In four of Yana Santos’ last seven fights in the UFC, she has faced opponents who were unable to make weight. A recent incident with Macy Chiasson nearly caused her to fail.
Santos was furious when Chiasson stepped on the scale last Friday ahead of UFC 320 and weighed in at 137.5 pounds (a pound and a half over the limit for a non-title fight), but in the end the penalty for being underweight was only 25% of the purse. Santos then immediately called for harsher penalties for fighters who fail to reach their contracted weight in a fight.
But perhaps the most painful part of this incident was that Santos felt he had no choice but to confront Chiasson, regardless of his actual weight.
“A few fights ago, when my opponent was way off weight and we were wondering if we should take the fight, the UFC made it very clear that if I refused the fight, I would be the one who would be punished,” Santos told MMA Fighting. “So I’m not getting paid, I could be fired, and all that stuff.
“It’s like the person who lost weight has the problem. I’m the one who has the problem. So I can’t see that as an option. That’s the reality. If you want to keep your job, you have to fight.”
Santos faced Chelsea Chandler in 2024, although she didn’t mention the match specifically. Chandler weighed 141 pounds, an astonishing five pounds over the limit for a non-title bantamweight bout. Santos won by unanimous decision, but the result didn’t make her feel all that good about facing an opponent with such a clear physical advantage.
Sadly, Santos knows of at least one instance where a fighter rejected an opponent who made weight and that decision effectively ended his UFC career.
In April 2018, Leslie Smith was scheduled to face Aspen Ladd at UFC New Jersey, but Ladd missed the mark and was 1.8 pounds over the bantamweight limit. Despite efforts to find a compromise to continue the fight on this card, Smith ultimately declined to face Ladd.
Smith was paid a show and victory bonus for the final fight on his UFC contract, but was subsequently removed from the roster.
“I’ve seen this example many times,” Santos said. “One girl missed the weigh-in, the other girl refused to fight and they cut her. I don’t want to be in this position because it’s the same thing over and over again. It’s so wrong. Those who did everything right will be punished, but that’s the way it is.”
Ideally, Santos would like to see stiffer penalties imposed on athletes who don’t make weight, which would act as a real deterrent.
As it stands, the 35-year-old bantamweight believes some athletes are using the system effectively, knowing that the punishment doesn’t hurt as much as suffering a severe weight cut that can hinder their ability to compete.
“If you win a fight, your ranking will go up and you will get the full bonus, so you will have more money for your next fight…I am sure that if the fights were stronger, fewer people would drop weight,” Santos said. “I think some people have situations and problems, but they really had a hard time (gaining weight). We show people over and over again shaking (on the scale), falling over, losing their minds while losing weight, but that’s not the only reason.
“As I watched her opponent, she was walking very well, had energy, had weight to lose, had time to do this, and she refused. If there was a stronger penalty, I think she would go and lose this pound. It’s like being in a sauna for 15 minutes. You just suffer a little more. If the punishment is strengthened, people will take this more responsibly.”
It also bothered Santos that Chiasson never apologized for missing weight and pointed out that he gave up 25 percent of his purse as a penalty. So that should be enough.
“The way things were handled made me very upset,” Santos said. “First of all, no one told me she was losing weight. I just had to stay there and see. No one asked me if I wanted to fight. That’s the reality. No one said sorry before or after the fight.”
“After the fight, I had to go to her and say, ‘At least you owe me an apology.’ It didn’t come from (her) team or anyone from the UFC team, and it was like (it) happened on a regular basis that I had to fight because my opponent dropped weight after each fight. I don’t feel like that’s how it should be.”
Santos admits she admires Chiasson heading into their fight at UFC 320, but her opinion has changed dramatically in the aftermath of the weight loss debacle and the fight.
“Before the game, I had a lot of respect for her,” Santos said. “I like her personality and everything, and I tried not to leave any negative feelings behind. Once the match is over, I try not to give my opponent any negative feelings. But it’s a little difficult because I really think the way she handled this situation was wrong.”