Exactly How UFC Fighters Cut Weight So Fast

Cutting weight for an MMA fight is an extremely brutal and dangerous process. Unfortunately, this is a part of MMA which isn’t discussed too much and is somewhat of an open secret.

The reason for this is that it can be a very dangerous practice that literally puts the fighter’s life in danger. Many people consider cutting far more life-threatening than the actual fight itself (if the weight cut is particularly tough or goes wrong). The reason for this will be explained in further detail, but for now this involves dehydration which usually ventures into a territory that seriously threatens the basic functions of the human body.

One quick example of how weight cutting can affect your body is with Darren Till. Known for some harsh weight cuts, the UFC fighter once admitted he went blind for a while during a particularly bad weight cut. With this in mind, please educate yourself if you do plan on cutting weight and try to do it as safely as possible. Here’s how MMA and UFC fighters cut weight so quickly.

Extreme Cutting – The Fastest Way Fighters Cut Weight

In extreme cases, MMA fighters will cut weight within a couple of days prior to their fight. They may have been cutting weight sensibly for weeks before, but then they ramp it up and push their body to the limit. There are several ways how to cut weight within 2-3 days and honestly, it’s not at all healthy. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t go on. Here’s how it’s done

Dehydration & Diet

The main way to cut weight quickly is by dehydration. Obviously, dehydration carries a severe health risk, but allows the body to lose weight extremely quickly. There are several ways to do this.

The first is to avoid drinking water – which means you won’t gain any water weight. Then, you can try to sweat your water out in saunas, hot baths, jogging whilst wrapped up, and other methods.

Basically, fighters will not only deprive their body of water but also drain it. Sometimes, fighters will even use bath salts to speed up the dehydration process. In some extreme cases, fighters have been seen spitting and crying to try and force out excess liquids.

The second way (which is used in conjunction with the first method) is a restricted diet. This means that in the few days before the fight (and the build up to some extent), many foods are completely removed from a fighters meal plan. Any foods which are high in carbohydrates, sugars or salts are all “bad” in terms of gaining and keeping weight. Therefore a very simplified diet of vegetables and meats is very common.

Cutting weight over several weeks – the slow beginning

Perhaps the healthiest way to cut weight isn’t in one go, and ideally you wouldn’t even cut weight anyway. Some fighters may lose 1-2KG or a bit more over a month or so. However, if you’re already naturally lean then this can be difficult. In this case, you can also cut weight over a few weeks. This is actually far more healthy than doing it a few days out prior to the fight. The reason for this is that your body won’t suddenly lose a big percentage of its weight, so it will have time to adjust naturally.

Most fighters will cut weight in the weeks leading up to a fight. This is somewhat normal and involves sensible dieting, as well as more cardio workouts. However, for almost every fighter – this is just the beginning of the weight cut and is generally quite slow, non-dangerous and healthy.

Changing diet

Usually, in the build-up to a fight, this means changing their diet to involve fewer calories and create a deficit. Typically, this also means depleting the body of carbohydrates. Firstly, there’s nothing wrong with carbs as they provide the necessary energy to do daily tasks.

Secondly, this wouldn’t be advisable for a long-term diet. However, when it comes to fighting, carbs are dead weight. Therefore, the idea is to strip the carbs in the run-in so your body weighs less and carries more muscle. For obvious purposes, this should turn the fight in your favor as it means you can become stronger pound for pound. Therefore, during the weeks that approach a fight, fighters will significantly alter their diets.

One major drawback of this carb-cutting is that fighters run out of energy quickly. As many fights end before the 3rd round, some view this as a risk worth taking, especially if they are powerful fighters with a high percentage of knockouts.

UFC fighters will often work closely with a skilled nutritionist that will scientifically calculate what cuts are needed. Here, the goal is to create a calorie deficit as healthily as possible in order to reach a set goal. As your body doesn’t lose a big amounts of weight in a single day or acclimatize, this method is considered more safe compared to more short-term solutions.

Upping the cardio to burn calories

You’ll also see fighters start running and doing HIIT exercises during this period to help burn even more calories and lose more weight. This may have been made famous in Rocky but also has real-life connotations. One fighter who famously preached the benefits of running and cardio was Michael Bisping. It’s not rocket science, but if you start training exercises that burn fat alongside a low-calorie diet, you will obviously lose weight.

The other benefit that running has is that it simultaneously improves your cardio, provided you have enough energy in your body to reach your improved levels.

Weight cutting should is not advised

As you may have gathered, weight cuts aren’t advisable and can result in death. That’s correct, as some experts believe that weight cuts can be more dangerous than the fights themselves. Obviously, if you’re body doesn’t get enough water then this can cause issues such as strokes, heart failure, hair loss and many other serious problems. What’s more, there has also been evidence suggesting that those who cut too much are easier to knockout – due to having less fluid in their brain which goes against the very point of weight cutting.

