Létourneau says he struggled to make weight at UFC 193. Photo: Disclosure/UFC
In recent months, athletic commissions in the United States have been taking measures to avoid brutal weight cuts for MMA fighters before their fights. And former UFC strawweight title challenger Valerie Létourneau gave a report that justifies the new procedures adopted.
The Canadian, who challenged the champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in November last year, he reported that he suffered absurdly to reach the 52,1 kg necessary to validate the fight for the title. She stated that she had to lose a huge amount of water at the last minute, which caused serious problems for her performance the next day (she ended up defeated in the judges' decision).
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“So far, the lowest weight I've ever made the day before my fight was 57,6kg, which means I have to cut out 5,5kg of water. That's a lot for a 57kg body. It's just water you take out of your body. After you cut out 5 kg of water, it is difficult to drink water. Just drinking water makes everything hurt inside. You get so sucked in by dehydration… I lost muscle, my body fat was very low. I couldn't go any lower: only if I ripped off an arm or a leg. I want to train hard and everything, but the weight cut was killing me”, said the fighter, in an interview with the website of the North American broadcaster “FOX Sports”.
Despite the difficulty, Létourneau stated that he would rather risk his health and fight at strawweight than face difficulties against bigger fighters in the upper division (where he fought in his first appearances in the UFC). “I wouldn't be very competitive at 61 kg, because I'm too small for the category. I lose muscle mass at 52 kg, but I wouldn't be top 5 at 61. I prefer to go down to 52 and not perform 100%, because I know that I would still perform better than at 61 kg”, she commented.
Due to some problems faced by athletes before weigh-ins, including the death of a fighter at ONE FC, the North American athletic commissions adopted two important measures: first, it prohibited the replacement of fluids through hydration with intravenous serum; later, the California Commission ordered the weigh-in to take place 30 hours before the event to allow fighters more time to rehydrate.
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