The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 125

#2 Worst – The weight issue

Michel Prazeres missed weight by five pounds and then smothered Desmond Green

The issue of missing weight reared its ugly head again on this show, and I’m actually going to talk about a different aspect of it here. Two fighters missed weight – Pedro Munhoz by four pounds and Michel Prazeres by five pounds. Their respective opponents – John Dodson and Desmond Green – had a choice to make and chose different paths. Dodson decided against fighting a heavier opponent as he’d lost previously to a weight-missing John Lineker, while Green decided to take the fight, with a caveat.

Prazeres was told he had to weigh in on the night of the event at 173lbs at the heaviest – almost 20lbs over the 155lbs Lightweight limit – but came in at 180lbs, only for Green to take the fight anyway. And it showed – Green won the first round but seemed to tire out badly, and found himself simply outmuscled by the larger, stronger Prazeres. Sure, Green took 40% of Prazeres’s purse, but he also came away with a loss to his record, meaning he won’t be moving up the ladder anytime soon.

Dodson meanwhile was told he’d be paid “a portion” of his show purse, meaning a lot of his training expenses won’t be covered. So for the opponents of weight-missers, what do you do? Do you refuse the fight and lose out on money? Or take the money but risk a career-damaging loss? The UFC needs to fix this quickly by agreeing to pay the full “show” purse to any fighter who makes weight, regardless of whether or not their opponent fails to make the fight.