Cutting weight in MMA
Discussion
There was a lot of talk during the Alves/GSP fight about Alves cutting weight. Apperently he was around 200-ish lbs for the fight despite the 170lb limit. Now, I'm guessing this is leftover from when fighters did it in boxing so you are the biggest strongest guy in the class below what you could fight in, is this right?
How do they cut 30lbs or 2.14 stone in a matter of what, a week is it? Is it all water? Do they then just immediately return to full weight when rehydrated? Does anyone have experience of doing this and what is it ike/what effect does it have on you mentally and physically? Is the effort worth it or has GSP and 'Babalu' Sobral got the right idea in just fighting at the weight you are and not cutting?
Cheers guys.
How do they cut 30lbs or 2.14 stone in a matter of what, a week is it? Is it all water? Do they then just immediately return to full weight when rehydrated? Does anyone have experience of doing this and what is it ike/what effect does it have on you mentally and physically? Is the effort worth it or has GSP and 'Babalu' Sobral got the right idea in just fighting at the weight you are and not cutting?
Cheers guys.
its from wrestling mainly as opposed to boxing, although it happens in boxing too. I fight at under 73kgs for judo but I usually weigh around 75-77kgs. I can cut that with a trip to the sauna but the guys like Alves in the UFC cutting 20lbs are nuts!
They do it thusly; no or very few carbs in the week leading up to the weigh ins, then an intense dehydration session in the last day. Thats why the weigh ins are the night before fights, head traumas are much more dangerous if there is insufficient water in the body to cushion the brain etc.
They rehydrate themselves as soon as they step off the scales, if you watch the weigh ins theyll be drinking water and all sorts of fancy sports drinks straight away. There is a imit to how much water and carbohydrate the body can absorb within a certain time limit though, which is why you'll sometimes hear fighters saying that they had a bad cut and thats why they gassed out during the fight, because they cut too much and couldnt replace the fluids and salts quickly enough.
GSP still cuts, he was about 185lbs last night, thats still a blooming stone heavier than at the weigh ins! It is proportional though, lesnar cuts to make 265lbs and weighs around 285 come fight time but hes carrying a larger % of water than alves. GSP is a huge WW, Alves is just a collosal one!
The japanese based fighters have never cut much weight, akiyama is naturally about 185lbs so looked really small last night, he should probably drop to 170lbs really.
All of this said, cutting weight really isnt good for the body dehydrationg and rehydrating rapidly can drain the body of a lot of essential salts. Leah Betts who died from taking ecstacy tablets about a decade ago didnt actually die from them. She died because she was drinking too much water to keep herself hydrated whilst dancing and essentially rinsed all of her bodies essential salts out of her system and her brain swelled up.
They do it thusly; no or very few carbs in the week leading up to the weigh ins, then an intense dehydration session in the last day. Thats why the weigh ins are the night before fights, head traumas are much more dangerous if there is insufficient water in the body to cushion the brain etc.
They rehydrate themselves as soon as they step off the scales, if you watch the weigh ins theyll be drinking water and all sorts of fancy sports drinks straight away. There is a imit to how much water and carbohydrate the body can absorb within a certain time limit though, which is why you'll sometimes hear fighters saying that they had a bad cut and thats why they gassed out during the fight, because they cut too much and couldnt replace the fluids and salts quickly enough.
GSP still cuts, he was about 185lbs last night, thats still a blooming stone heavier than at the weigh ins! It is proportional though, lesnar cuts to make 265lbs and weighs around 285 come fight time but hes carrying a larger % of water than alves. GSP is a huge WW, Alves is just a collosal one!
The japanese based fighters have never cut much weight, akiyama is naturally about 185lbs so looked really small last night, he should probably drop to 170lbs really.
All of this said, cutting weight really isnt good for the body dehydrationg and rehydrating rapidly can drain the body of a lot of essential salts. Leah Betts who died from taking ecstacy tablets about a decade ago didnt actually die from them. She died because she was drinking too much water to keep herself hydrated whilst dancing and essentially rinsed all of her bodies essential salts out of her system and her brain swelled up.
