Recently there has been a buzz that not only did José Aldo retain his title at UFC 163 against the Korean Zombie with a foot broken in the first round but apparently he had kidney stones going into the bout too. It should be noted Jung broke everything on his body during the fight too. Besides the combined sympathy and awe this feat has inspired from those who have experienced these jagged piss rocks from hell it has also re-illuminated the topic of Aldo’s weight cut.
The idea of him moving up in weight has been thrown about both by himself and his fans for some time. For reasons based both in practicality and eager anticipation. Many people believe he could be a champion at lightweight too, myself included. This incident has in many peoples’ minds notched another mark in the column of practicality because everyone seems to understand kidney stones seem to have something to do with hydration and so does weight cutting. I am no doctor but decided to offer up a little more information.
Kidney stones are not a “one problem, one solution” type of issue. It is rare that anything in life ever is; but with kidney stones they are typically very different depending on the patients’ diet. Various types of diseases or illness are also contributing factors but in smaller numbers. The tests they are running on José will determine the type of stones he has and the proper treatment and diet to help correct the issue. The question is though; has his weight cutting caused the issue and going forward will it prevent him from fighting at featherweight in the future?
The short answer is that no, his day of weigh-in dehydration did not cause his kidney stones. The constant confusion and stress does not help his kidneys and may have made them more susceptible, but kidney stones don’t form in one day and are a progressive issue. The longer they are untreated the worse they get. If you expand the idea of weight cutting further back into his fight camp, into the weeks and months before of constant training and restrictive diet the idea becomes more persuasive. This is where the kidney stones probably came from. He is a professional MMA fighting champion and as such has a restrictive in camp diet. These diets are typically high in protein and vegetables with a smattering of various supplements to make sure his body can be as high functioning as possible for training. The kicker of it is, although this is considered a relatively healthy diet it is also an environment that helps cause kidney stones. High protein diets focusing on both animal proteins and nuts have been linked to increased occurrences of kidney stones. Same with vegetables, especially leafy greens like spinach have been connected to a higher chance of kidney stone formation. Compound this with concentrated levels of vitamins and minerals coming from supplements that your kidneys need to filter, it is no surprise that Aldo’s kidneys developed stones.
Then we get to the training itself. Being active is good for kidney stone prevention and you would think at this point Aldo’s camp would know to keep him well hydrated but under the circumstances of constant training simply being well hydrated is not enough. Even though they are making sure his body takes in enough water to function well they may not take into account the amount he sweats out during training. This loss of water may still cause a super saturation of the urine in the kidneys. If he is not peeing every few hours his kidneys are not receiving enough water to dilute the solid waste the kidneys have filtered out. Output in the form of urine is almost as important as the impute of water itself. It is in fact a little surprising more fighters do not have this issue considering they seem to lead a lifestyle that is tailor made for kidney stone formation.
So what does this all mean for Aldo’s future? He should strongly consider moving up. Kidney stones are a problem he may have had before and if not they will be an issue he will probably need to deal with in the future. At the very least clearly the extra cut is trauma that both his body and kidneys do not need. We all remember his disastrous weight cut for UFC 129 and his fight with Mark Hominick. This at the very least will make the weight cut even harder and José is only getting older. He has always planned on moving up in weight and now may be the time before he develops real kidney problems. It is not like he would lose fans; a move up to 155 would be seen as both intelligent and exciting. If we are lucky we could see Aldo face Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title while the feather weight division holds a four-man tournament composed of Cub Swanson, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar and Ricardo Lamas to crown their next king.
Whether the weight cutting did or did not cause the kidney stones, they will provide Aldo no help in the future in making weight and this should be taken as a sign to move on and look for new challenges.
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