Conor McGregor became the first-ever UFC double-champion in 2016 by finishing Eddie Alvarez. However, the achievement wasn’t without controversy and debate. Now, a resurfaced clip of MMA legend Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic has thrown fresh fuel onto the discussion. Filipovic didn’t just question the idea of two belts. He questioned the system that makes them possible in the first place.

“Nowadays, the biggest scam in MMA is weight cutting. That’s the biggest scam in combat sports,” said the Croatian fighter during an interview with Index Studio back in 2023. “People need this explained because they don’t understand, being in a clinch with someone your own weight, 5 kilos lighter or 10 kilos heavier, that’s a night and day difference.”

Then he took an aim at the double-champ label itself. In his eyes, the system lets fighters chase belts without truly meeting opponents at equal weight on fight night. He pointed to McGregor’s featherweight run as the cleanest illustration. Cro Cop argued that the Irishman weighed far more than 145lbs by the time the cage door closed. Which made moments like the 13-second Jose Aldo knockout look like a size mismatch as much as a skill one.

“It’s easier to defend takedowns, especially at that level of fighting,” he continued. “And then he(McGregor) goes for a challenge, while weighing over 80 kilos. So he wins the belt at 66 kilos, and now, he’s going for a new challenge. He will go for the 70-kilo belt.

“People would cut to 50 kilos if they could. What’s the lightest division, Ante? Cut to 59 kilos. I get it, it’s business, people want to make money, a win is a win, no one is questioning it. For them, it wouldn’t be an ethical issue at all.”

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The takeaway wasn’t that Conor McGregor cheated the rules. It was that the rules themselves invite this kind of tactic.

The heavyweight legend grew up in an era where weight mismatches were part of the chaos. Especially when he fought for PRIDE in Japan, and you didn’t chase smaller men to pad your resume. He summed it up simply: fighting much smaller opponents felt “beneath my honor,” even if no one else cared.

Weight cutting has even sent elite fighters to hospitals. Khabib Nurmagomedov’s infamous collapse ahead of UFC 209 is the cautionary tale everyone points to. Studies suggest a large chunk of fighters dehydrate themselves aggressively in fight week, flushing water, cutting carbs and salt, sweating in layers, and even using diuretics. The scale might say 145 or 155, but by fight night, the body you’re dealing with can be 10–15 pounds heavier.

To be clear, this doesn’t erase Conor McGregor’s skill. But it does reframe the conditions around his success. The double-champ label still means something. The question Cro Cop raised is whether it means what we think it means when the system rewards those who can suffer the most in the sauna before anyone throws a punch. After all, the UFC has had some scary moments with weight cutting recently.

Cameron Smotherman’s collapse and Brian Ortega’s ER visit highlight issues with weight cutting

Just last month at UFC 324, bantamweight Cameron Smotherman made weight at 135.5, stepped off the scale, took a few shaky steps, and then collapsed face-first on the stage. He convulsed for several seconds before officials rushed in. The fight was called off on the spot, and he was taken straight to the hospital. That’s not a bad cut. That’s a system brushing up against its limits in public.

And it’s not an isolated scare. Brian Ortega lived a quieter version of that nightmare last year. His featherweight cut for UFC Shanghai went sideways, and the fight had to move up to lightweight. In a video afterward, Ortega explained how he tried to push through anyway.

He described cutting all night, waking up still short on weight, then throwing on plastics, “Sweet Sweat”, and jumping on the bike to force the last bit off. That’s when his body stopped cooperating. He said he blacked out for a long stretch and only came to in the ER, with his team icing him down after he lost consciousness.

That’s really the uncomfortable middle ground this debate lives in. You can respect what Conor McGregor did inside the cage and still question the system that helped shape the conditions of those wins. When fighters are collapsing on the scale and waking up in ERs just to make a number, it stops being a clever edge and starts looking like a flaw baked into the sport.