the essential
The other fight of the 16 professional fighters of the Hexagone MMA event this Saturday evening, in Toulouse, was weight loss. Some have resorted to “cutting”, a process which allows them to lose several kilos in a day.
It’s one of the moments they dread. Yesterday morning, the 16 fighters who will compete in Toulouse in a bustling Palais des Sports during the Hexagon MMA 18, this Saturday evening, went on the scales. And it’s all a matter of a few grams. Only one was not up to weight.
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“It’s something that happens during events. Generally, the two parties agree on a catchweight, that is to say a fight outside the weight categories,” explains Jérôme Pourrut, the president of the organization. Following a diet to the letter is not enough. To successfully appear on the scale according to the rules relating to their category, many fighters resort to “weight-cutting”, an intense weight loss process.
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“This is dehydration which takes place in the 24 hours preceding the weigh-in. The fighter tries to lose as much water as possible. In order to achieve this, he will take hot baths, do a sauna, go running with a sweat suit or use the ‘sarcophagus’ technique, by wrapping yourself in wet sheets”, explains Pauline Sériot, referring doctor in MMA combat. They then have 36 hours to regain the lost pounds. According to the practitioner, this is “never good” for the fighter’s health. “It’s something ancestral. This technique allows them to be heavier in the cage and cause more damage. Only one organization in the world prohibits it. One of its fighters died in 2015,” adds -she.
“I no longer put my health at risk…”
All MMA athletes know the risks of this very physically demanding process of losing and regaining weight. Mathieu Chaumont, Hexagone MMA fighter, used it for half of his fights. From 86 kg, he went to 77. “When I do it, I feel bad. It hits my body, I have a stomach ache. It damages my body more than fighting. Once, I I couldn’t eat afterwards to gain weight, I had to drink 8 liters of coke and eat loads of sweets. Now, I prefer to fight against a guy weighing less than 84 kg who doesn’t do cutting. , as I will do on Saturday evening”, assures the Toulouse resident.
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Alix Jean-Guillaume, also a fighter for the French organization, cut for the last time 10 years ago. “I felt very bad. Nothing was going well. I no longer wanted to put myself in danger. I fight opponents who are heavier than me but that’s not a problem, I have the used to do it in training,” he says. The end of the weigh-in was a relief for the fighters after weeks of deprivation.
