En hel del av den uppmärksamheten kring förra månadens UFC 224 handlade om det som hände under invägningarna. Detta då den topprankade stråviktaren Mackenzie Dern missade vikten med närmare 8 lbs.
Under den senaste tiden har UFC:s VD, Dana White, vädrat sitt missnöje över alla de senaste viktmissarna inom UFC och vill i nuläget slopa de tidiga invägningarna gör att istället gå tillbaka till invägningar på matchdag. Väldigt få UFC-fighters har instämt med White om detta.
Mackenzie Dern vann sin fight vid UFC 224 mot Amanda Cooper men ombads att flytta upp en viktklass efter att missats vikten för 3:e(!) gången i sin 7 matcher långa karriär. Hon valde att berätta för Combate att hon inte kommer att gå med på detta:
After I did not hit the weight, the UFC called me. They said they were thinking of moving me up, they called me to come to the Performance Institute in Las Vegas to see what my body type was like, if it was better to continue at strawweight or move up to flyweight. Having this network is so great, seeing them invest time in me and helping me, I had no way of saying no. I’m here getting their help on everything.
Everyone here agrees I have a body type that fits at strawweight, in the category that I am, so the plan is to continue in it. But we want to diet and train so that I do not have to cut so much weight, I’ll cut very little. After the fight, I will not go up that much. Regardless of what will be decided on the weigh-in, whether or not it will return for the afternoon, it will not change my situation much, because, the way they want me to be the best possible athlete, it will be a very quiet thing.
Efter fighten berättade Dern att hon gick in i den sista veckan innan galan på vikten 139 ibs och endast använde en nutritionist sista veckan, vilket inte var en bra idé. Dern menar även att fighten kom för tätt inpå den förra:
Fighting twice in a short time period was one of the factors, but there really were a lot of things.” Dern continued, “I’m learning here every day, every day I learn something different from my body that I did not even know, things that get in the way of my cut, that I had difficulty due to the way I cut. Now that I’m working with the UFC, I’m going to come back here every four weeks, take the tests to see how my body is reacting. But otherwise, my workout will continue normal.
