Remember Cameron Smotherman? The UFC bantamweight, who passed out during UFC 324 weigh-ins. Despite making weight, he was forced to pull out of his fight on the card. Well, that’s the perfect example of the major crisis currently plaguing the world’s biggest MMA promotion. And color commentator Joe Rogan appears to have a solution for the problem. But UFC CEO Dana White isn’t willing to listen.
“I think for MMA, they really need to recognize that one of the things that’s going to stop weight cuts is give people more weight classes, give people more options,” Rogan said a while back on his popular Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.
Dana White heard about Joe Rogan’s take during last Saturday’s UFC London press conference. When asked whether he would pay heed to Rogan’s solution, the 56-year-old firmly denied the proposition.
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“No, they’re going to stay exactly the same,” he said during the presser.
Increasing the number of weight classes could end up diluting the divisions—assuming fighters actually move into the categories they naturally belong in. In reality, many fighters deliberately choose to compete in lower weight classes that require extreme cuts. Why?
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Because if they can successfully endure a grueling weight cut, they’re able to rehydrate after weigh-ins and enter the cage significantly bigger than their opponent on fight night, gaining a competitive edge. What’s more concerning is the toll these cuts take on their health.
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In most cases, fighters severely restrict—or completely stop—food and water intake during camp. They spend hours in saunas, often wearing heavy sweat suits, trying to shed as much water weight as possible. So, if the UFC truly wants to address the dangers of weight cutting, simply adding more divisions won’t be enough. They also need to rethink and reform the weigh-in system itself.
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Regardless, the weight-cutting problem is so bad that one fighter developed an eating disorder because of it.
Paul Craig urges UFC fighters to seek help and support
Former UFC star Paul Craig, who competed in the promotion from 2016 to 2025, revealed in an interview last year what weight cutting has done to him. Craig was in the light heavyweight division till 2023, but then he decided to move to middleweight, and admitted the process took a serious toll on his health.
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“I set myself a goal of being middleweight champion and focused and did it. But mentally, I ended up with an eating disorder,” Craig said.
He restricted calories for 10 weeks, leading to issues like low testosterone, low white blood cells, and frequent infections.
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“The best thing I did was talk to people about it because for a long time I was embarrassed by it,” he added.
Craig believes many fighters may be suffering in silence due to the extreme demands of weight cutting.
“I do believe there are other fighters out there going through this, so put it out there, get the help and support,” he said.
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After Craig moved to middleweight after beating Andre Muniz in July 2023, the Scotsman never won a fight again. He exited the promotion on a four-fight losing streak.
Moral of the story: There are measures UFC and Dana White could take to fix the weight-cutting issue. But fighters continue to take advantage of it while putting themselves in danger, and UFC doesn’t want to meddle with what’s already working for them. What do you think should be done?