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Report: MMA fighter had a heart attack while weight-cutting
By Zach Arnold | March 16, 2010
Jordan Breen doesn’t want to hear any anti-weight cutting arguments from anyone. That’s OK. I don’t need to say much after this story:
Word is that Sengoku vet “Shin Ramen” Yoon Young Kim had a mild heart attack while cutting weight for his 3/14 bout with Yoshitaro Niimi.
Only details so far are from Alive’s Yoichi Suzuki. Thank God this is so obscure it can’t fuel idiot anti-cutting folk.
The long and short of it is that Kim reportedly had a heart attack while he was in a sauna doing weight-cutting and was taken to a hospital via ambulance after collapsing.
Smoogy has an update on the story.
Another Jeremy Lappen scandal brewing?
Surprise, surprise, trouble already with amateur MMA regulation in California?
Other news and notes
Are we supposed to believe that Brandon Vera’s alleged new-found attitude is really going to help him beat Jon “Bones” Jones? OK.
Roger Huerta signs with Bellator in hopes of getting a chance to fight Eddie Alvarez. He will lose to Eddie Alvarez should that fight happen. I give Bellator credit for making the right signing.
The Tim Sylvia/Wes Sims fight that was proposed for Saint John has now been moved to Jordan Breen’s home territory in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The news about Comcast and DirecTV reaching a deal to have Versus on the dish is good for UFC and WEC. I still have questions as to whether or not UFC can really help the network out in the long-run.
Frank Mir says he ‘likes everything about (Shane) Carwin’.
Interested in Roger Gracie vs. Kevin Randleman for Strikeforce in May?
Iowa is about to pass legislation to regulate amateur Mixed Martial Arts in the state. (Stories here, here, and here). Complete text of the bill can be read here (Iowa Senate File 2286).
Andre Ward had to postpone his boxing match against Allan Green on 4/24 (part of the Showtime Super Six tournament). No make-up date has been announced, yet.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 32 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Amateur MMA has always been a joke. Until someone takes over on a national level and legitimate rules are established, it will still be a joke.
All the talk about Versus’ bright sunny future generally revolve around its programming being gutted and the name being changed. If the UFC can find lots of money and dates from some sort of rumored NBC Sportsnet type channel, the sport should be much better off, though it doesn’t necessarily prove that it will be on network TV.
There’s a rumor that Goosen wants to take Ward out of the tournaments, which makes it sound to me as if HBO is offering him a lot of money. I’m guessing Showtime has a pretty solid contract though and that there would be a serious penalty for trying to bounce.
Gracie/Randleman is a lot like Amir Sadollah/Phil Baroni. Nearly .500 journeyman with a name against high profile prospect. I’m not excited about it but it seems acceptable to me.
It would be disappointing if Ward were to drop out of the Super 6. If he did they should just make it a 4-man Tourney from here on.
I would be shocked if there weren’t airtight contracts going into this thing. Knowing that HBO could throw big money at a fighter down the line to come fight Pavlik or Lucian Bute.
I hope that isn’t the case. I really like the Super Six. It’s the best idea in boxing in a long time. You get a group of relevant fights with a clear path for all the winners to fight meaningful fights. Exactly the opposite of what boxing typically does.
Boxing is like that girlfriend that all your boys tell you is no good. You know she’s no good. But when she’s not being a psycho bitch she’s the best thing going. And you just can’t leave her alone. You always say it’s going to get better and when it looks like it is about to she f-s you up again.
What is Breen’s argument? That weight cutting is 100% safe? It can be very dangerous if done to extremes and not overseen by trainers with experience.
And why does he need to feel like it must be heavily defended? What’s so great about weight classes getting ruined by guys like Sherk or Silva knowing how to drop 40 pounds in sweats instead of fighting in a natural division and dominating the division mostly because of their size?
Huerta will be destroyed by the top Bellator fighters. He had a few exciting fights against Lightweights he outclassed but he never looked good against top talent and in the meantime somehow got a giant head. Hopefully this will bring him back down to earth.
Roger is a rather durable fighter with good wrestling and great conditioning. Nobody destroys Huerta so I think you’re overstating.
He was outskilled by two top 5 fighters. Neither guy beat him into the ground, though Florian did break his spirit with a Machida-like attack.
