Why ACs should add Walkout Weigh-Ins

California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster has a busy weekend. Thursday he did the weigh ins for the best female fighters on Earth, prior to Friday’s Invicta FC 11. Friday he did the weigh ins for the best male and female fighters on Earth, prior to Saturday’s UFC 184.

He doesn’t like what he sees.

So many of the fighters getting ready to step onto the scale look like walking death, said Foster, to Lance Pugmire for the LA Times.

The dominant issue in the sport presently is the use of performance enhancing drugs, and Foster is addressing that aggressively. But he identifies weight cutting as the biggest problem in the sport today.

Foster is distributing to fighters and camps a pamphlet at weigh ins, headlined The Dangers of Cutting Weight and Dehydrating to fighters.

Foster recently issued a memo about the dangers of weight cutting, prepared by the Association of Ringside Physicians, copied at bottom. Every fighter, trainer, and official in the sport should familiarize themselves with it.

There are two issues that need to be addressed. First is the dangers of extreme weigh cutting, and second is whether or not the entire weight division system is working.

Weight divisions exist for an obvious reason – combat sports are dangerous, they are hurting games. Nothing can ever change that, nor should it. If climbing famous mountains was easy, everyone would do it, and then, what’s the point? Over 200 people have died on Everest alone; 120 of the bodies are still there. Over 135 people have died on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington alone.

Every climber though strives to take all available safety precautions. Combat sports try to do the same, and one of the fundamental precautions taken is ensuring that fighters are not too different in size.

A reasonable first step is discovering whether having weight divisions is even working at all. Athletic Commissions should weigh fighters immediately before they walk out to the cage. If they regularly find more than a weight division’s difference between fighters (typically either 10 or 15 pounds), then the entire system is failing.

If fighters are all cutting more or less as hard, and end up fairly close together in weight, then having weight divisions is working, still, and the first problem can confidently be addressed – preventing extreme cuts.

A reasonable, simple, and inexpensive first step is the Walkout Weigh-In, measuring every fighter right before he or she steps into the cage, to learn whether having weight divisions is working at all.

THE DANGERS OF CUTTING WEIGHT AND DEHYDRATING

Unhealthy and dangerous weight loss practices continue to be a serious problem in combat sports. One recent study found that 39% of MMA fighters were entering competition in a dehydrated state. Heat illness and death in athletes have already happened in the sports of wrestling and MMA.

It’s been shown that excessive weight loss, rapid weight loss, and repeated cycling of weight gain/loss causes decreased performance, hormonal imbalance, decreased nutrition, and increased injury risk. Other life-threatening problems associated with improper weight loss and dehydration include:

•Decreased Muscle Strength and Endurance: Decreased blood flow to muscles makes them work less well.

•Decreased Heart and Cardiovascular Function: The heart works harder and less efficiently.

•Reduced Energy Utilization, Nutrient Exchange and Acidosis: With decreased blood flow to tissues nutrients don’t get delivered, and the body’s waste products do not get

removed as well. A buildup of acid occurs which ch anges cells’ functions in the body.

•Heat Illness: This takes on four forms: heat cramps, heat syncope (loss of consciousness), heat exhaustion, and heat stroke (which may be fatal). Dehydration results in decreased blood flow to skin and muscles. This is followed by decreased ability to regulate body temperature. The ability to sweat becomes impaired and core body temperature can rise. This increases the threat of all of these to poorly hydrated athletes doing strenuous workouts.

•Decreased Kidney Function: Dehydration leads to decreased kidney blood flow and decreased kidney function. This contributes to the problems listed in the points here, in addition to decreased urine output, concentrated urine, and leakage of protein into the urine. (It is not known if these changes can result in permanent kidney damage.)

•Electrolyte Problems: Decreased kidney function results in imbalances of electrolytes such as unhealthy increases in potassium and sodium.

•Mood Swings and Mental Changes: All of the above contribute to increased mood swings, poor concentration and focus, disorientation and other mental changes.

•Eye Trouble: Dehydration can cause blurred vision and dry eyes.

•Increased Risk of Brain Injury: There are likely increased risks of brain bleeding and concussion.

DON’T:

•Don’t use extreme methods for making weight such as excessive heat methods (rubberized suits, steam rooms, saunas), excessive intense bouts of exercise, vomiting, laxatives and diuretics.

•Don’t use dehydration as a mainstay of making weight. In addition to the above, it puts you at risk of improper rehydration techniques when, in reality, proper re-hydration takes several hours to days. (Many cases intravenous fluids being used for rehydration after weigh-ins have been reported – this is a doping violation with several organizations.)

DO:

•Commit to year-round proper diet and training for proper weight control and body composition.

•By maintaining your weight year round near an appropriate competition weight and not competing in a weight class outside your appropriate weight class you will help avoid large swings in weight.

•Maintain a good state of hydration by drinking fluid throughout the day and staying hydrated during workouts.

•Follow nutritional programs that meet your needs for adequate amounts of calories from a balanced diet high in healthy carbohydrates, the minimum requirement of fat, and appropriate amounts of protein.

•Be wary of nutritional supplements as they are not regulated by the FDA and some have been shown to be harmful.

For more information visit: associationofringsidephysicians.org