight. And then they go to bed and they can’t sleep much. It just isn’t working," White said.
“No matter what, there’s no debate about this. There’s no debate. We’re going to 4 o’clock."
Dana White: 'No Debate' the Early Weigh-ins are Going Away
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