Converting 45 Pounds to Kilograms: Can a Fighter Safely Drop 20.41 Kg?
The persistence of extreme weight cutting points directly to broken incentives within MMA weigh-in protocols. State athletic commissions still allow morning weigh-ins, giving athletes a full day to rehydrate. While originally instituted to prevent exhausted fighters from stepping into the cage minutes after stepping off a scale, early morning weigh-ins encouraged competitors to cut even larger amounts of weight.
Alternative models exist. ONE Championship adopted mandatory hydration testing using urine specific gravity checks alongside multi-day weight verification to eliminate rapid cuts. Fighters cannot register higher than 1.0250 on specific gravity scales, proving they are hydrated while hitting their division limit. The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) instituted rules tracking cage-day weight gain, recommending that fighters moving up more than 15% above their weigh-in number change divisions.
Major commissions in Nevada, New York, and Florida have been slow to follow suit. The UFC Performance Institute regularly advises fighters against shedding more than 10% of their total mass during fight week, yet contract requirements and divisional matchmaking continue to incentivize athletes to seek every perceived size advantage.