The Dangers of Weight Cutting
- Benjamin Furnish
- Feb 2
- 4 min read
Much has evolved throughout fighting history.
New martial arts have developed, new rules have been established, and even new sports have been created.
You hear people say it all the time, “it takes a brave soul to step into the ring/cage”, and this is undoubtedly true. 99% of humans have and will never step into a sanctioned fight, let alone encounter any sort of physical conflict.
For the 1% that do find themselves in a fight, they will all tell you that size plays the most significant role. Unless delusional, one will never step into a fight against someone twice their size. It’s simply illogical. The scales immediately tip in favour of the larger person.
So, when the culture of fighting shifted to equal-weight competition, the size discrepancy problem seemed solved.
This is what we thought.
TJ Dillashaw, a legendary fighter and one of the greatest UFC Bantamweights (135Ib) of all time, should have been considered one of the greatest combat athletes ever.
Dillashaw was a former two-time Bantamweight champion, widely regarded as a pioneer for modern-day switch-stance striking.
Instead, he's seen as a cheater; his legacy is tainted, and many disregard his accomplishments.
After retaining the Bantamweight throne, Dillashaw vowed to move down to the Flyweight division (125Ib) to fight a fellow all-time legend, Henry Cejudo.
As his training camp progressed, Dillashaw quickly realized he'd be unable to make the weight naturally. In 2019, following his knockout loss to Cejudo, only one minute into the fight, Dillashaw received a suspension for testing positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO), a performance-enhancing drug, which he admitted was used to successfully shed the last few pounds required in order to be sanctioned to fight.
He was stripped of his UFC bantamweight title and received a two-year ban, effectively sidelining him for the remainder of his prime.
Logically, this shows that the dangers of weight-cutting are obvious and right in front of our eyes.
If Dillashaw was willing to put his career in jeopardy, to make weight, the stakes of cutting then become physical and career-altering.
The UFC has now suffered from this debacle.
Take one of the biggest stars in the UFC, for example, Alex Pereira.
Pereira was known for having a brutal weight cut, having to make 185 pounds.
Pereira stands at 6’4, 225 pounds, meaning that, in order to be licensed to compete for the title he worked his entire life for, he would need to put his body through hell.
He would need to be on the brink of death.
If fighters enter contests dehydrated, they are in a vulnerable state. As they get hit to the head repeatedly, their brain continuously rattles around their skull, leading to concussions or worse.
According to the International Federation of Muaythai Associations, long-term large energy deficits caused by weight cuts, when energy expenditure exceeds intake, pose a risk of developing Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome in Sport (RED-s). RED-s is characterized by negative effects on the athlete’s health and performance.
Health problems caused by weight-cuts for men and women include menstrual, endocrine, metabolic, hematological, psychological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and immunological dysfunction.
For most fighters, weight cutting is seen as an advantage. If they can cut massive amounts of weight and compete against a much smaller opponent, that creates an immediate edge for the fighter.
Some may find it worth it to sacrifice their bodies for a lifelong dream they’ve worked for their entire lives.
But that is less than 1% of fighters.
What about the athletes, who put their bodies through hell three times per year to simply fulfill contractual obligations?
And for what? To not even sniff the rankings (top 15), for their entire career, taking life-altering damage for a salary that is nowhere near just.
We saw this several weeks ago, at UFC 324, on the UFC’s debut with Paramount+.
During the live-streamed weigh-ins, UFC bantamweight (135 lbs) Cameron Smotherman collapsed moments after making weight.
Smotherman typically walks around at 160 pounds, naturally, and has to cut 25 pounds in two days.
Smotherman is a young, hungry fighter, yet few considered him worthy of being in the top 15. Yet he takes his body through hell, to make a weight he should never have been at, to end up having his fight cancelled.
The UFC has adjusted its protocols slightly, with fighters weighing in on Friday morning and having all of Friday and Saturday to rehydrate as close as possible to their natural weight.
But like cutting, bulking so close to fights is also detrimental to athletes' health.
Out of all the problems the UFC faces, this seems to be the most prominent yet unsolvable.
Ultimately, the company cannot enforce the weight at which athletes compete. If fighters want to risk their lives to fight, then that’s their choice.
But the company could potentially create more weight classes.
For example, adding a 165-pound weight class could do wonders. This could reduce the gap between the 155-pound and 170-pound divisions.
There then can be the creation of a 175-pound division, abolishing 170, and reducing the gap between 170 & 185.
Also, the UFC could create a 195-pound weight class, shrinking the gap between 185 & 205.
At the end of the day, there haven’t been any catastrophic incidents like the Colon situation for the UFC.
But no matter how qualified the nutritionists or how elite the fighters are, if the weight-cutting trend continues to grow increasingly extreme, we could be looking at a crisis for the company.
The UFC needs to look itself in the mirror, head back to the drawing board, and make immediate adjustments.
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