Chris Weidman can relate to dilemma facing Max Holloway
Chris Weidman talks to press at the UFC Long Island workouts at the UFC Gym in New Hyde Park, New York on July 20, 2017. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
All MMA fighters cut weight. Many civilians diet.
Still, very few people in the world can relate directly to the task assigned to Max Holloway this week. Chris Weidman can.
Holloway agreed last Sunday to replace Tony Ferguson this Saturday in the lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 in Brooklyn. To make that happen, he has to weigh in at 155 pounds by 11 a.m. Friday. Exactly how much Holloway, the featherweight champion, has not been made public, but his nutritionist George Lockhart said it is tied for the biggest weight cut ever he’s ever guided.
Weidman knows what Holloway will put himself through this week. He did something similar in January 2012. He accepted a fight against Demian Maia and had 10 days to cut 32 pounds.
“I feel like it kind of takes your mind away from the fight, it’s the only thing on your mind,” Weidman said.
That’s the positive.
“In the back of your mind, you’re questioning your cardio, too,” Weidman said. “The real struggle is getting those thoughts out of your mind.”
That’s a negative.
Nurmagomedov agreed.
“Sometimes when you’re not training, you can lose your fight before the fight begins,” he said Thursday during UFC 223 media day. “You think about, ‘Wow, I have to fight with this guy, five rounds, I’m not ready.’ ”
Holloway has downplayed much of that talk, first at Wednesday’s news conference and again at Thursday’s media day. He has seemed energetic and full of personality. He deflected most questions of his weight and conditioning for the fight and has yet to reveal how many pounds he’s had to lose.
“Yeah, I have pressure. I’m taking this fight on six days’ notice, I’m the 145-pound champ,” Holloway said. “There’s pressure.”
No fighter likes cutting weight. No matter how advanced the science gets and how smart the scientists get, the work that goes into losing weight in a short amount of time never becomes an easy thing. There’s still the water-loading in the days leading up to it, followed by the short-term dehydrating. There’s still the sauna, the rubber suit, the sweatshirts and winter hats regardless of season, the hot and cold baths, the shadowboxing, the exercise bike, the treadmill, the fewer calories.
In Weidman’s case six years ago, food became the enemy.
“It went to a spoonful of peanut butter for each meal, then it went to a spoonful of peanut butter just for a day, and then it went to me realizing that I can’t think straight,” Weidman said. “It was a miserable experience.”
Staying focused on the task at the end of this foodless rainbow of misery — the fight — helped Weidman remain on course. At the time, he was climbing the ladder of the middleweight division, working his way toward a title shot. A loss to Maia may not have derailed those chances too much, given the circumstances, but Weidman saw no reason to put himself through such an ordeal to not win.
“It’s difficult, but at the time you don’t think of it like that, you just think about the positives,” Weidman said. “The whole time, I was just like, ‘I’m winning this fight.’ ”
He did. Will Holloway?
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
