Another death from weight cutting - 18 year old Jessica Lindsay

Just read this. So sad. Condolences to her friends and family.
 
Weight cutting is so stupid. And it is even sadder that fighters take pride in doing it.
 
It seems like news reports of deaths due to weight cutting are becoming more frequent, and now even amateur competitors are succumbing to it as well. At the very least, I hope this discourages more people from trying to drain themselves to fight well below their natural weight.
 
Weight cutting is so stupid. And it is even sadder that fighters take pride in doing it.
Getting punched and kicked in the head is pretty stupid though to begin with. Weight cutting is encouraged and expected in pretty much all fight sports, which is the real problem. Shit I remember Wrestling in Middle School kids were having to weight cut.
 
the problem is when you have an incompetent team that allows you to cut a lot of weight in short periods of time in every fight
 
An 18 year old girl, truly tragic :( I'm guessing she went running in the heat in saran wrap and heavy clothing like Coe. Having trouble cutting to 64kg she must have been a real amazon too, maybe the next Jorina Baars. RIP.
 
I don't think it has been ridiculously hot here in Australia yet either.

Very sad news to hear. RIP.
 
Something has to be done about this weight cutting bullshit.

I met 'The Caveman' Rickles at a bar in Wichita KS (he lives and trains in Derby, a suburb of Wichita) and was shocked to see he was around 210 pounds, and he fights at 155. I asked him about it and he said he's extremely careful to lose the necessary amount per week throughout his training camp to the final week of weight cutting not a problem. But, there's several fighters he knows of that are very careless.

There's a smart way to lose/cut weight, and there's the dangerous way.
 
Sometimes this is where I have more respect for disciplines like Knockdown Karate where it's either Open Weight, or the Weight classes are so big that weight cutting isn't part of the sport.

In tournaments with weight classes you usually have -70kg, 70-80kg, and 80kg+.

Sure people might still cut a bit of weight to get to the lower bracket, but it's not the same as when there's a weight class for nearly every couple of kilos.
 
Edit: Not the right place for my comment.
 
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never cut weight alone.

where was the coach?

if your fighter has a big weight cut, you should be keeping an eye on them. my coach is there cutting weight with us, timing us, etc etc
 
No one to blame but themselves and their neurotic decisions.

Its a fukken sport that requires performance. Most importantly your health.

That's why I always prefered, BJJ weigh ins. You weigh in and expected to compete right away. You would be dumb to even think of going in depleted, under fed and overall un energized.


Not sure w/ her case but all in all, Health should be number one priority
 
for muay thai, boxing, etc. the weigh ins are usually day before. a 10 lbs cut is pretty standard and pretty easy if you know how to do it properly. going much more than that is a major pain in the ass.

i see some people cutting weight to the point they cant walk, and wanting to fight again at that weight, which is nuts.
 
Sometimes this is where I have more respect for disciplines like Knockdown Karate where it's either Open Weight, or the Weight classes are so big that weight cutting isn't part of the sport.

In tournaments with weight classes you usually have -70kg, 70-80kg, and 80kg+.

Sure people might still cut a bit of weight to get to the lower bracket, but it's not the same as when there's a weight class for nearly every couple of kilos.
I respect Karate but the kata bullshit drives me nuts. I think that's actually what hinders it from being more popular. In things like Muay thai, you can skip straight to the practical stuff.
 
I respect Karate but the kata bullshit drives me nuts. I think that's actually what hinders it from being more popular. In things like Muay thai, you can skip straight to the practical stuff.

Some Knockdown Karate dojos don't focus that much on kata though, unless you want to grade up. Some dojos also have a schedule with specific days and times for Kata vs. specific days and times for Knockdown training and sparring.

You're right that in arts like Muay Thai the focus is a lot more about actual fighting and competing without the grading, syllabus, kihon, kata etc. However it could also be said that in Muay Thai some gyms don't focus at all on any combat drills like some Karate dojos do (basic weapon training, join lock and holds, etc.)

The only real downside I see in MT vs. arts like the styles of Knockdown Karate is that because the sport of MT and the MT gyms focus a lot more on the competitive aspect of fighting, the mentality tends to be to be try to be as light and skinny as possible (going down the lowest possible weight class) vs. arts and sports like Knockdown Karate where you're very much encouraged to get bigger and stronger and possibly fighting in open weight tournaments whatever your height. This is why weight cutting is a big part of sports like MT and you have those deaths from weight cutting happening quite a lot (or fighters dying in the ring which is sometimes linked to them having drained their body and brain 24 hours before to cut down those last few kilos).

Weight cutting and going down weight classes shouldn't be encouraged, and weigh-ins should be let's say 1 hour or 2 before the actual fights, which would at least minimise that weight cutting risk (people would be stupid to try to cut a lot of weight and only have 2 hours to put the weight back on).

It's interesting to think that at my height of 5"11 in MT I'm pretty much encouraged to fight around 155 pounds or less while in Knockdown Karate it would be more about 175 pounds or more.
 
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for muay thai, boxing, etc. the weigh ins are usually day before. a 10 lbs cut is pretty standard and pretty easy if you know how to do it properly. going much more than that is a major pain in the ass.

i see some people cutting weight to the point they cant walk, and wanting to fight again at that weight, which is nuts.

Potentially having the weigh-in a couple of hours before the fight could address the weight cutting issue a bit better? People would actually fight closer to their natural weight.
 
Potentially having the weigh-in a couple of hours before the fight could address the weight cutting issue a bit better? People would actually fight closer to their natural weight.

yeah but on same say weigh ins they are usually like 6-7 hours before the fights, so guys stil cut weight, just not as much. but just a few hours before hand, would stop it for sure.
 
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