Why do so many fighters miss weight now compared to before?

[Here's Johnny!]

how about you just gtfo lol. AI is the best i can do, darling. my hand is already swelling up from all this weight i'm not cutting.
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So weight misses went from 1.5% to 3%.... doesn't seem drastic

 

[dipstickjimmy]

They cut more weight, low repercussions for not making weight, as long as they still win and make fights exciting missing weight will not matter much.

This is pretty bang on. Travis Lutter missed weight for a title fight and was run out of town in short order. Khamzat misses weight badly for a showcase fight against Nate Diaz and gets.....pushed to a MW title shot.

Yoel Romero misses weight for a title fight so the UFC books him for another title fight....where he misses weight again!!!! so the UFC finally......books him for a 4th Fucking Title Shot. But he makes up for it producing a real barn burner with Izzy.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

that's because a lot of those guys added glamor muscles and in general were fighting up in weight classes. josh barnett fought around that time and pissed hot plenty of times and doesn't look anything like Randleman, Coleman or Wanderlei. Ken Shamrock flat out was doing body building. It's not optimal to be built like Kimo for most people.

PEDs are not that expensive, normal people can afford them. There isn't some billion dollar PED that is billion times better than an affordable one.

it's not about roids being expensive, it's about roids being more expensive than what you're being paid. what moron is going to buy 30k of roids to get paid 10k a year? for example, The Liver King was on $11k a month worth of steroids. that's $132,000 US a year, JUST for steroids. let's cut that in half, that's still $66,000 a year for JUST steroids. no fucking ways the majority of MMA fighters can afford that with their 5k/5k and 2 fights a year. even if you cut that 66k in half again,33k is still a huge amount of money a year for the majority who aren't even making minimum wage in MMA.

what's "optimal" is different for everyone because nobody has the same genes. Brock and Carwin are both MUCH bigger than Kimo ever was and they are former UFC champions, also Ubereem would like a word. Josh Barnett just has shit genes for bodybuilding because he has wide hips and narrow shoulders, just like Sylvia. but he still looks way more in shape than the majority of the current UFC HWs. besides, what you can't see in his body you can definitely see in his performances, he's 6'4 250lbs and basically wearing everyone else out, even guys who look in better shape and are smaller than he is like Couture. Sylvia was the same, he threw over 200 strikes in a little over 6mins vs Cabbage, while being 6'8 and 260lbs. you know how insane that is? Max Holloway's record for most significant strikes in a single rd landed was 134 vs Ortega. a guy over twice as big as Max nearly kept THE SAME PACE.

where are these dadbod HWs that are doing these insane feats like Barnett or Sylvia? i'll tell you, THERE IS NONE. unless you're getting great steroids for $1k for the entire year, i don't know how else you can justify getting THE BEST steroids with THE BEST cycles and you're getting paid less than what you're buying the roids for.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

So weight misses went from 1.5% to 3%.... doesn't seem drastic

it is drastic when you only have 12 more fights but nearly double the amount of people missing weight.

 

[Alpha_T83]

The UFC just needs to institute "cage weight" measurements. Every time a fighter walks into the cage, their weight is measured, and made public after the fight.

That way we can see how bad the problem is, and start talking about solutions. We can't even have an educated conversation if every cage weight is kept secret.

 

[CC27]

2015 - 16 misses
2016 - 22 misses
2017 - 28 misses
2018 - 29 misses
2019 - 30 misses
2020 - 46 misses
2021 - 46 misses
2022 - 30 misses
2023 - 41 misses
2024 - 39 misses
2025 - 32 misses

 

[wwkirk]

2015 - 16 misses
2016 - 22 misses
2017 - 28 misses
2018 - 29 misses
2019 - 30 misses
2020 - 46 misses
2021 - 46 misses
2022 - 30 misses
2023 - 41 misses
2024 - 39 misses
2025 - 32 misses

So, it got really bad starting in 2020 (COVID presumably), and now it's trending downwards.

What's the source for the data?

 

[CC27]

So, it got really bad starting in 2020 (COVID presumably), and now it's trending downwards.

What's the source for the data?

mmajunkie does a year end recap of stats every year.

UFC in 2025: A robust look at the stats, streaks and record-setters

A full recap of 2025's most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.

mmajunkie.usatoday.com

UFC in 2024: A ridiculously robust look at the stats, streaks, skids and record-setters

Now that the year has come to a close, and with a major assist from

mmajunkie.usatoday.com

 

[Ibm]

Because we have Heavyweight fighting at lightweight.

 

[cburm]

why do so many fighters miss weight compared to the pre-buyout days? seems like broscience guru Mike Dolce and his ilk are better at getting fighters on weight than the mulit-million dollar PI is with all it's super scientific state of the art bullshit it's alleged to have.

Its because there all trying to be smaller and smaller.. some guys can't even make 150 but they can make 155 that gets them to the belt and then theyl miss weight.

Imagine a 200 pound guy cut to 155.. rehydrates back to 195

The 155 guy is a 150 pound guy.. he gets out grappled easy by the next goat..

This is the UFC fighters dream now.. if you miss some weight cuts owell..

The joke is the weight process instead of weighing in on fight night they do it a day or 2 before.. then use iv bags and eat and rest for a day.. what's the point in that