UFC 146 Fight Card: Should a Fighter Missing Weight Cancel the Fight?

Fighters miss weight sometimes, but is the 20 percent purse penalty really enough?

UFC 145 fighter John Makdessi missed weight after verbally slaying his previous opponent, Dennis Hallman, for doing the same when they met at UFC 140.

In a perfect example of irony, Makdessi weighed in at 158 pounds at the weigh-ins yesterday, missing the official weight of 155 by three pounds—although an extra pound is allowed, so had Makdessi only come in two pounds lighter at 156, he would've been fine.

But the matter still stands—he missed weight and will now have an advantage over his opponent, Anthony Njokuani, who worked hard and made weight for the fight.

The standard penalty for missing weight is a 20 percent purse reduction that's given to the offending fighter's opponent.

That penalty is fine, but at the lower levels, is the little bit of extra money worth it?

Makdessi earned $6,000 for his efforts at UFC 140. Assuming he's earning the same money, that means Njokuani will only be earning an extra $1,200 to face a bigger fighter. 

Might it not be better to just scrap the fight entirely?

Being heavier than your opponent (and less drained, if missing weight originated from not weight-cutting out of laziness or negligence) is a tremendous advantage. Yes, Njoukani will be $1,200 richer, but will that stop him from getting beat up?

Perhaps a more elegant solution would be having one or two backup fighters who are ready to take the place of someone who misses weight so that the fighter who did his job isn't punished. Since it's on the undercard, fans won't care as much that the fight is different. 

However, bigger fights are a different matter.

At the upper levels of competition, when the paydays are bigger, a 20 percent purse deduction can mean much more.

Still, the extra money doesn't prevent a beating. Look at Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes as an example. Alves missed weight and, by fight time, appeared to be an entire weight class larger than the outmatched Hughes. Alves would win by KO. 

But then you have fights like Anthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort, where Johnson missed weight but was still soundly defeated. 

Another factor that has to be considered at higher levels is money. People want what was advertised, so a fighter missing weight—while upsetting—can't really cancel a potentially big-money fight unless the fighter egregiously missed weight. 

Is a better solution needed then for higher-level fighters missing weight?

No. 

Generally, fighters make weight. When one misses, a slew of articles get written bashing the fighter (and bashing Makdessi is not my intention in this article, but rather I wanted to explore other options than the 20 percent fine) and then the media and fans find something else to complain about. 

However, backup undercard fighters would be an interesting addition. If a fighter on the undercard misses weight, the fighter who made weight should have a choice to face his original opponent or the backup fighter. 

This system could be implemented to the main-card, high-level fighters, but finding backups that are also marquee names for each event would be difficult if not impossible.

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