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Sunday, Sep 07, 2014

Report: “Big” John McCarthy Says Weight Cutting a “Huge Problem” in MMA

Renan Barao (photo via UFC / ZUFFA)

By FCF Staff

“Big” John McCarthy has spent much of the last two decades studying mixed-martial-arts, and following UFC 177, the renowned referee has weighed in on the issue of weight cutting.

UFC 177 saw both Renan Barao and Henry Cejudo removed from the card, after each fighter experienced complications while cutting weight. McCarthy appeared on a recent episode of “The MMA Hour”, and here is some of what he had to say about the contentious issue:

“I don’t think fighters are truly educated as to exactly what they are doing to themselves, and I mean doing to themselves over the long term of their life,” McCarthy said. “You know, the weight thing is a huge problem in everything that it’s involved in, be it wrestling or MMA — any time someone is losing the weight that some of these guys do, draining their body of fluids, the electrolytes, it’s a problem for everybody involved. Not just the fighter, but the promoter and the promotion itself because you have situations where fighters don’t make weight…”

“One of the things that we’re learning is, we don’t get a lot of heavy fighters, fighters that don’t cut weight, having traumatic brain injuries. But we do have a lot of lighter fighters who cut a lot of weight. They’re the ones that end up being our problem. And a lot of it we’re learning is because of dehydration and them cutting weight. They lose water, they try and replenish the water, they try to replenish the electrolytes in their body. Everything in our body is made of water basically. And when it drains it doesn’t come back in the same form and function that it was before you drained it. It takes time…”

Barao was scheduled to rematch bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw on August 30th, while Cejudo was supposed to make his UFC debut versus Scott Jorgensen.

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 3:01 pm
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