Making The Cut: Is it Really Worth It

One of the biggest questions of MMA is, “What weight should I fight at?” Well after a series of these articles we hope to enlighten the public on the advantages; disadvantages; myths; misconceptions on the topic and some hints and tips to try and become the biggest loser. Let us get started.

Firstly let us set out all the weight divisions currently at a professional level in South Africa:

·         Featherweight < 66kg

·         Lightweight < 70kg

·         Welterweight < 77kg

·         Middleweight < 84kg

·         Light-Heavyweight < 94kg

·         Heavyweight < 120kg

I have heard a lot of dramatic stories about weight cuts, for example there was once an MMA athlete that in the middle of a match, he just stopped fighting and obviously lost by TKO. Apparently he had gone blind during the fight, afterwards the doctors confirmed that this was apparently due to him cutting so much water that he eventually lost nutrients and that lead to him losing his eye sight. Thankfully he had only lost it temporarily.

Now the regular person's question right now would by, “why would you want to cut weight”. The answer is actually pretty simple, for a size and strength advantage. But the problem arises when some people are natural small or have no fat too burn and therefore having to burn muscle and that could have the adverse of the desired affect.

So is it actually worth it to make the cut, well let us look at the UFC Kenny Florian, he entered the UFC fighting at middleweight 185lbs, about 84kg, and kept cutting and now he is currently the number one contender at the featherweight division, 145lbs or 66kg. In Florian's case the more weight he cuts the more successful he becomes. But there has been numerous occasions where fighters were unable to make the desired cut due to the fact that it was too large or they made the cut and it had undesired effects which shall be discussed in the forthcoming articles.

This was just an introductory article to prepare you for the articles to come, you could refer to it as an agenda for the near future.

So the next articles will be done in this order:

·         Advantages

·         Disadvantages

·         Myths and Misconceptions

·         Fighters' and Trainers'

·         Hints and Tips accompanied by the conclusion

 

The next articles will be up soon, to stay up to date with SA MMA news follow us on Twitter @OffTheRecordMMA and add us as a friend on Facebook. Till next time keep supporting one of the fastest growing sports in South Africa.