ABC chief 'appalled' at video, calls for Darren Till's corner to be suspendedhttps://mmajunkie.com/2018/05/abc-chief-appalled-at-video-calls-for-darren-tills-corner-to-be-suspended/
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ABC chief 'appalled' at video, calls for Darren Till's corner to be suspendedhttps://mmajunkie.com/2018/05/abc-chief-appalled-at-video-calls-for-darren-tills-corner-to-be-suspended/
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After watching UFC welterweight Darren Till cut weight, the head of the Association of Boxing Commissions believes another death is around the corner in MMA.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDawg
“I was appalled seeing seven people sit there and push this kid to the point where he lost his vision,” Mike Mazzulli, who also serves as the director of the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation, told MMAjunkie after watching a video of Till’s weight cut released today.
In the video, which was released by Till (17-0-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) sponsor Paddy Power, the U.K. star struggles to make weight for his fight against Stephen Thompson (14-3-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 130, which took place this past Sunday in Liverpool, England.
On Till’s second day of losing weight, he reports losing his sight after walking on the treadmill. It’s later revealed he underwent “colonic hydrotherapy” in a last-ditch effort to make the welterweight limit.
Mazzulli faults a culture of weight-cutting in the MMA industry for the sequence of events portrayed in the video. But he also believes Till’s cornermen bear much of the responsibility for allowing the situation to happen.
“They should suspend those corner people that tried to help him cut that kind of weight, first of all,” he said.
Till, who despite his struggle, earned a decision win over Stephen Thompson, has twice come in heavy for UFC fights. Still, UFC President Dana White indicated he still had confidence the fighter could compete at 170 pounds. The promotion self-regulates events held in the U.K., and Till was given an extra hour to lose weight after a family emergency forced him to stop the process.
Till is expected to compete next in Las Vegas, where UFC bouts are regulated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the video.
A UFC official said the promotion is looking into the matter when asked for comment. California State Athletic Commission Executive Director Andy Foster, a leading proponent of measures to curb excessive weight cutting, said he planned to make a statement.
Mazzulli said if Till were applying for a license with the Mohegan commission, he would require a doctor’s note certifying the fighter is able to compete at welterweight. Otherwise, he said, Till would be forced to move up in weight.
The CSAC, which this past year passed a 10-point plan to curb excessive weight cutting, has in several cases ordered fighters to move up after weight issues have been identified. At least one UFC fighter has protested the move.
Mazzulli noted he ordered Bellator fighter Ash Griffiths to move up after a miss on the scales for a bout against Aaron Chalmbers at Bellator 200. Griffiths will now have to compete at 165 or 170 pounds, and his weight miss was documented on the ABC’s database of administrative actions.
“(Griffiths) said to me, ‘Thank god,'” Mazzulli said of the fighter’s reaction. “He came down to my weigh-in in a towel, walking through a hotel.”
Mazzulli believes education is one of the strongest tools to keep fighters from cutting too much weight. But he adds a fighter’s team also serves as a line of defense.
“They think it’s OK to do what they did to that kid? They’re going to get him killed,” he said. “Right now, I am so upset at this whole industry.”
The consequences of a death in a major MMA promotion would be devastating, he added.
“You’re going to be sitting there with a girlfriend, with parents, who lost their kid to something so stupid, for no apparent reason,” Mazzulli said. “What’s going to happen is you’re going to have a mother and a father losing their child over weight-cutting to fight – not in a fight.”
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 130, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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