Alexander Volkanovski warns Paddy Pimblett not to gain so much weight in between fights.
Alexander Volkanovski might compete at featherweight, but ‘The Great’ used to walk around at 190 pounds in between fights and even weighed as much as 214 pounds on the rugby pitch.
That’s why, as a former 5’6” 200-plus pound rugby player who used to gain as much as 45 pounds in between fights, Volkanovski feels more than qualified to give Paddy Pimblett some advice on his current weight issues.
Pimblett, otherwise known as ‘Paddy The Baddy’, competes at lightweight but jokes about overeating junk food and ballooning up to 200 pounds while not training. This might be funny from a fan’s perspective, but it’s no laughing matter to Volkanovski, who takes his weight very seriously as the UFC featherweight champion.
Volkanovski warned Pimblett about the dangers of overeating and the disastrous consequences it could have on his health if he doesn’t start taking his weight more seriously as he gets older.
“I know the science and I don’t just know that, I used to do that,” Volkanovski told The AllStar in a recent interview (h/t MMA Mania). “Back in the days when I would go and people see me win the PXC world title at featherweight, I’d go back to Thailand not even two weeks later and people are looking at me like, ‘How do you look like that? You were just here. What? It doesn’t make sense.’
“I used to weigh in at 65.8 [kilograms], 145 [pounds], and within the week … so next weekend, 86 kilograms. That’s over 185 [pounds], and you used to see that, well over — that’s almost 190. I used to go from 145 to 190 [pounds] in one week. It’s not healthy. It’s terrible for you. It blows my mind how his head just balloons like that. It’s quite funny.”
“Look, honestly, I hear about people fat shaming him and all that type of stuff, yeah, some people would be,” Volkanovski added. “But I think there’s a lot of people that probably care for his health as well, because it ain’t healthy. I know because I’ve been in the same position.”
Pimblett last fought at UFC London where he defeated Jordan Leavitt via second-round submission. He reportedly gained around 45 pounds just three weeks removed from the fight, tipping the scales at 200 pounds per a backstage interview at UFC San Diego.