Routine to combat sports, a significant custom in mixed martial arts is overt weight cutting by dehydration and starvation to make weight class before a fight. Though most athletes, coaches, commentators and fans agree that weight-cutting is a necessary skill, the procedure of cutting drastic percentages of weight in a matter of days, hours even, has dangerous and lethal effects on the body.

A rise in popularity of UFC in recent years has prompted a boom in MMA training. Gyms have sprouted up across the country to meet the growing demand. A fact of life in the sport, most athletes purposely cut weight however detrimental the techniques may be because any advantage in a fight is considered worth the health risks. Some fighters lose up to 30 pounds, 15% and upwards of body mass, in a matter of days to make target weight. The process has become like a science, and you can readily find tips and secrets from fighters and experts splashed across MMA websites, magazines, forums and blogs.

MMA fighter Duane Ludwig told MMAfighting.com, “I’m not giving away all my secrets. But water loading is big. I drink about a gallon of water a day, and train the body to [pee] regularly. Then once the weigh-in is coming up, I stop drinking water — but my body is still [peeing].”

Other regular methods used by MMA professionals, men and woman both, include fluid restriction, diuretics, extensive fasting, overheating, vomiting, laxatives and profuse perspiration. Overwhelmingly, health experts agree that rapid, significant weight cutting is unhealthy and potentially deadly. Inherent dangers include dehydration, impaired muscle recovery, cardiac complications, impaired normal growth and development, hormone alteration, kidney damage or failure, decreased immune function and of course, death. Extreme dehydration can deplete protective bodily fluids that surround the brain, one of the most vital organs in need of protection during combat. But the strength and size gained by being able to downgrade just one weight class is still enough for fighters to credit the effort.

In 1997, three college wrestlers died of dehydration due to weight cutting, one of whom died from heart and kidney failure attempting to lose 12 pounds in one day. This brought the act to national attention, and since then, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has taken steps to reduce health risks by banning techniques like training in room temperatures greater than 80 degrees, extensive food and fluid restrictions and self-induced vomiting.

Some MMA platforms have taken steps to educate and advise athletes and followers. MMAJunkie.com provides an “Ask the Fight Doc” section, in which Dr. Johnny Benjamin advises on health concerns in MMA, much of it centering on the issue of weight cutting.

Dr. Benjamin comments, “As I have written before, I am no fan of weight cutting. It is unhealthy, dangerous and potentially deadly.”

He further cites, “Despite many wrestlers’ knowledge and history […], the practice still remains potentially very dangerous, especially in teenagers. Rapid, significant weight-cutting may place vital organs (especially kidneys and the brain) at risk, can negatively affect performance […], and has been associated with more than a few deaths of otherwise healthy young athletes.”

Some critics focus on the disregard for rehydration and athleticism. Weight cutting obviously can hinder performance because the athlete enters a fight dehydrated. Martial arts expert and grapplearts.com creator, Stephen Kestling, writes for MMAfighting.com, “Trying to function at a high level athletically while dehydrated is basically impossible, so the bigger the weight cut the more important it becomes that re-hydration is done properly. Weight cutting via dehydration is only really feasible when there is a long recovery time between the weigh-in and the actual competition.”

Weight differentials between opponents defeat the purpose of weight classes. Better fighters can end up losing to bigger fighters because he or she couldn’t cut 20 pounds.

“If everyone just showed up and fought at their ‘walking-around weight’ then competition would be more about skill, technique and athleticism and less about the ability to cut weight and recover from it,” Kestling writes.

While many high school and collegiate sports divisions require tests that check urine for dehydration and bodies for appropriate BMIs, the realm of MMA is practically boundless for regimens to make weight. As MMA entices a greater following, so too does the practice of weight cutting illicit warnings from critics. Both medical and martial arts experts weigh in; weight-cutting is unhealthy and unfair.

Sources:

MMAJunkie.com:

• http://mmajunkie.com/news/17543/ask-the-fight-doc-did-nate-diaz-raise-legitimate-concerns-about-rapid-weight-cutting.mma

MMAFighting.com:

• http://www.mmafighting.com/2008/09/30/duane-ludwig-on-cutting-weight-for-mma-train-the-body-to-piss/

Fighting-mma.com:

• http://www.fighting-mma.com/grappling-arts/cutting-weight.php

Ironlife.com:

• http://www.ironlife.com/mag/issue2/cutting.html

SilverchipsOnline:

• http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/2954

Ussportshypnotyst.com:

• http://ussportshypnotist.com/cutting_weight.htm

Thebloodyelbow.com:

• http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/2/15/1311633/the-negative-health-effects-of

Pbs.org:

• http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/girlwrestler/cutting_weight.html