I’m surprised there aren’t more heart attacks from weight-cutting.
Most MMA camps know what they’re doing so I don’t worry about it affecting any major fighters. They know how to do it safely and the signs that someone is in trouble.
But in Japan weight cutting isn’t down to a science so you’ll get issues like this. Fortunately weight cutting just isn’t popular to do there and most fighters are at their natural weights.
Fighters should weigh in the morning of fight day.(I mean how many times do we hear this excuse for a flaccid fighter…”well mike, he cut a lot of weight before the weigh ins, it looks like it “might have” drained him!”
Perhaps in the future with fight day weigh ins, the term Weight cutting may become synonymous with a healthy morning BM.
And there should be a new 100k class.
You’d have a lot more traumatic head injuries that way. The reason is that the cerebrospinal fluid that is lost in cutting weight wouldn’t replenish itself in time.
Guys will cut weight no matter what you do, unless you monitor weight offseason and set a certain percentage that is the maximum for fluctuation. Even with that system guys would cut. Fighters are always looking for an edge. Either a real physical or psychological edge or a perceived one. Guys like Joe Riggs, Sean Sherk, Anthony Johnson, etc who cut a ton of weight do it because they’re afraid to fight at a weight close to their own. The only way to really stop them is for a promoter not to book them in a lower weight class. There’s no way to legislate a solution to this problem, without abolishing weight classes.
This is correct. Same day weigh ins are far more dangerous.
“why does Breen need to feel like it must be heavily defended?”
It probably is a variable used in betting on mma, perhaps his system of betting against fighters who had hard cuts would be in jeopardy?
“Perhaps in the future with fight day weigh ins, the term Weight cutting may become synonymous with a healthy morning BM.”
I remember back in the day of fight day weigh-ins watching a guy fall over in a steam room and bang the shit out of his head. He was dropping the last few pounds before weigh-ins and passed out. He had a plastic suit on and was shadow boxing. (I was in the steam room sweating off a pound as well.)
After he got up and his wits about him, he went and made weight. He got the shit beaten out of him that night.
The only difference he had from these day-before weigh-ins was that he had less time to rehydrate.
Not trying to be argumentative, but I remember same day weigh-ins quite well. It was worse and harder on fighters then.
I agree with you, I couldn’t stand same day weigh-ins. My fights in NJ I had same day weigh-ins about 3 PM or so and then you’re fighting about 6 hours later (This was back when I was still an amateur). There is a reason on amateur shows so many fights get scratched.
How long ago was this? Do any places still have same day weigh ins for amateurs?
I’ve never fought, but have had to cut massive weight for wrestling when weigh-ins were the same day. I guess it was more lose weight throughout the week than cut alot the same day.
I never felt sapped doing this but maybe I would have if i had tried to get down to a lower weight.
My amateur fights were in 2008. Yes it’s still the same here in the state. I never had the problem either while I’ve been competing or wrestling in college/high school but there are many who do. I’ll probably have to do it when I go to 155 though.
The Roger Huerta signing is interesting on many levels.
First, it shows Strikeforce’s inabilities in signing the fighters they should be. Secondly, Bellator is using him in a risky way. They should have put him in fights outside of the tournament instead of depending on him winning the tournament to get to Alvarez.
Lastly, I see Alvarez/Huerta as a 50/50 fight. Alvarez has gotten tagged before and doesn’t have the best wrestling to take it to the ground.
Why is Huerta a better fighter to sign than Fedor or Henderson? He’s certainly not a bigger star (despite what he thinks), if he dealt with Strikeforce anything like he dealt with UFC he probably made a demand for an insane amount of money he isn’t worth. Since you’ve been complaining about Strikeforce overpaying everybody shouldn’t you be happy they finally put their foot down?
And I don’t know if Huerta should be outside of the tournament. It’s not like he’s a superstar who can draw the crowd in a main event. It would look like the IFL “legends fights” or something cheesy like that. The tournament gets more relevance with him in it. If he wins they get what they want. If he loses before Alvarez then you have another fighter make a name for themselves and a rematch that will be one of their bigger draws.
When did I say he was a better signing then Fedor or Henderson? He is still a guy Strikeforce should have signed. He has name recognition, some loyal fans, and a crowd pleasing fighting style. SF needs a guy like him.
