Cutting weight?

jas123

jas123

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I know most guys cut weight for a fight in MMA, but there seems to be a lot of conflicting info on some of the MMA boards. What I'm interested in is the weight that most fighters at various weight classes actually fight at (not what they walk around at or what they weigh in at). For example, what do most LHW actually weigh in the fight? 215-225? I know it probably depends on the individual somewhat, but how much can one cut and then put back on by fight time? I heard a rumor (which seems pretty ridiculous) that Riggs weighed 202 for his WW fight against Diaz. Specific examples are always fun and welcomed.

Also, I heard that UFC fighters cut more weight in general than Pride guys. Although his size has varied some, Silva, for example, doesn't seem to cut much weight. Any validity to this statement?
 

NO HYPE

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I know most guys cut weight for a fight in MMA, but there seems to be a lot of conflicting info on some of the MMA boards. What I'm interested in is the weight that most fighters at various weight classes actually fight at (not what they walk around at or what they weigh in at). For example, what do most LHW actually weigh in the fight? 215-225? I know it probably depends on the individual somewhat, but how much can one cut and then put back on by fight time? I heard a rumor (which seems pretty ridiculous) that Riggs weighed 202 for his WW fight against Diaz. Specific examples are always fun and welcomed.

Also, I heard that UFC fighters cut more weight in general than Pride guys. Although his size has varied some, Silva, for example, doesn't seem to cut much weight. Any validity to this statement?
Let me just say that not all MMA fighters cut weight. Cutting weight came about by way of wrestling competitions for the most part. In UFC for example, a fighter is given a 15lb. variable at weigh in. Obviously a fighter wants to weigh as much as he can without going over. If a fighter in his everyday life maintains a weight of let's say around 200lbs, and just before the fight, drops down to 185, the "theory" is, that he will be the biggest he can possibly be at the time of the fight, therefore giving him an advantage.... Or so he thinks. I honestly see it as a disadvantage on his part cuz his body undergoes excessive stress and catobolism, wich alters performance and stamina. I've had guys tell me they lost matches due to this very reason.
 
Beowulf

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I have no idea what MMA guys actually weigh in at when fighting (vs. the scale at weigh in), but for your own purposes you'd probably do better getting info on gaining/dropping from bb boards like this one. I've been reading MMA forums lately, and those guys (at least the ones posting about it) have no idea what they are talking about. Someone recently asked if you can "sweat away muscle".

I'd think it would probably be best to not have to drop much weight b/c if you deplete yourself, and then carb up hard to refill glycogen (needed for the fight), the excess of carbs can cause pretty intense lethargy (I think it is caused, at least in part, by a carb-serotonin response).
 
Beowulf

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In UFC for example, a fighter is given a 15lb. variable at weigh in.
Really? I thought that it was only 1lb. Did you see the big fiasco at the Ortiz/Shamrock weigh in when Tito was *****ing that Ken weighed 206, and then Tito got on and weighed 206.5. He had to run around the ring for a half hour, and then he came back and made 206.
 

NO HYPE

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Really? I thought that it was only 1lb. Did you see the big fiasco at the Ortiz/Shamrock weigh in when Tito was *****ing that Ken weighed 206, and then Tito got on and weighed 206.5. He had to run around the ring for a half hour, and then he came back and made 206.
Sorry man. What I meant was.... If the fighter is a lightheavyweight, than he can weigh anywhere from 185 to 205lbs. at weigh in.
 

stxnas

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I heard a rumor (which seems pretty ridiculous) that Riggs weighed 202 for his WW fight against Diaz. Specific examples are always fun and welcomed.
I watched that PPV and Joe Rogan was the one that reported this. Rogan said he was told by Riggs's "corner" that Diesel weighed in at 202 in the locker room right before the fight. Rogan followed up that comment with something to the extent that Riggs was the incredible shrinking man b/c he has been in the cage/ring as big as 300lbs! I think they may have even talked about it after the fight.

Yeah, droppin weight is lame.
And I'm sure it can take away from a fighter's strength too if it's not done right or done to an extreme. As mentioned earlier, it can definitely be a disadvantage for some.
 

NO HYPE

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I watched that PPV and Joe Rogan was the one that reported this. Rogan said he was told by Riggs's "corner" that Diesel weighed in at 202 in the locker room right before the fight. Rogan followed up that comment with something to the extent that Riggs was the incredible shrinking man b/c he has been in the cage/ring as big as 300lbs! I think they may have even talked about it after the fight.


And I'm sure it can take away from a fighter's strength too if it's not done right or done to an extreme. As mentioned earlier, it can definitely be a disadvantage for some.
True Dat.
 
jas123

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I've been reading MMA forums lately, and those guys (at least the ones posting about it) have no idea what they are talking about. Someone recently asked if you can "sweat away muscle".
Haha. Yeah, I don't ask too many questions on there because the average poster is an idiot or online tough guy. I heard a guy say that Silva's never used roids because if he did he would be as big as Bob Sapp after 5 years or so. Not as many people post on this part of AM, but people don't state things as fact when they aren't in general.

