ONE Championship wants all of their fighters to compete at their natural, walking weight. That's exactly what Ben Askren is going to be doing.

Askren, the current ONE welterweight champion, will be moving up to middleweight under the new ONE weight-cutting restrictions, he confirmed with MMA Fighting. The undefeated Askren, one of the best 170-pounders in the world, said he walks around at about 185 pounds and that's the exact weight he'll fight at.

"Under my understanding, pretty much everybody is moving up a weight," Askren said. "I don't think anyone is staying at the same weight. That's the kind of consensus they came to after talking to most of the fighters."

ONE's rigid new weight program has received some criticism from fighters here in the United States. Askren doesn't know why.

"I was even talking to my teammates," he said. "They were like, 'Who are you going to fight at 185?' I don't understand the issue. I'm fighting guys my size."

Under the new system (detailed here), fighters must not gain more than 6 percent of the weight of their division within eight weeks of the fight. That percentage does down gradually and at three weeks out fighters must already be on weight. Fighters will have to enter their weight into an online portal daily during their fight camp and ONE will check their weight randomly over the course of the year to determine proper competition weight.

Once fighters arrives for fight week, ONE will determine their weight and hydration level with a specific gravity test. If a fighter is not on weight and not hydrated, he or she will be pulled from the bout. ONE will weigh fighters throughout the week to make they are on weight and do another specific gravity test to ensure hydration up to three hours out of the fight. If a fighter deviates, he or she must withdraw.

In MMA, like amateur wrestling, competitors ordinarily cut weight to gain a size advantage over potential opponents. Most MMA fighters cut between 15 and 25 pounds of their walking weight -- or more -- to reach their weight class. Many do it via dehydration and are unable to fully rehydrate by the time they fight. A 2013 study presented at a recent California State Athletic Commission weight-cutting summit said that 39 percent of MMA fighters went into the cage dehydrated. Johny Hendricks and Renan Barao are prominent fighters who have had to pull out hours before a fight due to weight-cutting issues.

Doctors believe that rapid dehydration followed by rapid rehydration can wreak havoc on vital organs, sap important fluid from around the brain and make fighters more susceptible to concussions. Extreme weight cutting also hinders performance and could make fighters easier to knockout due to the affect on the brain.

In the United States, rule changes like ONE's have to go through the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) and each individual state commission. ONE, which regulates itself, has the luxury of calling all the shots. Askren doesn't mind one bit.

"If the UFC did that, people would follow course just like they did with USADA testing," he said. "It might be a little harder, but at the end of the day once fighters do it a couple times and they realize they're fighting someone their size and they don't have to do a severe dehydration, they're gonna like it. It's safer, it's healthier. It's better all around for the fighters.

"The worst 24- to 36-hour period of my whole camp, the part I like the least is the part where I've gotta cut 13 to 15 pounds of water weight. And now you're telling me I don't have to do that anymore. That's not a punishment to me. I wasn't saying, 'Shoot, I was really looking forward to that.'"

Some wrestlers have said that specific gravity hydration tests, like the ones used in NCAA competition, are beatable. Askren said a fighter would have to "cheat" and be "completely dishonest" to attempt to game that system.

"People are stubborn and sometimes even if change is good people will always oppose change," Askren said. "It's good for us. We're going to fight people our own size."

Askren, a former Bellator welterweight champion, competed in the Olympics as a wrestler at 163 pounds. He said he walked around then at 175. Now, he's most comfortable at 185 and that's where he'll fight for ONE.

Askren, 31, is 2-0 (1 NC) for ONE and is coming off a no contest against Luis Santos in April. Askren was supposed to face Santos again in November, but Santos had an issue making weight and the bout was called off. ONE also had a fighter, Yan Jian Bing, die earlier this month in a weight-cutting related mishap.

"All fighting is going to make a move this way at some point," Askren said. "I don't know what's going to happen or how it's going to happen or how they're going to enforce it. But everyone is going to be taking a look at this and doing something like this."