The CEO of ONE Championship Victor Cui announced yesterday that the existing champions in the fight promotion will keep their titles as they move up a division, with the new weight system being implemented.
Cui, in a conversation with Fox Sports’s Steve Dawson, said that all the current champions will move up to the next higher division, further to the ban on weight-cutting being implemented earlier this month. With this development, Shinya Aoki for example, the long-reigning Lightweight champion, will be the champion at 170 lbs going forward.
While the changes would be sweeping in nature, Cui admitted that there might be exceptions made on a case-to-case basis. “Of course there might be some athletes that will stay in their existing weight class because they have their diet or weight training in a different program and we will consider that. But in theory it’s quite simple, everybody moves up a weight class together and in unison.” said Cui.
It was last week that ONE Championship announced that it was banning weight-cutting by dehydration and institute a new set of regulations and policies governing the weigh-in procedures and contracted weight limits.
As per the new policy, athletes will now compete at their ‘walking weight’, which will be determined by a tracking system along with random weight checks.
“I think we are on the right track for growing the sport and the key is, in everything we do, to continually strive and improve and put the the health and safety of the athletes front and centre as it should be.” signed off Cui.
