Leandro “Feijao” Souza will never fight in the UFC.
The 26-year-old fighter died last week while attempting to make the 125 pound limit for a Flyweight fight at Shooto Brazil 43.
UFC president Dana White and former Middleweight champ Anderson Silva fielded questions from the Brazilian press about Souza’s death while in Rio today to promote UFC 168. Here’s some of what they had to say (transcription via Yahoo!) at today’s press conference:
“I have proper nutrition. I have a lot of time to make weight,” said former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva during a UFC World Tour stop in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. “When I get to the fight, I always get there four or five kilos above (nine to 11 pounds), at the most, and I can lose that weight very easily. I don’t wait to lose weight on the last minute.
“I think the biggest problem is for athletes to accept fights at the last minute and wait to cut weight in the last minute,” he added. “No one can do that. There is no way you can recover your weight from one day to the next,” said Silva.
“Where you see the dangerous situations are the guys that take last-minute fights and have to lose a ton of weight. It’s never good,” added Dana White.
“In the UFC, these guys have plenty of time. They know when they have to fight. They know the time they have. They diet and do the proper nutrition to get down the right way. When they get closer (to weigh-ins), they cut a few pounds. That’s the healthy, normal way to do it.
“I don’t think that the cutting weight process is ever going to be perfect, but I said it today in an interview I did with a gentleman earlier, I don’t care what level you fight on, no fight is worth dying over.
“If you can’t make the weight, don’t take the fight.”
Hopefully Souza’s death will be a wake up call to the MMA community to follow the best practices outlined by Silva and White.
More from Bloody Elbow:
- UFC signs Krzysztof Jotko; Doo Ho Choi deal reportedly close
- Dana White shows no interest in purchasing Bellator: ‘There’s no value to that company whatsoever’
- Dana White ‘blown away’ with Jacare Souza’s UFC Fight Night 28 performance
- TUF 18 Finale adds Maximo Blanco vs. Akira Corassani
- Knuckle Up #450: Leandro “Feijao” Souza’s death, the bane of the diuretic Lasix + drugs, drugs and more drugs
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