UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor fought two weight classes above his previous UFC fights at UFC 196. The move up in weight to face UFC lightweight and welterweight veteran Nate Diaz proved to be a tall task as Diaz was able to weather the early storm of McGregor and submitted him in the second round.
Gunnar Nelson, training partner of “The Notorious” recently spoke with Submission Radio about McGregor’s fighting weight (transcribed by Bloody Elbow).
“Yeah I would have liked to see him stay in lightweight. I think that’s the more natural weight for him and I think he would have felt a lot better, you know, felt a lot better before his fights and in the camp and not having to worry about all that major weight cut. So I think it’s more natural for him. But you know, it is what it is, he makes the cut and he does it every time and it doesn’t seem to affect him much in the fight. But you know me, I’m not a big believer or supporter of this type of stuff, these heavy, big weight cuts. I’d like to see it taken completely out and I’d like to see people just going into the fights in their walking-around weight. You know, people just fighting other people that are the same weight, but they’re not cutting the weight. It seems like a dumb situation to me. Because some guy does it then everybody has to do it.”
Nelson believes that the move to 155 will be the best thing for McGregor’s career, but states that he surely can still make 145.
“I know he can do it a few more times, definitely. You know, if he needs to he can, but I would like to see him go up and have a little bit, you know, a nicer career when it comes to this. And I think it will be a longer one and it be a more pleasant journey. It would just be a more real journey. Yeah it’s just my perspective on this whole weight-cutting thing. I think it’s not great for Martial Arts either, cause it just creates this obsession about being bigger. You know, that the bigger guy always beats the small guys, you always wanna focus on being bigger and stronger. And I understand it, it’s definitely a factor, but I just think it’s become too much of an obsession for everyone in this game and I don’t like it.”