Daniel Cormier has a weight problem. The newly fashioned light heavyweight contender has had a problem with maintaining weight for a long time, and it looks like his food demons are still haunting him. In a recent scrum, Cormier admitted that right after he heard that he would not be fighting Rashad Evans, the second thing he did was head to Popeye’s for a four piece. The first thing he did was cry. And despite the fact that he has assured everyone that he could make weight right now, this type of behavior just screams severe eating disorder. However, eating disorders are not what cause this otherwise healthy man to drink three gallons of water to wash out a bad choice of meal, it was something much more controversial than anorexia or bulimia. I’m talking of course about the infamous weight cut.
The Cormier Weight Problem
Cutting weight is a common practice in every combat sport as well as a lot of other less combative sports. The idea is relatively simple: most of what’s in your body is water, so if you need to lose a lot of weight, get all of the water out. Doing so will allow you to fight at a lower weight class, presumably filled with much smaller guys, and therefore give you an advantage (or at least expose you to less damage). The downside, which Mr. Cormier is all too familiar with due to his experience in the Olympics, is that losing too much weight too fast can get you so close to death that you can’t compete. Athletes have lost fights and even had organ failure due to a bad weight cut.
The question we have now is whether or not cutting weight will affect Cormier’s performance on Saturday at UFC 170. Even though he can make the weight, that does not necessarily guarantee that he can function at that weight. When Quinton “Rampage” Jackson notoriously cut 45 pounds in eight weeks to fight Rashad Evans, he didn’t move with the kind of strength that earned him the name Rampage. He lost in a unanimous decision because he could not keep up his usual intensity. A lack of calories will do that to a guy.
Even though Cormier isn’t fighting Evans due to Suga getting injured, he is still fighting a skilled (if inexperienced) fighter in Pat Cummings. Cormier himself even noted Cummings athleticism and endurance during his media scrum. Will Cormier be able to keep up if the fight goes the distance? Being a guy who trains at a much heavier weight and is therefore used to a larger energy store, it’s questionable. Even with more experience and possibly greater technical skill, Cormier just might get out gassed by the new guy.
The effect of the large weight cut on Cormier is a question that must be asked as he moves from the heavyweight to light heavyweight divisions.
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