Thanks, for the responses. I remember that Tito was supposedly one of the first guys to cut weight for MMA. They said he probably weighed 215 for the Frank Shamrock fight (199 and under then).

One has to wonder if Overeem's gas tank problems are from cutting weight.
 

stxnas

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One has to wonder if Overeem's gas tank problems are from cutting weight.
That's quite possible. He might be cutting so much water that he is still somewhat dehydrated/fagtigued before even getting in the ring.
 
Beowulf

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Haha. Yeah, I don't ask too many questions on there because the average poster is an idiot or online tough guy. I heard a guy say that Silva's never used roids because if he did he would be as big as Bob Sapp after 5 years or so. Not as many people post on this part of AM, but people don't state things as fact when they aren't in general.
I actually read a post on Sherdog or Subfighter where someone was claiming that AAS would make your penis shrink. They bought into 100% of the stereotypes and misinformation without a second thought. Little do they know that many of their "heroes" have probably done AAS at some point in their careers.
 

size

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Short term weight cutting is typically water weight. This is very common. Many fighters will begin cutting pounds a few weeks beore a fight to make weight.
Cutting weight is a skill and can be an advantage.Reason being that if one is adept at cutting, then one can fight a smaller opponent. For instance, Matt Hughes fights at 170 lbs but is normal weight is around 190-200 befroe he starts preparing for a fight.
 

NO HYPE

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Short term weight cutting is typically water weight. This is very common. Many fighters will begin cutting pounds a few weeks beore a fight to make weight.
Cutting weight is a skill and can be an advantage.Reason being that if one is adept at cutting, then one can fight a smaller opponent. For instance, Matt Hughes fights at 170 lbs but is normal weight is around 190-200 befroe he starts preparing for a fight.
For some like me, size means nothing in the ring. Skill is what determines the outcome.
 

NO HYPE

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Everyone is not spectacular like you. :rolleyes:
I apologize for my arrogance. Honestly. I didn't think before I typed. What gets me pissed is the way that everyone seems to think that because it's being done a certain way in UFC (whatever it is), that it has to be done that way in order to be effective and that's not true. So once again, sorry for bein a jerk.
 

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I'm going to speculate here and say that it's possible that, generally speaking, UFC fighters may cut more than Pride guys because there are generally more Wrestling oriented fighters in the UFC. I would say that wrestlers are more prone to a bulk and cut routine, their disipline is more based on mass and strength in training and fighting that they then have to cut back on to make weight , than the kickboxing and JJ that more Pride fighters specialize in. Additional mass is an advantage in wrestling, less so in JJ, and even less than that for a striker.

Wandy, again speculation, is a JJ and strike guy, and from what I've seen on him and Chutebox, I don't think he varies much at any time, he supposedly trains 5 and 6 days a week almost yearround with a lot of high intensity cardio. I think Wandy has his fun, but he's no party guy in the sense that I read Liddell is.

Just my personal conjucture; I might be really wrong here.
When speaking of UFC being more wrestling oriented where as Pride, more kickboxing and JJ. I can't come to that conclusion cuz as far as I've seen, Dana White doesn't seem to choose fighters based on style but rather by record. I think it's pretty much the same with Pride. Although I think they could sometimes get a little more creative when determinating who's gonna fight who. Yeah, I too heard Lidell is a freak when he aint fight'n.
 

B4n3 0n3

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I used to wrestle. Cutting weight really does affect your strength and stamina. My first year in highschool I used to have to cut alot of weight I thought it really affected me so after that year I always made sure to be right near the weight class I wanted to wrestle at. Allot of guys do cut alot and make it work but I decided to just go in a little undersized and make up for it by feeling better.
 

NO HYPE

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I used to wrestle. Cutting weight really does affect your strength and stamina. My first year in highschool I used to have to cut alot of weight I thought it really affected me so after that year I always made sure to be right near the weight class I wanted to wrestle at. Allot of guys do cut alot and make it work but I decided to just go in a little undersized and make up for it by feeling better.

Smart choice.
 
mixedup

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Yeah, droppin weight is lame.

I think just about every fighter in the world with the exception of heavyweights drops weight. I have never known a single fighter who fights on a regular basis to not drop weight for the simple fact People don't walk around exactly at 185 lbs 170lbs 205 lbs example I naturally weigh 195lbs am i going to gain 10lbs to just read 205lbs or am i going to going to cut 10lbs to make 185lbs?? Cutting weight is NOT EASY it has to be learned. Also look what happened to riggs he couldn't lose the last lb he lost his title shot and 50% of his purse.

