Andy Foster didn’t have to pick this fight. Give him credit for that much, at least.



When the executive director of the California State Athletic Commission is showing up at gyms with a scale and a smile, or hopping on Skype calls with fighters from the opposite coast, it’s not because anyone is making him. In fact, there are a lot of people who’d probably prefer that Foster leave this one alone. It’s not like anyone asked him to be the savior who would finally fix MMA’s problem with extreme weight cuts. Depending on whom you ask, there may not even be a problem.



Sure, this is one of the few sports in which professional athletes routinely dehydrate themselves to the point of near (or sometimes actual) incapacitation the day before the contest. And yes, sometimes they show up for weigh-ins looking like wax skeleton versions of their usual selves. Sometimes they can barely stand up under their own power when they step on the scale. Other...