Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
See how much fighters weighed on the night of UFC 241 in California.
One of the benefits of the UFC holding an event in California is the fact that California’s commission releases the fight night weights for all fighters competing on the card. This is a practice the CSAC started last year and gives us a glimpse into how much athletes are cutting weight, and how much weight they’re gaining back from weigh-in day to fight day.
For UFC 241, the eye-catching statistic is that out of 24 fighters, a whopping 13 of them gained more than 10% of their body weight back from Friday to Saturday. Under the CSAC’s comprehensive weight cutting guidelines, the commission has the authority to recommend (or suspend the license of) fighters move up a division when they exceed the 10% limit.
The worst offender was Manny Bermudez, whom even with a 140 lbs catchweight, still gained an astounding 17.7% of his body weight back for what was originally slated to be a bantamweight scrap with Casey Kenney. Anyone weighing 165 lbs and regularly fighting at 135 lbs should probably move up a division.
Just for an interesting comparison, the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card that was scheduled for the same evening as UFC 241 only had three of 18 boxers exceed the 10% threshold.
The CSAC has been mulling a new rule that would cancel bouts on fight day if a fighter is at least 15% above the contracted weight limit. If that rule hypothetically existed for UFC 241, Sodiq Yusuff vs. Gabriel Benitez, Sabina Mazo vs. Shana Dobson, and Kenney vs. Bermudez would’ve all been nixed.
By the way, Daniel Cormier’s 11.5 lbs ballooning from 236.5 to 247 lbs comes with an asterisk, as he was fully clothed with items in his pockets when he was on the scale.
Here’s the full set of UFC 241 fight night weights (compiled via MMA Fighting):
Main Card
Stipe Miocic (230.5 pounds to 233 pounds = 1.1%) def. Daniel Cormier (236.5 pounds to 247 pounds = 4.4%)
Nate Diaz (170 to 180 = 5.9%) def. Anthony Pettis (169.5 to 177.2 = 4.5%)
Paulo Costa (186 to 213.8 = 14.9%) def. Yoel Romero (184.5 to 207.2 = 12.3%)
Sodiq Yusuff (145 to 169.2 = 16.7%) def. Gabriel Benitez (146 to 164.6 = 12.7%)
Derek Brunson (186 to 204.8 = 10.1%) def. Ian Heinisch (185.5 to 203.5 = 9.7%)
Preliminary Card
Khama Worthy (155.5 to 167.6 = 7.8%) def. Devonte Smith (156 to 163.8 = 5%)
Cory Sandhagen (136 to 149.2 = 9.7%) def. Raphael Assuncao (136 to 153.2 = 12.6%)
Drakkar Klose (155.5 to 175.2 = 12.7%) def. Christos Giagos (155 to 176.2 = 13.7%)
Casey Kenney (139 to 145 = 4.3%) def. Manny Bermudez (140 to 164.8 = 17.7%)
Hannah Cifers (114.5 to 125.6 = 9.7%) def. Jodie Esquibel (116 to 127.8 = 10.2%)
Kyung Ho Kang (136 to 156.4 = 15%) def. Brandon Davis (136 to 156 = 14.7%)
Sabina Mazo (126 to 145.6 = 15.6%) def. Shana Dobson (124.5 to 136 = 9.2%)