The Effects of Weight Cutting
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While weighing in for her upcoming UFC fight Julija Stoliarenko ended up fainting TWICE. Stoliarenko made the contested weight but was obviously deemed medically unfit to compete.
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What is weight cutting: To get a competitive edge athletes are required to “cut weight” which means to temporarily dehydrate themselves to “make weight” and rehydrate themselves prior to the bout.
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Effects of dehydration on the brain:
During severe acute dehydration the osmolality of extracellular fluid increases and decreases blood volume in the brain. The brain will compensate by increasing CSF volume (Kempton 2007).
“Increased CSF volume could allow the brain to move further in the cranium following a blow to the head, this increasing deceleration forces as the brain impacts the cranium. Rapid deceleration of the brain can cause confusion injuries (Besenski 2002).”
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Rehydration: In mixed martial arts a fighter gets approximately 24 hours to rehydrate, with the goal to replenish all of the lost water. In a study Jetton found that 39% of MMA fighters were considered still dehydrated by the time of the fight.
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While more research would need to be done to determine the hydration levels of elite fighters it is clear that competing in a compromised state will put the athlete at a higher risk for injury.
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Organizations such as @onechampionship have altered their weigh-ins to include hydration tests so it is impossible to perform classic weight cuts.
States such as California are attempting to reduce drastic weight cuts by recommending fighters move up a weight class if they gain >10% of their fight weight by the time they compete.
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References
1️⃣Besenski N (2002): Traumatic injuries: Imaging of head injuries.
Eur Radiol 12:1237–1252.
2️⃣Jetton, A. M., Lawrence, M. M., Meucci, M., Haines, T. L., Collier, S. R., Morris, D. M., & Utter, A. C. (2013). Dehydration and acute weight gain in mixed martial arts fighters before competition. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(5), 1322-1326.
3️⃣Kempton, M. J., Ettinger, U., Schmechtig, A., Winter, E. M., Smith, L., McMorris, T., … &