Tag: weight cutting

Uriah Hall Details Horrifying UFC St. Louis Weight Cut

Uriah Hall’s botched weight cut earlier this year was no joke…

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Earlier this year, former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) finalist Uriah Hall was scheduled to fight Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night 124 in St. Louis, but he was forced to withdraw from the bout just days prior after his weight cut went terribly wrong.

Ultimately, Hall passed out on his way to weigh in, forcing him to be hospitalized. In a recent interview with ESPN, however, Hall went in to more detail on just how horrifying the situation was:

“I was walking to the elevator and boom, just like that, I collapsed,” Hall said. “I was in the elevator holding on to my best friend — apparently I bit him, to hold on to him. I passed out again…woke up and there were EMTs, a guy was trying to get a needle in me, and I remember swinging. I wasn’t in control of my body.

“I woke up in the hospital and was screaming for water. ‘Give me water! Give me water!’ They said, ‘We can’t give you water yet,’ for whatever reason. I grabbed my sister and said, ‘Tell them to please give me a sip of water.’ I never felt so thirsty in my life. They finally gave me a sip, and I passed out.”

In terms of what exactly went wrong, Hall still isn’t sure what the official diagnosis was, although he said that his ‘ego took over’ and that he didn’t listen to the signs his body was providing him:

“I’ve cut weight over 20 times. I’m used to it,” he said. “That one margin of error, that’s what cost me. I neglected a health issue. I didn’t pay attention to my body. My will took over — I would say my ego took over. There’s a time you need to listen to your body.”

And while he admits that he felt a near death feeling, which draws concerns within itself, Hall said that he knew he would ultimately be alright:

“As close as I felt to death, I knew I was good,” Hall said. “It’s a psychological thing, training your body and mind. You got nothing left but there’s that little hope. For a lot of people who aren’t athletes, to step foot into that uncomfortable situation — you’re basically gonna kill yourself when you fight, anything can happen — it’s hard to understand that mentality.

“The realm of a fight’s existence is to step outside of your comfort zone for a split second — to be so ridiculously uncomfortable that it’s frightening and scary — and only a few people have accomplished that. I’m one of those trying to accept that. One reason I’m doing it is because I’m frightened by it and I’m trying to understand it.”

Moving forward, Hall will next take on Paulo Costa at UFC 226 on July 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Lightweight Bout Scrapped From UFC on FOX 28 Due To Dangerous Weight Cut

UFC lightweight Gilbert Burns will not be competing at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 28 card, according to UFC officials. Burns, who was set to take on Olivier Aubin-Mercier on the preliminary portion of the card, was unceremoniously pulled after what officials say was a bad weight cut. The UFC released a short statement on the matter […]

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UFC lightweight Gilbert Burns will not be competing at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 28 card, according to UFC officials.

Burns, who was set to take on Olivier Aubin-Mercier on the preliminary portion of the card, was unceremoniously pulled after what officials say was a bad weight cut.

The UFC released a short statement on the matter (MMA Mania):

“Upon his arrival, the UFC medical team determined that it would be unsafe for Burns to cut additional weight necessary to meet the 156-pound limit. The card will proceed as scheduled with twelve fights.”

New rules are now being enforced that will force fighters to move up a weight class if they are cutting more than 10 percent of their overall body weight. Several fighters’ bad weight cuts have led to all sorts of problems, from blacking out, to seizures in Uriah Hall’s case.

However, this appears to be the first time that the UFC pro-actively removed a fighter from a card due to a bad weight cut.

How do you feel about the UFC’s more pro-active approach to weight cutting?

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Dr. Beau Hightower: Many of These Doctors Are Not That Familiar With Sports Medicine (Exclusive)

Athletes pushing their bodies to extreme measures in order to attain maximum performance is something that has been done for centuries. The sport of Mixed Martial Arts pushes that sentiment one step further. At times approaching death’s door step…

Athletes pushing their bodies to extreme measures in order to attain maximum performance is something that has been done for centuries. The sport of Mixed Martial Arts pushes that sentiment one step further. At times approaching death’s door step just to gain the slightest advantage. Dr. Beau Hightower runs the Sports Medicine Department for Jackson-Wink […]

Boxing Could Have A Great Solution For The Weight Cutting Issues In MMA

These days weight cutting issues are extremely prevalent in MMA. Everyone has given their opinion on how they would mitigate the weight cutting problem but it would seem that boxing has beat MMA to it.

The post Boxing Could Have A Great Solution For The Weight Cutting Issues In MMA appeared first on Cagepotato.

These days weight cutting issues are extremely prevalent in MMA. Everyone has given their opinion on how they would mitigate the weight cutting problem but it would seem that boxing has beat MMA to it.

 

It almost seems comically obvious when you look at those stats that this is something that the UFC and other major MMA promotion could use. The problem is that these stats are only of two combatants. To track the many fighters on individual rosters would be far more complicated, but it would go a long way in ensuring fighter health.

