Joe Rogan’s worry confirmed as side affects of Alex Pereira’s 40-pound weight cut gets revealed
The dangers of Alex Pereira's 40-pound cut for a UFC middleweight fight reiterated by Teixeira MMA & Fitness' Plinio Cruz.
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Alex Pereira's 40-pound drop for UFC middleweight fight posed its dangers (Source: IMAGO/X)
Avid nerds of Frank Herbert/Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi ‘Dune’ series or actor Timothée Chalamet know water is the biggest commodity. Well, that…and UFC/MMA enthusiasts. Cutting down on hydration just does not take out water from the body. It takes out body fluid from organs as well. What results is a hard-scramble egg that goes to fight. UFC champ Alex Pereira once had such a fate at middleweight.
Alex “Poatan” Pereira went on an intense rivalry transition with Israel Adesanya, back in his middleweight days. Hydrating at a much higher body weight, the last of the matches saw a skeletal “Poatan” on the official scales. The Brazilian won at UFC 281, but lost to Adesanya at UFC 287 PPV. Now, coach/translator Plinio Cruz talks about his weight-cut struggles which saw him once drop 40 instead of the usual 20.
With Izzy, he had to cut weight right 20 pounds….in one night…he started ticking up naturally because the grappling training got you stronger, you know what I mean, …When he was a kickboxer, that way cut was much easier. so he was about 40 lbs heavier a month before the fights…Few weeks before the fights he diet down and then he was about 5% body fat. Got to the scale, he look at me he goes yes ’20 lbs let’s sweat’.. my opinion when you lose liquid – but the liquid from our spine in our brain is not only water. It’s thick liquid! So it kind of can affect your punch, [your] tolerance.
Plinio Cruz on ‘Jaxxon’ Podcast
Speaking on his official YouTube channel, “Poatan” said he needed to cut over 20 pounds for his short-notice pitch during the UFC 303 PPV, last June. For a guy who gained 23 pounds with diet and hard grapple in just 12 hours, it’s a hard swivel each time!
Alex Pereira did go up 22 pounds and make the 205-pound light heavyweight limit. But the torture he put through himself caught the attention of many MMA analysts/commentators, even Joe Rogan. The JRE host had once even marveled at his cutting down to natural hydration less than him during middleweight days!
With a natural of 224.8 lbs (102 kilos), back then Pereira was going around at 185 lbs (83.9 kilos); even lighter than Rogan. Those like Charles Oliveira have had similar struggles with weight cutting in camp. Team Pereira said it has had its effects with less cognition and power; something Rogan warned the combat clique about many times.
Why losing significant amount of weight in MMA feels like “dying”
Alex Pereira’s 22-pound cut for UFC 303 doesn’t seem so bad. This is especially when in comparison to the huge amount of weight he had to shed to make 185. This is why when “Poatan” teased hydrating back to middleweight levels to face Dricus Du Plessis, everyone took it as a hard pass. Even Sean Strickland said he shouldn’t. Pereira wanted to avenge him and will corner Strickland at UFC 312.
What is more, the massive weight cut also makes a fighter’s chin a lot more vulnerable. Cutting weight not only involves a calorie-restricted diet and weight conditioning, but also dehydration! Those like Rogan have been a prime proponent of better measures against it.
On average, the human body consists of 60% water. This means sweating it out rather than replacing it. It entails cutting down in hydration limit quickly by systematically avoiding water in long phases. The epidermis tightens up as the body takes away the water from the skin layers. As a result, the whole skin tightens up and edges closer to the muscle mass, leaning the figure.
But there are dangers in dehydration. When the body feels the lack of fluid beyond a limit, it takes from other sources, like organ fluids, the compression gels between joints/hinges, brain fluid, plasma, etc. It’s something that Sean O’Malley described as “You feel like you’re dying.”
After his UFC 287 knockout loss, Pereira himself needed several hands and bit on oxygen to recover. That’s quite something for such a heavy fighter. It goes to show the side effects of it quite clearly.
Related: Alex Pereira Fight Record: How many defeats does “Poatan” have in his career?
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