Also something that is not discussed alot in cutting weight is promoters need people in different weight classes and don't match teamates together. So a promoter calls up my academy we have two 170lb guys ready to fight but he needs 170lb and a 155lb Guess what? One of us is cutting weight. Fighters don't always get to pick and choose when they are getting paid. Especially up and comers you take what is offered. Or you might not get offered again
 
Dr Liftalot

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i honestly dislike cutting weight at least cutting more then 3-4 pounds before a fight,(talking water weight) Its awful to run out of gas and i fight soo much stronger when my body is properly hydrated.

Thats just my 2 cents'
Dr L
 

NO HYPE

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I think just about every fighter in the world with the exception of heavyweights drops weight. I have never known a single fighter who fights on a regular basis to not drop weight for the simple fact People don't walk around exactly at 185 lbs 170lbs 205 lbs example I naturally weigh 195lbs am i going to gain 10lbs to just read 205lbs or am i going to going to cut 10lbs to make 185lbs?? Cutting weight is NOT EASY it has to be learned. Also look what happened to riggs he couldn't lose the last lb he lost his title shot and 50% of his purse.

Also something that is not discussed alot in cutting weight is promoters need people in different weight classes and don't match teamates together. So a promoter calls up my academy we have two 170lb guys ready to fight but he needs 170lb and a 155lb Guess what? One of us is cutting weight. Fighters don't always get to pick and choose when they are getting paid. Especially up and comers you take what is offered. Or you might not get offered again
Good points. Gaining or losing 5-10 lbs in order to weigh in properly without going over or without being under the required limit is totally understandable however, I was reffering to fighters that strictly use this method to dramatically cut weight and then immeadiately put it back on after weigh in, in order to be the bigger guy. This is a common practice that I feel, has more negative effects than positive. Overall performance is effected by this practice, even though the fighter might still win the fight. Before weight can be used as an advantage to a fighter, he has to first find an oppertunity to utilize it.
 
Dr Liftalot

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Good points. Gaining or losing 5-10 lbs in order to weigh in properly without going over or without being under the required limit is totally understandable however, I was reffering to fighters that strictly use this method to dramatically cut weight and then immeadiately put it back on after weigh in, in order to be the bigger guy. This is a common practice that I feel, has more negative effects than positive. Overall performance is effected by this practice, even though the fighter might still win the fight. Before weight can be used as an advantage to a fighter, he has to first find an oppertunity to utilize it.

Riggz is a perfect example of why not to go overboard when dropping weight.
 

B4n3 0n3

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i honestly dislike cutting weight at least cutting more then 3-4 pounds before a fight,(talking water weight) Its awful to run out of gas and i fight soo much stronger when my body is properly hydrated.

Thats just my 2 cents'
Dr L
No doubt.
 

MarcusG

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Cutting weight is just a big part of the game. At the elite levels of MMA, competitors cut a significant amount just like other sports with weight classes. It would be very naive to think that size doesn't matter.

Rampage, Tito, Shogun, Overeem look like they cut about 15-20+lbs to make weight.
 

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It would be very naive to think that size doesn't matter.
Size matters. Being bigger can be an advantage, but only if there is an oppertunity to utilize it as an advantage.
 

MarcusG

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At the very elite levels where you have Olympic level athletes, every pound of bodyweight matters. So size matters alot at that level. In mature sports like boxing and wrestling, cutting weight is practically a given.

When you have the average clueless bush league sluggers at KOTC, then weight does not matter as much since the skill disparity can be huge.
 
exnihilo

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Cutting weight properly does not involve any glycogen depletion whatsoever (aside from what is required to dehydrate for ~12-16 hours) with a 24 hour weigh in. the best strategy for anyone desiring to cut is going to be diuretic use, hot salt water baths and some kind of laxative. If you don't want to go the diuretic route you can actually induce diarrhea using sugar alcohols which will drop water weight FAST :D though you need to take supplemental electrolytes in this situation. Another strategy used by bodybuilders is odium loading for a certain period, then cuting out sodium as much as possible and drinking lots of water, which you can do before you use your other weight loss techniques (I believe you can do it with potassium too but I would advise against it).

If you have the luxury of a 48 hour weigh in, you can do some glycogen depletion, then reload (optimally using 4-6 shots of humalin-r or humalog over the two days as well) and pound the gatorade, rice cakes and bananas.

If you know how to do it right and don't go overboard dropping weight can give you a significant advantage. You can get ~7-15 pounds basically for free (up to about 5% bodyweight), which equates to ~5% more force behind your punches and kicks, and that much extra weight that you can leverage on your opponent on the ground. Beyond that most people are affected to some degree or other and you have to guage whether it is going to be worth it or not.
 

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