Picture: ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren (left), CEO Victor Cui (center), Luis Santos (right). Yesterday IMMAF covered reports following the appearance of One Championship CEO Victor Cui on Fox Sports Asia, who revealed that all contracted athletes will move up to the next weight class in unison, following the leading Asian promotion’s ban on weight cutting via dehydration. It is now expected that all One Championship bouts will be contested between competitors at their “walking weight”. The well received developments were swiftly implemented following the tragic death of Chinese flyweight Yang Jiang Bing who, on December 11th, was reportedly rushed to hospital and passed away as a result of weight cutting complications prior to his anticipated appearance under the One Championship banner. After the reports had surfaced, IMMAF.org contacted One Championship to query if athletes at the bottom end of the scale (such as a small heavyweight) might be allowed drop back down in weight. Supposing they were already close to the lower weight and able to drop down through healthy dieting and exercise alone, without any use of dehydration? One Championship responded: “After the immediate bump up in weight class the fighters will be medically evaluated on a case by case basis. Those who desire to drop a weight class must be evaluated and approved after a body composition test and weight check in conjunction with a Urine Specific Gravity Hydration test. If approved, they may then follow the required standards and timeline to reduce through healthy dieting and exercise to a lower weight class.” Written by IMMAF.org lead writer and website manager, Jorden Curran]]>
