GDT: UFC Fight Night: Stephens vs. Choi

Avs_19

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Jun 28, 2007
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Date: January 14, 2018
Venue: Scottrade Center
City: St. Louis, Missouri
Time: 10pm ET/7pm PT
Viewing: FS1, TSN 5

MAIN CARD (FS1, TSN 5)

Featherweight bout: Jeremy Stephens vs. Doo Ho Choi
Middleweight bout: Uriah Hall vs. Vitor Belfort
Women's Flyweight bout: Paige VanZant vs. Jessica Rose-Clark
Welterweight bout: Kamaru Usman vs. Emil Meek

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, Fight Network/UFC Fight Pass)

Featherweight bout: Darren Elkins vs. Michael Johnson
Lightweight bout: James Krause vs. Alex White
Lightweight bout: Matt Frevola vs. Marco Polo Reyes
Welterweight bout: Thiago Alves vs. Zak Cummings

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)

Women's Flyweight bout: Kalindra Faria vs. Jessica Eye
Women's Bantamweight bout: Talita Bernardo vs. Irene Aldana
Women's Strawweight bout: Danielle Taylor vs. JJ Aldrich
Featherweight bout: Mike Santiago vs. Mads Burnell
Bantamweight bout: Kyung Ho Kang vs. Guido Cannetti​
 
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m9

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Fun card for sure. Doesn't have the main event draw, but some good fights.
 

Avs_19

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Some good fights on this one. I have a hard time believing this main event won't be exciting.

Usman doesn't get talked about enough because he doesn't have that signature win but he's one of the best at 170. Hopefully they give him one of the top guys if he beats Meek.
 

m9

m9
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Some good fights on this one. I have a hard time believing this main event won't be exciting.

Usman doesn't get talked about enough because he doesn't have that signature win but he's one of the best at 170. Hopefully they give him one of the top guys if he beats Meek.
I think he's having trouble getting the high-end fights because he's so good without being a big name. Hopefully he gets a big fight if he wins this one.
 

Avs_19

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The Hall/Belfort and Alves/Cummings fights are both off. Apparently Hall was taken to the hospital because of weight cutting issues and Cummings slipped and hurt himself while cutting.
 

m9

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The Uriah Hall stuff is just infuriating and you wonder when these fighters are going to get it.

This is Belfort's retirement fight. He has fought at 185 and 205 his whole career.

Uriah Hall's weight cut was so bad he's in serious condition in the hospital and apparently suffered a seizure as a side effect.

So I ask: why are they fighting this fight at 185lbs? What is to gain by that when both could safely make 205 and put on a good fight?

I just don't get the stupidity of everyone involved.
 
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LSCII

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The Uriah Hall stuff is just infuriating and you wonder when these fighters are going to get it.

This is Belfort's retirement fight. He has fought at 185 and 205 his whole career.

Uriah Hall's weight cut was so bad he's in serious condition in the hospital and apparently suffered a seizure as a side effect.

So I ask: why are they fighting this fight at 185lbs? What is to gain by that when both could safely make 205 and put on a good fight?

I just don't get the stupidity of everyone involved.

Scary shit. These fighters and drastic weight cuts have to stop. UFC needs to be at the forefront of this and put an end to it. Hall is simply the latest guy to basically have his body shut down on him. Khabib before this. Cyborg, Pettis, etc. What good is signing the top fighters if they're basically exhausted and out from the cut that their fight is a foregone conclusion at best, and/or potentially die just trying to make weight? They're not going to stop, so the organization has to do it for them. The UFC has to mandate that a fighter can only cut a specific and safe percentage of their overall body weight and still be sanctioned to fight. These guys cutting 50 lbs is ridiculous and flat out dangerous.
 

m9

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It's such a stupid, stupid thing yet it continues. There is no benefit to anyone to continue this.

I don't have an answer to stop it, but the UFC and the fighters need to fix it. Maybe the UFC needs to hire someone whose sole job is to determine what weight people are allowed to fight at and still be healthy. They have the facilities in Vegas to do this.
 
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m9

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Weight cutting seems more dangerous than the fight itself.

It's amazing that they will do drug tests for weed, cocaine, and whatever else yet still allow these cuts.

Uriah Hall v Vitor Belfort was a very fun fight. It's just as fun at 195 or 205 lbs. There's no need for guys to put themselves through this.
 
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LSCII

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I forget where I saw it, but there was a study done on weight cutting and whether you gained a statistical advantage from dropping more weight. The results were what you'd expect. There was literally no advantage for the bigger guys who dropped more weight. They won at the same rate as the smaller guys who didn't cut as much. So dumb.

If the UFC wants to show they really care about fighter safety, they need to mandate guidelines about how much weight you can cut to be in a specific division. These guys cutting 40-50 lbs and having their internal organs fail in an attempt to get an advantage need to be protected from their own stupidity.
 

Kitten Mittons

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Someone tweeted it before making a joke about weight cutting - two guys weighing 170lbs lose 15 pounds up to 24 hours before the fight only to re-hydrate themselves 15 pounds in the next 24 hours to fight each other at 170lbs.

A combination of more weight classes + much much stricter rules needs to be implemented. To me having one guy in the cage who is clearly 10+lbs larger than the other cheapens the competition. It's not as impactful in boxing but absolutely huge in MMA. Some guys are even proud of the fact they fight way oversized and are much bigger than their opponents. That's just stupid.
 

MD thaivuN

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starting to believe that Weigh-ins should be much closer to fight time rather than further from it. something like same day weigh-ins as fight night. Give fighters less time to recover from big weight cuts, let them feel the consequence on their performance, and thus encouraging them to fight at their natural weight classes.
 

m9

m9
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starting to believe that Weigh-ins should be much closer to fight time rather than further from it. something like same day weigh-ins as fight night. Give fighters less time to recover from big weight cuts, let them feel the consequence on their performance, and thus encouraging them to fight at their natural weight classes.

Too dangerous. Guys will just fight dehydrated and that can lead to trouble.

It would take time, but I do think if they worked with each fighter individually they could determine what weight they should be at. Then if eventually you want to change weight classes, the UFC needs to clear you for the new division. Even if they just grandfathered in current fighters and just had a system for new UFC fighters it would eventually solve it.
 

Avs_19

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Hell of a finish for Elkins. Johnson's a good fighter but sometimes he just finds a way to lose. He was looking great in the first round.

Great to see Matt Hughes back and doing well.
 

m9

m9
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Another great comeback for Elkins. Johnson looked great early.
 

Avs_19

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Through two rounds Usman is showing why no one in the top 10 wants anything to do with him. I want him to get the finish because even though this is dominant, it's probably not exciting enough to get him what he wants going forward.
 

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