A UFC Atlanta hunter with experience that sheds excessive weight, sees potential problems in Paddy Pimblett and the future of Kayla Harrison.
Weight cut remains one of the biggest unsolved problems of mixed martial arts, in which hunters risk their bodies days to reach the cage to hit division limits.
The subject was prominent at the beginning of June before the victory of Kayla Harrison on Julianna Pena on UFC 316. The double Olympic champion made the championship of 135 pounds of 135 pounds for the first time.
Harrison committed himself to Bantam weight to participate in the UFC, after he won her two PFL titles as lightweight. That is the American left with an incredibly difficult and debilitating weight area.
The discussion gets comparable attention when Pimblett competes, because of the drastic fluctuation of the scouser in weight between fighting. While he competes for 155 pounds, Pimblett has admitted that he will get more than 200 pounds after attacks.
Paul Craig speaks from experience in warning to Paddy Pimblett and Kayla Harrison
Another hunter who has been vocal in discussing their experience to reduce weight is slightly heavyweight veteran Paul Craig.
The Scotsman will return to 205 pounds at the UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Atlanta after a period of middleweight. Craig carried out a large cut to fall in weight and he admits that the decision took a big toll on his body.
Craig unveiled some of the physical problems he had as a result of cutting the weight during a recent interview with Talksport MMA, warning both Harrison and Pimblett for similar issues.
“If you look at Paddy Pimblett, he gets an eating disorder where he bings and he puts balloon on, and then he gets all the way back,” said Craig. “When I think of my own career, I think of the negative effects that made middleweight on my body.
“Some things that happened to me: we regularly had to get blood tests because our testosterone levels were low. My white blood cells were low, so we couldn't fight against infections, and I had something like a cold if a cold would have had flat.
“That is what I do and I only made middle weight four times, I only did that four times within two years,” Craig added. “Then I think of boys like Paddy Pimblett who repeatedly did this in his career. I think that will have a huge impact in terms of the lifetime of his career.
“As he gets older, this gets a bit harder. The body starts to slow down a bit and it will be much more difficult these coming years. The same for Kayla Harrison, it will come to a point where her body will be like:” No, we can't do this, your muscle mass is too big. “
Kayla Harrison admits that UFC 316 weight broken almost led to its retirement
Those comments will probably not come as a surprise for Harrison, who has made it clear that she is well aware of the dangerous and physical demanding practice that she performs to compete with Bantam weight.
And it became so difficult for the former Judoka prior to UFC 316 that Harrison even retired.
“I'm not going to lie to you. On Friday morning I thought about retiring on Saturday night,” Harrison told Luke Thomas. “It requires part of your soul.
“It costs a lot out of you, but it also builds a piece of you that I have talked about it again. I will never be able to do it justice or explain it. I have no words for it.”
With that in mind, Harrison may not have many fights on 135 pounds before her body pushes back against her stint in the division.
In all respects, the newly crowned Bantamweight queen will have at least one and a long-awaited collision with her former teammate Amanda Nunes.