EXCLUSIVE: Frank Trigg Talks About Adding Weight Classes To UFC In Light Of Khabib Incident
Frank Trigg likes the concept of more weight classes, but does not see them happening.
An important fight between Khabib Nuramgomedov and Tony Ferguson was canceled at UFC 209 due to Nurmgomedov's weight cutting issues. On his weekly appearance on Fightful MMA's podcast, Frank Trigg was asked if he thinks UFC should add divisions between lightweight and welterweight to avoid weight cutting issues from other fighters. Trigg would say the number of division could increase if the roster for the division is available.
"Why move 170, why not have 155,160,165,170,175,180,185, why not have one every five pounds. The reality of it is, it's not what we think is good or bad, it's what can the UFC afford to do. You have to have about one hundred people in each weight class, call it fifty people. Fifty people in that weight class to be able to have that weight class be contested. We see that with the women division, at 135 and 145. Who's at 145? Nobody can answer that question. They're building a division but they don't have anyone in the division," said Trigg.
He does not believe the weight classes will be added unless UFC is willing to invest in adding fighter's to that division's roster. Trigg isn't convinced that is likely.
"Can the UFC, the new owners afford to add a new weight class and make these things happen. The reality of it is, if you sign a contract at 155, then fight at 155, if you can't make 155, then you fight at 170. Whenever someone comes up 'oh you should have a weight class at 165 and we should put another weight class at…'. No guys that's not what we signed up for, we're professionals, we know what we signed up for, we know what were walking into. These are the two weight classes we have, if I want to go down to 145 I can do that, if I want to fight at 155 or I go up to 170 if I don't like that, go up to 185," said Trigg.
He would give Johny Hendricks as an example as someone who had to move up in weight class because of weight cutting issues. He says he would love to see more weight classes but it is not economically feasible for UFC. On the rest of the podcast, Trigg and host Sean Ross Sapp would discuss the results of UFC 209, and the upcoming UFC card from Fortaleza, Brazil.
Trigg appears weekly on FightfulMMA's podcast. The episodes can be found on Itunes, YouTube, and Stitcher, and are also available via direct download.
