MAKING THE CUT

The intense shredding of pounds in the days and hours before a fight, known as the ‘cut’, is thought of by fighters as the most draining part of the job. But despite dangers, it remains central to combat sports. MH spoke to fighters, coaches and commentators to find out why.

Words by Joel Snape

IT’S 9.15 ON A THURSDAY NIGHT.

Connor ‘The Paradox’ Patterson is on an exercise bike, wearing a sweat suit. In a few minutes, when the gym he’s in closes for the night, he’ll jump in a hot bath in his hotel room, then get out and wrap himself in towels to keep the sweat flowing. Twelve hours from now, he’ll – briefly – weigh 66kg as he steps on the scale to make weight for his fight against Jake McHugh, who’s been doing more or less the same thing for the past couple of days. As soon as they’re done, both men will start eating and drinking again, and in 46 hours, they’ll fight – both stepping into the cage several kilos heavier.

Weight cutting – the art of temporarily draining the body’s stores of water and glycogen for a pre-fight weigh-in – has been a part of combat sports pretty much since the Amateur Boxing Association introduced weight divisions in the 1880s. It’s distinct from normal dieting in that it’s temporary by design – fighters might count calories in the weeks and months before a bout, but the ‘cut’ all takes place in the last days and hours, and is followed by an intense period of rehydration and refuelling. It’s an elaborate dance between officials trying to make bouts as fair and safe as possible, and fighters looking for every advantage they can get. But, considering that no fighter actually wants to cut weight, and no doctor would ever recommend taking punches to the face after a bout of dehydration, is there really no better system?

THE SWEET SCIENCE

Let’s start with a quick history lesson. In boxing, early bouts featured same-day weigh-ins – which made cutting risky and recovery almost impossible – and the system was open to abuse. Joe Gans, the world lightweight champion from 1902 to 1908, was, at one point, forced to weigh in at the ringside, wearing his full fight gear before his opponent would take the bout. He then fought 42 rounds in the scorching Nevada sun. Boxing wouldn’t shift to day-before weigh-ins, which give athletes more time to safely rehydrate, until almost 80 years later in the 1980s.

Like the first boxing bouts, UFC events had no weight classes – and very few rules – but when heavyweight and lightweight divisions (under and over 200lbs) were introduced for the organisation’s twelfth event, fighters quickly realised that there were advantages to tightening their belts. ‘I think it probably started when the college wrestlers began coming in,’ says Brad Wharton, play-by-play commentator and talent development manager for Cage Warriors. ‘Look at Mark Coleman – he’s not huge compared to a heavyweight of today, but at the time he was about 240lbs of pure horsepower. A lot of guys started thinking, well, I can deal with an out-of-shape guy that size, but not when it’s all muscle. So, they started cutting to avoid guys like him.’