‘Big’ John McCarthy recently explained why digital scales aren’t being used for UFC weigh-ins.
Before he lost his middleweight title and undefeated record, fans feared for Khamzat Chimaev after watching him step on the scales.
The defending champion appearing to battle through a tough weight cut ahead of UFC 328 became an even bigger talking point following his performance on Saturday night.
With some suggesting that ‘Borz’ didn’t even make 185 pounds, UFC veteran Tim Elliott pointed out that implementing digital scales would fix this issue, which McCarthy recently shared his thoughts on.
- LATEST NEWS: Khamzat Chimaev had to quickly cut 14 pounds before UFC 328 due to error his team made says official
Is Khamzat Chimaev struggling to live up to his promise in the UFC? 🤔
‘Borz’ failed to become welterweight champion and lost in his first middleweight title defense after difficulty making weight…
‘Big’ John McCarthy says digital scales aren’t used because they present health concerns due to being ‘black and white’
Sean Strickland accused Khamzat Chimaev of cheating after a lot of people pointed out how quickly his weight was read out when he stepped on the scales.
Legendary referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy explained that while having a digital scale would rule the chances of this happening out, commissions are against implementing this because of how crystal clear it is.
He gave the example that if a fighter is only slightly over the weight limit on a digital scale, they would have to keep cutting, whereas the beam scale allows for more leniency.
“A lot of people don’t like the digital scales based upon, I’m going to be honest as I can here, that beam scale, when it’s hovering in the middle, it could be where it’s hovering a little high and they’re going to say you made weight,” he said on the Weighing In podcast.
“It’s in black and white there [on a digital scale] and makes it to where the fighter now has to go, and if they have the opportunity based on time, go and actually try to dehydrate themselves more and commissions look at it as it’s a health issue.”
McCarthy then agreed when Josh Thomson said that it gives the commission more “leeway” to protect fighters and stop matchups from falling through due to the finest of margins that won’t impact the fight.
- LATEST NEWS: Sean Strickland shut down Khamzat Chimaev’s immediate rematch request right after his title win
Should the UFC ban weight cutting?
Cameron Smotherman collapsed on stage after making weight for UFC 324.
McCarthy also denied the claims that Chimaev didn’t make middleweight before stepping inside the Octagon on May 9.
However, he did agree that by reading the champion’s weight out so quickly, it left room for speculation.
Chimaev’s body ‘shut down’ during his weight cut, according to his brother, who said that this was such a difficult process for ‘Borz’ because he was expecting to compete at light heavyweight in his next bout.
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