Women's MMA and the Elephant in the Room: Making Weight

Female fight fans have watched many a promotion fizzle and die, and those that have been eagerly hoping that WEC might pick up the torch may very well see the venture realized in the not-too-distant future.

According to a May 1 article on mmajunkie.com, WEC co-founder (and current executive) Reed Harris has stated that he is "definitely interested" in having women fight in the WEC, so long as the women fought in the proper weight classes.

"We've seen a lot of these fights—there was a fight a couple of weeks ago where one girl probably weighed 25 pounds more than the other girl. I don't want to watch that. I want to watch people compete at the same level," Harris said.

The fight Harris was referring to was likely the Apr. 11 Strikeforce bout between Christiane "Cyborg" Santos and Hitomi Akano. Akano, who usually fights at 135 lbs. agreed to the fight at 145 lbs.

After travelling from Japan, Akano found out that Cyborg failed to make the contracted weight and actually weighed in at a whopping 152 lbs. Her excuse? She said she didn’t make weight because of her period.

Pro fighter Molly Helsel points out that although having your period while cutting weight is a very real problem because of water retention it’s something that many female fighters have dealt with and few have ever used as an excuse.

“It happened pretty severely when I had to cut 22 pounds for a fight in Costa Rica,” Helsel recalls.

“In that situation I did not even have a sauna to work with or the normal ammenities that are usually provided to help a person shed the pounds. It was honestly the hardest thing i have ever done in my life, but I would not entertain the possibility of not having a fight simply because I could not make weight.

"It's just not an option in my mind. From day one it has always been stressed to me the importance of being professional and abiding by what you contractually promised to do.”

Cyborg’s problem in making weight in this one fight has drawn a lot of media criticism, much more so than the ongoing weight problems of Muay Thai specialist Gina Carano.

Carano’s last fight against MMA superstar Kelly Kobold in October left many skeptical about whether or not she actually made weight, since sports bras and mini skirts do not
usually weigh 1.75 lbs. Watch the video for yourself.

Before that, Carano came in 4.5 lbs over in a fight against Kaitlin Young. And in a situation eerily similar to Cyborg’s recent debacle (though far less widely reported), Carano showed up four lbs over (and obviously very dehydrated) in a fight against UK fighter Rosi Sexton.

Much like Akano, Sexton had travelled a long distance and had accepted the fight at a higher weight than she normally fights at—in this case the fight was at 135 although Sexton normally competes at 125.

Carano was quoted as saying, “A fight has never been cancelled because I've had trouble making weight. Unless one does, then I have nothing to be ashamed of." That is debatable.

“As a fighter, it puts you in a difficult position when your opponent doesn't make weight,” Rosi Sexton points out.  “There's a lot of pressure on you from promoters to make the fight happen, and of course you want to fight—you've spent weeks preparing for it, you're there, ready to fight. Not many people are going to turn down a high profile fight in that situation, even if it's the sensible thing to do."

Since many female fighters make more money from sponsors (for televised bouts) than they do in fight bonuses, refusing to fight because an opponent did not make weight is a costly decision.

The way that fighters who miss weight are currently dealt with by athletic commissions, which amounts to a small financial penalty, allows popular fighters the opportunity to “buy” a size advantage over their opponents. Losing a small part of their purse isn’t enough to stop it from happening.

With two of the most publicized female fighters having such struggles making weight, many fight fans wrongly assume that professional female fighters sign contracts without knowing whether or not they can make the weight.

Molly Helsel says, “I do hope that all involved and all watching have learned from this. I hope that the women that have the popularity and the attention from the media realize how important their roles as the "faces of MMA" are to the rest of us trying to achieve our dreams through the sport.

"Most of the public have not seen the other women fight and they don't realize that this kind of thing is very uncommon. I hope they understand that their actions affect us all. Final thought: Make your contract weight or fight in a weight class you are sure you can make weight for. “