Huerta-Alvarez is not even close to 50/50. I’d put it at 70/30 Eddie…on second thought, keep people thinking that…I’d like to make some good pocket money! 🙂
Alvarez beats Huerta easily. Clay Guida was taking down Roger at will and Gray Maynard was outstriking him. Alvarez is a better wrestler than Guida and a better striker than Maynard. He may be dropped in the first round, but Huerta doesn’t posses the power to put him away early.
Alvarez better wrestler than Guida?
I dont think Huerta is a easy fight for anyone. He may have been promoted by Zuffa because of his looks and background, but he has always performed.
I was quite skepical of him because of this, but watch his fights, most of them have been pretty awesome. Great signing for bellator.
I think Huerta is a great signing too. His only losses in UFC were non-blowout decisions to Maynard & Florian who most seem to consider top 3 in that division. Him vs Alvarez is going to be an awesome fight, because both guys bring it unlike Florian/Maynard who seem happy to win decisions on points.
I find it curious that no one has brought up any questions regarding Bellator, however. Are they over spending on prospects with no clear cut way to make solid revenue? Did they outbid Strikeforce & UFC for Huerta or were those two not seriously interested? Are the shows even going to be live? IFL, Pride, & UFC have never had success with FSN.
I hope it all works out but I have my doubts with FSN. I remember the very last IFL final, I couldnt find out when it was on, then it never replayed. There’s so much jostling around on that network based on region. Regardless, it’s better than Deportes which was lame as shit because it wasn’t even part of a sports package…I wasn’t going to get a whole espanol package just for one set of tape delayed shows.
And the IFL proved that you cannot have ratings success if you’re not live. I don’t think the IFL would’ve succeeded in the long term, but I definitely think they would’ve gotten better ratings had their events been live prior to switching to HDnet, a network barely anyone got at the time, while they were on their death bed.
FSN is a horrible channel for MMA. Nothing ever plays at the right time and it’s hard to follow an organization this way.
I personally think Bellator is trying this and hoping to either find a needle in a haystack (bigger TV contract) or sell off their exclusive contracts. That is where their most value is if they can’t turn a profit….
And after looking at the IFL’s balance sheets…. Running MMA cards is expensive…. And I highly doubt FSN is paying enough or anything to really cover the cost…
That’s right, I probably saw 3 IFL shows even though I made an attempt to watch all of them because my Fox Sports had them on at the wrong time.
FSN is a pay-to-play channel for sure. PRIDE, IFL and NWA-TNA were paying to be on. I believe UFC may have infomercial’ed too in 2002.
And I don’t even have FSN. I have some Comcast version instead. I assume they will still have Bellator on it. They did with the IFL and even the 1 hour affliction card before the PPV. Of course that showed at the same time as the main event…
I had the same problems with the IFL. It was hard to find, and even my DVR was useless because the local sports would go on longer and either completely knock the program off or move it enough that I missed some of it.
Did Bellator really pay Huerta a $250k signing bonus?
http://mmapayout.com/2010/03/mmaterial-facts-031710-details-on-huertas-contract-demands/
Ok, I should have figured fighters by their very job desc would risk their health to cut too much weight.
How about having 2-3 weigh ins in the weeks prior to the fight in which the fighter is required to be within 10 lbs of his class?
I think that has been proposed before…
Yeah, I think something very much like that is in place for N.J. championship fights or something like that.
Even if it hasn’t that sounds like a great idea to me. There is no way Anthony Johnson or Thiago alves would be at 170 if this happens. For some reason I think Forrest’s crazy ass would still find a way to make 205 though.
Kind of a moot point, but Sherk for being as cut as he is really isnt that large for a lightweight. When he started fighting again he’s stayed in great shape ever since(steroids usually help), and he only walks around at 175lbs giver or take a few. Guys like Gleison Tibau, Ronnys Torres, Joe Stevenson, and Nate Diaz cut a lot more than that. All three have been noted to walk around at 185 -190, and Diaz and Tibau have been on record as being 190 only a couple of days after the fight.
According to the latest on Sherdog, he did not suffer a heart attack after all. Somehow I doubt many of the MMA sites that scraped the original story will bother to post the update.
If he didnt have a heart attack what was wrong with him smoogy?