Josh Barnett Says Weight Cutting is to Blame for Arman Tsarukyan’s UFC 311 Removal

During an in-studio appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Josh Barnett made it clear that he’s vehemently against weight cutting in MMA. In fact, the former UFC, Pride FC, and Strikeforce veteran believes weight cutting is what led to Arman Tsarukyan’s back injury.

“You don’t get Arman Tsarukyan having back problems if you don’t have insane weight cutting.”@JoshLBarnett‘s strong take on weight cutting in MMA 👀

“I think weight cutting is the number one most dangerous element to the sport of MMA and the biggest legal cheating method that… pic.twitter.com/0kcndHWA5s

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 20, 2025

“You don’t get Arman Tsarukyan having back problems if you don’t have insane weight cutting,” Barnett said.

Helwani then asked “The Warmaster” what his initial reaction was to Tsarukyan pulling out of UFC 311.

“How heartbreaking, how awful, and that’s because I truly believe in doing his weight cut, he probably did hit a huge back spasm out of nowhere that completely took him by surprise.” Barnett said. “And it was bad enough that, one, was obviously going to impact his ability to make weight. So, how is he going to make the weight class? And two, could be severe enough that he wouldn’t feel up to being able to compete the next day.

“And this all comes from working or fighting under a ruleset that encourages you to game the system because everyone is doing it and there’s no way around it, really.”

Barnett went on to say that while topics such as CTE are important in combat sports, he wishes there was a greater emphasis on the weight cutting issue. He believes it’s the most dangerous aspect of MMA competition.

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