THURSDAY NEWS DIGEST 10/12: Kevin Lee talks about weight cut, Dana White responds to Mark Hunt, Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne headed to WWE?

BY MICHAEL GROCKE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Ronda Rousey (photo credit Jayne Kamin-Oncea © USA Today Sports)

Kevin Lee talks about weight cut

Kevin Lee was a guest on Chael Sonnen’s podcast, You’re Welcome and spoke about the weight cut leading to his fight against Tony Ferguson. Lee described the process as among the worst ever and it “damn near killed” him.


“The actual weight cut itself didn’t start off bad. It started off the same as most of my other ones. I normally come into fight week about 176 [pounds] and I’ve got about 20 pounds to cut, this time 21, so I came in at 176. I keep details of all my weight cuts so I know exactly where to dial in and where to turn it up. So I was following one of my weight cuts that went really well when I went in Ireland and everything was fine and we dialed it back. I normally don’t start the actual water cut until about 10 PM, but we dialed it back to about 5 PM to give myself the extra time for the extra pound and the weight started coming off quick. I normally go to sleep the night before at about 165, this time I went to sleep about 161 so when we woke up at 5 AM, we kind of were in too much of a lackadaisical – I was kind of in a good mood, like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be smooth. I’ve only got six pounds to cut. I normally cut nine pounds.’ I thought it was gonna be smooth and I took it a little too light.

“The first three hours I only got a pound off. Put yourself in my shoes, it’s 8:00, the weigh-ins start at 9:00, and I’ve still got five pounds to cut; so they’re literally throwing boiling water into the hot tub with me because I’ve got to get it off now, get it off quick. . .

“So right around 10:30 is when the doctor came up and we were still a pound and a half over and he was saying I had to weigh in by 11:00 and then they’d give me the extra hour. I was hoping that somehow their scale was off and they would just give me the pound. I was hoping and I was praying but it was what it was.

“That last hour that I had to cut that extra pound, I don’t even know how I got it off. I don’t know where I was. Your mind just doesn’t want to work when you’re in those kind of states. . .

“Like I said, I don’t even remember much. I don’t really know. I was kind of out of it and I just left it up to my coaches and they got the job done.

“Once I actually made the weight, as soon as I sat down I was more exhausted than I – I don’t think I’ve ever really felt like that in my life. I was carrying the stress of the whole event too so it was a lot.”

Grocke’s POV: While I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have the answer, something needs to be done about fighters cutting too much weight heading into a fight. I’m sure there are countless other stories we haven’t heard about that are just as bad, if not worse than the ones that have become public. I discussed the possibility of a fighter death due to complications from a weight cut on the MMA Talk for Pro Wrestling Fans podcast that I host this past Monday and both my co-hosts, Robert Vallejos and Shawn Ennis agreed that the percentage of it happening is very high.

Dana White responds to Mark Hunt

Mark Hunt blasted Dana White and the UFC in multiple Instagram posts after being pulled from UFC Fight Night 121.

Dana White spoke with TMZ about Hunt’s rant.

“He’s always going off on me.

“Listen, sometimes you gotta protect these guys from themselves and that’s what we’re looking into right now. He made a statement that I’ve hated him forever,” White said. “I don’t hate Mark Hunt at all. I never hated Mark Hunt. He knows that. I was actually really good with Mark Hunt.”

Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne headed to WWE?

TMZ caught up with Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne and asked if she’s heading to the WWE. While she didn’t confirm that she was going there, she didn’t deny it either.

“If you were a real fan, would you really want to know?” My best friend’s out there – Shayna (Baszler), I don’t even want her to tell me anything that’ll ever happen because I enjoy it more that way and I don’t want to ruin anything.”

Is Travis Browne also turning to pro wrestling?

“We’ll see … we’re still making decisions on my part (and) see where I go in the future. I’m not going to say no (to the WWE).”

 

Fight Announcements

Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos is set for UFC on FOX 26

Tim Means (replaces Jesse Taylor) vs. Belal Muhammad is set for UFC Fight Night 121

Iuri Alcantara vs. Alejandro Perez is set for UFC Fight Night 123

Humberto Bandenay (replaces Jeremy Kennedy) vs. Alexander Volkanovski is set for UFC Fight 121

Galore Bofando vs. Chad Laprise is set for UFC on FOX 26

John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo is set for UFC on FOX 26

Sultan Aliev vs. Nordine Taleb is set for UFC on FOX 26

Maria Casanova vs. Sinead Kavanagh is set for Bellator 187

Kevin Ferguson Jr. vs. Fred Freeman is set for Bellator 187

Valerie Letourneau vs. Kate Jackson is set for Bellator 191


NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS NEWS: Mark Hunt blasts Dana White after being removed from fight, Cejudo vs. Pettis still on, Ross Pearson isn’t done yet

 

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