PVZ shares some more scary stories about weight cutting and why she’s happy to be fighting at 135 pounds now.
The 125 pound women’s division couldn’t come fast enough for Paige VanZant.
The hot UFC prospect has never hid her struggles to make the 115 pound strawweight limit, but now she’s sharing even more disturbing tales of the tolls it took on her with the BBC.
”I was having different issues with myself and my body” Paige said. “I was giving myself an eating disorder to make the weight. I recently went up to the flyweight division which is 10 lbs (4.5kg) heavier, which is a huge difference.”
VanZant credits Urijah Hall for finally making her realize just how dangerous too much weight cutting could be. Hall was recently pulled from his fight on weigh in day after suffering a seizure and Paige was there to see it happen.
”I was at a fight where a fellow UFC fighter, Uriah Hall, was cutting weight and he pushed himself just to the brink of death,” she said. “He had kidney failure and started seizing in the hallway right in front of me. It’s because of that I’m like ‘I cant do this anymore.’”
Weight cutting has been a big issue lately as fights continue to fall out regularly at the last minute. Some fighters cut in excess of 30 pounds, and any small mistake or delay can cause them to miss weight or worse: suffer health complications. California has recently taken steps to try and stop the worst offenders, but even with her strong opinions on the subject Paige believes it’s up to the fighters themselves to decide what’s right for them.
”It’s our decision to cut weight, it’s our decision to fight at those lower weight classes,” she finished.