Kevin Lee’s Coach Says Missing Weight Was a Timing Issue

Kevin Lee’s coach Dewey Cooper spoke with MMAjunkie about Lee missing weight before his win against Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 128. Highlights are below:

On Lee missing weight for the fight: “The plan that morning was to go to the sauna at 5 AM. We had talked to the people in the spa area. They said absolutely it will be open for the fighters. So we were going to jump in the sauna for 30 minutes, get the sweat going, and then start the weight cut…We get to the sauna at 5 a.m., and no one’s there. We’re knocking. The (expletive) is locked up. We get on the phone, get security. They come down. They’re like, ‘No, the gym is not open.’ They call someone at the front desk, management or whatever, and they say it will be open at 5:30…[After the gym didn’t open] we’re freaking out, calling, knocking. They said, ‘We’re sorry, the gym won’t be open until 8 a.m.’”

By then, they’d lost 50 minutes that would end up being crucial. Had they started the cut at 5 a.m. as planned, Cooper pondered, there would have been no issue making weight. Still, they went back to the room, where Lee proceeded to go into the tub. Things were going well up there, with a pound-and-a-half to go with 20 minutes left, but then Lee was instructed to come down for the official weigh-in.

On having to weigh in: “They called and said if we’re not down there by 10:59, on the scale, the fight is going to be canceled. He will not be able to fight. So we had to stop the cut and run downstairs to the scale, and the world’s seen what happened. We were 10 minutes away from making weight.”

On the inconsistency from state to state: “These different rules, state to state, it’s ridiculous. It needs to be a uniform rule. In Nevada, (if) we have an hour to two, we make weight with no problem. In California, we make weight with no problem.”