For my money, I’ve always thought that doing a second weigh in the day of the fight to ensure that fighters don’t rehydrate past a certain level would force fighters to fight in a weight class that would make more sense for a healthy rehydration. If you can’t rehydrate to a healthy weight then it would be too dangerous for them to compete in the contest. That means rather than doing a drastic weight cut, fighters will have to be smarter about the choice of weight division. But of course that’s just a pipe dream for now. As it stands we’ll have to just wait and see what happens as far as a solution goes.

How do you think the weight cutting issue can be solved? Can it be solved?

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.

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UFC To Introduce Stricter Weight Cutting Policy Prior To UFC 200

Weight cutting has long been an issue in the sport of mixed martial arts, and it appears as if the UFC is continuing its efforts to make the process safer. A new policy will be introduced by the promotion starting during fight week of July 9’s UFC 200 that requires fighters to be within eight

The post UFC To Introduce Stricter Weight Cutting Policy Prior To UFC 200 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Weight cutting has long been an issue in the sport of mixed martial arts, and it appears as if the UFC is continuing its efforts to make the process safer.

A new policy will be introduced by the promotion starting during fight week of July 9’s UFC 200 that requires fighters to be within eight percent of their fighting weight during the week leading up to their fight.

If a fighter winds up above this percent, he or she will be checked on daily regarding health concerns, and will be required to attend weight management courses before his next fight.

Jeff Novitzky, UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance, recently explained the new rules as well:

“The only hard and fast rule in there, and I think it’s probably the most important thing in terms of the guidelines, is that 8 percent number,” Novitzky told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Via MMAWeekly). “If they’re not, it’s not in the rules the fight won’t happen, but we sure are going to pay very close attention to them, including taking daily weight, daily vitals, and as it progresses, if they show signs of being dehydrated, they will be pulled from the fight.”

This isn’t the first step the promotion has taken in order to clean up the issues, however, as the use of IV rehydration was also banned last October, a move that Novitzky says has already produced a positive impact:

“It had a very surprising side effect in that it helped curtail extreme weight cuts,” said Novitzky. “You also see a whole bunch of fighters employing the services of nutritionists, so they are being smart about managing their weight. And the UFC is trying to provide as much as we can for the fighters that can’t afford a nutritionist. We’ve consulted with experts who have told us, ‘Hey, here’s the optimal things you want to be eating or drinking 24 hours before your fight, after the weigh in.’ So we provide that for the fighters.”

What do you make of the UFC’s enhanced action against extreme weight cutting?

The post UFC To Introduce Stricter Weight Cutting Policy Prior To UFC 200 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Johny Hendricks Hospitalized While Cutting Weight, Woodley Fight Scratched From UFC 192


(What an absolutely shocking development. There is literally no way we could have seen this coming.)

We’re just a few minutes out from the UFC 192 weigh-ins, and we’ve already seen our first casualty.

Yes, it appears that the weight-cutting woes of former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks have taken a far more serious turn, as “Bigg Rigg” was forced out of his co-main event title eliminator against Tyron Woodley earlier today after being hospitalized during the weight cutting process.

Details after the jump.

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(What an absolutely shocking development. There is literally no way we could have seen this coming.)

We’re just a few minutes out from the UFC 192 weigh-ins, and we’ve already seen our first casualty.

Yes, it appears that the weight-cutting woes of former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks have taken a far more serious turn, as “Bigg Rigg” was forced out of his co-main event title eliminator against Tyron Woodley earlier today after being hospitalized during the weight cutting process.

Hendricks, who parted ways with nutritionist Mike Dolce earlier this year, was rushed to the emergency room last night and had to be given an IV after suffering a blockage in his intestine and a kidney stone.

“The weight was coming off fine and then yesterday my body just started to shut down,” Hendricks said in an interview with MMAFighting. “Then yesterday my body just started to shut down. When it hit that point, I tried to push through it, and well, it didn’t go well because then I had to go to the ER.”

The news was first broke by Dana White via Twitter and later confirmed by Ariel Helwani.

Hendrick’s opponent is understandably perturbed by the news.

I’m frustrated, obviously. I’m always trying to look for the lesson in things and positive signs. I believe things happen for a reason. I’m counting this as a loss for him. You got to make the weight. I’m sitting here at weight, wired, ready to wage war and now I’m not going to get that opportunity.

Hopefully, I’m compensated accordingly because this shouldn’t be a strike against me.

And as it just so happens, Woodley will be *heavily* compensated in the form of a title shot against the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit at UFC 193. The flyweight fight between top contenders Ali Bagautinov and Joseph Benavidez will also be bumped up to the UFC 192 main card as a result of the Hendricks-Woodley cancellation.

As for Hendricks? Well, you’ve gotta assume that a temporary move up to 185 is in his future, ala Kelvin Gastelum. And it looks like Hendricks might actually be in agreement.

“I think I have to lose more fat or move up,” he said. “We might move up to 185, but I want to get home and start testing myself on body fat and try to work it down and see if that’s going to work in a mini weight cut. Then that’s when I can really focus on what’s next. If it doesn’t go go good, then it’s 185 for sure. I still enjoy fighting, just not the weight cut.”

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