How much weight do most MMA fighters drop for the weigh in and gain back by fight night?

Question

My dad and i have had a pretty big discussion about this. i told him that its rumored that tito and chuck cut about 20 lbs for the weigh in to make 205 and usually end up around 220-230 by fight night. he is telling me its impossible and most guys only drop and gain back maybe 5 lbs. what do u think?

Answer 1

much more than 5 lbs, most of them will be about 15 lbs, but can go to 25lbs, 30lbs is a rare case and not going to have positive effect on the fighter as they will still suffer from the dehydratrion on fight day.

Their method is just to dehydrate themselves, not a real diet or anything. That's how they lose the weight fast.

Answer 2

15Lbs is the average right now.  They don't instantly gain that back but they do put a good amount back on in the 24 hours leading up to the fight.  Tito is about 230 four weeks out from his fight and is at about 220 the week of his fight.  Slowly he cuts to 205 over that week and then is back to about 215-220 come fight time.  It sounds ridiculous if you have never wrestled but if you have its very common.

Answer 3

5-8%

So yeah, 16 lbs for a 200lb-220lb fighter is pretty possible.

Keep in mind it would probably be impossible for your dad or any other normal person to move more than 5lbs, but these fighters have a lot of muscle and not a lot of fat, so they carry a lot more water than most folks.  Water can come and go relatively easy.