Edited by deevlash on Sunday 12th July 07:18
IMO its wrong that fighters cut so much weight before a fight to try and give themselves an unfair size and weight advantage when it comes to the fight. If they gas out due to cutting so much weight then tough **** and it serves them right. Go fight your natural weight and make it more fair by picking on someone your own size.
not really, Im only dropping a couple of kilos though, I lose 2kgs during a training session anyway so it doesnt affect me much, thankfully nobody really cuts vast amounts of weight in judo anyway, certainly not at my level.
A 20lbs cut would need some kind of expert advice, I wouldnt want to try that without some kind of medical advice, which Im sure those top guys get.
A 20lbs cut would need some kind of expert advice, I wouldnt want to try that without some kind of medical advice, which Im sure those top guys get.
It's a tough one, and I can see both sides of the argument. If a fighter can cut the weight and still be fit to fight, then why not take every advantage? The problem is of course some fighters probably d0nt want to cut that much so are stuck in between the weight classes and will either be outsized or end up having to do a substancial cut.
Also the higher the weight class the easier it is to cut, as obviously the big guys have more water and weight to lose, and a freak like Brock Lesnar apparently sweats something like 20 pounds out just training!!
Most of the fighters can safely cut as they need to, though a fair few have gone too far and gas out horribly.
Did anyone watch the last ultimate fighter house, USA vs UK? Clay Guidas brother was there and was trying to cut and ended up cramping his entire body and collapsing, and before the fights you see the guys in the sauna in a full sweat suit on an excercise bike dropping weight, not good, I recon anything over 10lbs of wieght cut in the lower classes must affect performance.
Also the higher the weight class the easier it is to cut, as obviously the big guys have more water and weight to lose, and a freak like Brock Lesnar apparently sweats something like 20 pounds out just training!!
Most of the fighters can safely cut as they need to, though a fair few have gone too far and gas out horribly.
Did anyone watch the last ultimate fighter house, USA vs UK? Clay Guidas brother was there and was trying to cut and ended up cramping his entire body and collapsing, and before the fights you see the guys in the sauna in a full sweat suit on an excercise bike dropping weight, not good, I recon anything over 10lbs of wieght cut in the lower classes must affect performance.
I don't agree with what cutting weight has turned into. What Alves does is extreme. After that fight GSP says he 'walks around' at 185, but he understands the dangers of cutting too much and how it can shorten your career. I saw a programme, Danny Dyers HArdmen2, and there was a MMA fighter in it last week who had to cut something ridiculous like 20 lbs. He made it, but was just weak in the match. I would like to see weigh-in's before the match, or as close to as possible and get rid of this 'cut as much as poss' culture.
Edited by Halb on Tuesday 28th July 18:49
Lil' Joe said:
I have to say I agree that cutting weight seem's unfair. I would say fight at your own weight too.
Pussies the lot of them
Cutting weight is not 'unfair' because nearly all fighters do it Pussies the lot of them
So if they all stopped cutting weight everyone would have to go up a weight division and it would all be back to square one. Halb said:
I don't agree with what cutting weight has turned into. What Alves does is extreme. After that fight GSP says he 'walks around' at 185, but he understands the dangers of cutting too much and how it can shorten your career. I saw a programme, Danny Dyers HArdmen2, and there was an MMA fighter in it last week who had to cut something ridiculous like 20 lbs. H made it but was just weak in the match. I would like to see a weight in before the match, or as close to as possible and get rid of this 'cut as much as poss' culture.
That guy was an idiot though. He went out drinking a few weeks before the fight.Best bit of that was Danny Dyer trying to train in jeans after smoking a fag.
Halb said:
Whats the time betwen weight in and fight time? Will it be on the net?
test scales available from 7.30am, weigh in at 8am and then Im not sure what time my category will start at, there will be -60kgs, -66kg then me at -73kgs and they'll have the women to do as well so my fights could well be around 10am if not later.There'll be a group stage of 3 or 4 people so thats at least 2 fights. To be honest I'd be pretty pleased to just not get killed, if I get beyond the groups I'll be very happy. This is my first actual competition since Uni in 2003 when I screwed my knee up so I'm going to be a bit "mat rusty"!
I doubt it'll be on the net unless I manage to persaude someone to film my fights and I whack them up on youtube, I'll try my best though.
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