In short, weight cutting isn’t nice – and it can have awful consequences. Sadly, it’s the norm within MMA and other combat sports, whereby even amateur fighters will undergo some pretty big weight cuts. Furthermore, if you do it too much then you can jeopardize your chance of victory. In other words, when looked at objectively, the cons mostly outweigh the pros. However, when a single fight is at the forefront of a fighters mind, it is easy to see why they overlook this fact.

Why Fighters Need To Cut Weight

For example, if a fighters everyday weight is 77kg, they will have a lot of experience cutting 10% of their bodyweight within a few days in order to make a lighter weight category. Almost every fighter on the UFC roster walks around at a significantly higher weight than they fight at.

By regaining this lost weight after an official weigh-in, this means you could potentially fight someone whilst being at least 6-7KG heavier than your official weight. This has extremely beneficial consequences for a fighter in terms of size and power. As you can imagine, if an opponent didn’t cut then you would be able to have a significant size and power advantage, as long as you could regain your weight. Granted, you may feel tired, but the size and strength advantage is considered well worth the sacrifice.

Over the years, this strategy has been perfected by some fighters and although it may risk your health, it’s a risk that many are willing to take. If this scenario happened, then arguably it’s the equivalent of being on steroids in terms of having a significant size advantage. At the same time, this doesn’t carry the same career risks that being caught using steroids does.

Speaking on the matter, Taekwondo black belt and UFC commentator Joe Rogan famously said, “It is stupid, what it is – is sanctioned cheating. It’s sanctioned cheating and it’s cheating at a much higher scale even than PEDs.”

Whilst most people aren’t as heated on the matter compared to Rogan, the fact remains that weight cutting can be used to gain a physical advantage over the opponent. This is a risky game with large health issues if it goes wrong, but is often something that professional fighters will try for the sake of their career.

After Fighters Have Weighed In

As soon as a fighter has an official weight that has been approved to fight, they will immediately try and regain this lost weight.

Most important is re-hydration. As a fighter is dehydrated, it is very important to take on fluids. Contrary to what your body may want, it is important not to drink too much water too fast, as your stomach will reject too much water at once. Instead, it is best for a fighter to rehydrate consistently over the next few hours whilst under constant medical supervision.

Electrolyte drinks such as Powerade or Gatorade are also often used since they contain electrolytes. These allow the muscles to stop cramping up as much – which can be extremely painful during the weight cut itself. As soon as electrolytes hit the bloodstream, cramps almost always calm down considerably and subside.

Ideally fighters also want to put back in all of the calories that they cut out, but this is an extremely difficult balance between eating enough in terms of nutrition and calorie content, to overeating and becoming nauseous. Less professional fighters will immediately go and eat foods such as cheeseburgers and hot dogs as soon as they have weighed in. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this in terms of calories, there are far more nutritionally beneficial foods that should be eaten as an alternative. Although with such a strict diet in the build-up to a fight, it’s not surprising that incidents like this are fairly common.

Risks Of Rapid Weight Cutting & Banned Practices

To discourage extreme weight cuts, the UFC banned IV rehydration drips in 2015. Whilst the intentions of this were clear – the UFC wanted to stop excessive and dangerous weight cutting, using an IV rehydration drip allows a fighter to rehydrate whilst under medical supervision. This has caused a lot of controversy and caused a lot of fighters to change the way in which they both cut and regain weight. In short – the ban did what it intended and made weight cutting less extreme within the organization.

However, the risks of rapid weight cutting are still extremely serious. Whilst MMA is not the most extreme in terms of weight cutting in combat sports, fighters have died whilst cutting weight. This is largely due to dehydration issues with organs such as the kidneys shutting down completely.

Furthermore, there have been multiple incidents of strokes, knockouts which killed fighters due to the lack of fluid surrounding their brains and long term conditions such as alopecia. In general, there seems to be a fairly obvious pattern, the more extreme a fighters weight cut is – the more likely they are to develop some kind of medical problem.

Summary

Overall, it’s fair to say that weight cutting in MMA is a controversial subject. The reason for this is both morally and in terms of your own personal health. Because of this, it’s no wonder that weight cutting is shunned by many fighters. At the same time, it still remains a common part of high-level MMA fighting, with some fighters literally doing big weight cuts on a regular basis.

What’s worth noting is that some organizations have spoken about having their weigh-in ceremony a day before on earlier, to effectively ban weight cutting as fighters could then rehydrate with ample time. Generally speaking, this sounds like a good solution and will hopefully be implemented by the UFC at a future date.