The Crusade to End Extreme Weight Cutting

LONDON -- The Hilton London Canary Wharf had the same frenetic feel every fighter hotel seems to have on the eve of weigh-in day, as the athletes who were scheduled to compete at UFC Fight Night “Manuwa vs. Anderson” tried to rid themselves of a final few pounds before hitting the scales.

Jeff Novitzky, vice president of athlete health and performance for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, shared a few words with various fighters as they made their way to and from a workout area. In wake of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s high-profile withdrawal from UFC 209 on March 4, Novkitzky and the UFC are trying harder than ever to eradicate extreme weight cuts from the sport.

“My concern, first and foremost, is for the safety of the fighter,” he told Sherdog.com. “Anytime a situation like [Nurmagomedov’s] comes up, we have to evaluate what we are doing and whether we are doing enough. We have seen dramatic improvements with weight management so far and the amount of weight that is being cut by our athletes during fight week. When fighters check in for fight week, the first thing we do when they get off the plane is put them on the scales to see where they’re at. I’ve been accumulating those numbers ever since I started with UFC a couple of years ago. Because of the ban on the IVs, really, the whole weight management issue was brought to my attention very quickly.

“We’ve reached out to different experts all over the world who specialize in fields like dehydration so we can educate our fighters and explain why certain things are not good for them,” Novitzky added. “It’s important that they are aware of the short- and long-term effects of extreme cuts and how it will inevitably affect their performance if they continue to use extreme methods. Since I’ve been accumulating the numbers, there has been a significant drop off in those kinds of weight-cutting methods. UFC 209 was a perfect example of that. The fighters really didn’t have a lot of weight to lose for the card, but when you have a high-profile pullout like Khabib, those things tend to be overlooked.”

Novitzky remains confident that the UFC’s Performance Institute will help weight management education spread throughout the sport. With nutrition experts only really available to fighters with the most financial resources, he claims the new campus will grant all UFC competitors access to similar consultations at no cost of their own. Novitzky hopes UFC fighters will become further enlightened at the campus and take what they have learned back to their respective teams -- a development that could facilitate broader education on weight management across MMA.

“I’m really excited about the new campus that we will be opening in Las Vegas,” he said. “It should be open next month, and it’s going to include a performance unit. The facility will have the latest and greatest training equipment. There will also be two full-time nutritionists on the staff. That’s going to allow us to bring in our athletes, whether it’s at the beginning of their training camp or at the end of their training camp.

“We are hoping that we can provide them with information on where their weight should be four weeks out, two weeks out, etcetera,” Novitzky added. “We won’t only be telling them where their weight should be; we will also be explaining how they can get their weight down with nutrition plans. This will be completely free for all the fighters to avail of.”

There has been contentious debate surrounding the pros and cons of putting more regulations in place to discourage fighters from engaging in extreme weight cuts. While some have proposed rules that would allow fighters to gain only a certain amount of weight after stepping on the scales, Novitzky shot down the idea.

“We talk about different things we can do to help the weight management situation every day,” he said. “A proper approach is a measured approach. There is no point in throwing out a million new rules. There has been a lot of talk about restricting how much weight a fighter can put on after they weight in. I think we need to pump the breaks on that because the idea of restricting how much food or liquid a fighter can put into his or her body is horrifying.

“California has just announced that they will put a new clause in their contracts,” Novitzky added. “Now, if a fighter misses weight, they will have a percentage of their win and show money taken away, instead of just having their show money taken away. I don’t think anything is off the table at this point. We’ve seen positive direction with regard to how much weight is being lost by fighters, but we still never want to see things happen like they did with Khabib at UFC 209. There is still a lot of work to do in that area.”

Another suggested solution involves adding more weight classes. Cristiane Justino’s documentary in 2016 made headlines due to the graphic footage involved with her weight cut; and the BBC last week released a short film following English fighter Dean Garrett and his attempts to cut nine kilograms before a bout.

“Just look at what’s happened over the last three months with the female divisions,” Novitzky said. “We’ve had some experimentation with the 125-pound class, and we’ve had the introduction of the featherweight division. We’ve seen a lot of activity in this specific area, and again, it’s something we talk about on a daily basis in the office. I wouldn’t rule out more divisions being added going forward. A concern I do have is if we put in more divisions is if some fighters will see a reachable division open up below the weight class they currently fight in. I would have some concerns that it could lead to even greater weight cuts for some of our athletes.”