Dana White Explains Why UFC Is Moving Back to Afternoon Weigh-Ins

UFC President Dana White spoke to reporters yesterday in a media scrum at the UFC 225 weigh-ins. Below are some highlights and a video of the scrum (transcript via MMAjunkie. During the scrum, White addressed the fighter weigh-ins and why UFC is looking to move back toward the afternoon weigh-in system. It seems since the UFC moved to morning weigh-ins, more fighters are missing weight for marquee bouts.

White on changing back to the old afternoon weigh-ins: “It can’t happen fast enough. We are moving to the old weigh-in system. It’s going to happen. There’s a couple people out there who say, ‘No, no, no.’ But, the majority of the fighters want to go back 4 o’clock. The fighters talked to me, that’s how we ended up here. So many people were coming to me asking if we could go back to 4 o’clock, that, here we are.”

Dana White on why they can’t have a choice of morning or afternoon weigh-ins: “No, no hybrid. No whatever. You’re not going to get the commission to show up twice. They’re going to show up once, it’ll be at 4 o’clock. That’s when they’ll weigh in.”

Dana White on fighters having trouble weighing in for morning weigh-ins: “In my experience, and I’m sure in yours too, I don’t know many fighters that are morning people. Usually they sleep half the day and wake up later. I think that the early-morning weight cut. They’re up cutting weight all night and they have to get up early again and people are missing weight. The numbers don’t lie. More people are missing weight now than ever before. I know Eddie Alvarez was very outspoken about saying, ‘These are the type of people who will never make weight, they’re undisciplined’ and this and that. To a point, Eddie’s not wrong there. It’s your job to make weight, you’re supposed to make weight. But we had a lot less of this when it was at 4 o’clock and I believe it will go down. A lot of fighters are asking us to move the weigh-ins.”

Dana White on why they are opting to go back: “It was a decision that we made. Guys wouldn’t have to sit around until 4 o’clock every day, they could get rehydrated. We never had any problems in the old days with 4 o’clock. Everybody was healthy, everybody was fine. We’re going back there. … This didn’t just pop up out of thin air. We’ve been talking about this for a while.”