Khabib Nurmagomedov’s 2017 got off to a very rocky start when he flubbed his UFC 209 weight cut in March so badly he ended up in the hospital, losing him the chance to compete for the interim 155 pound title. After that he spent several months rehabbing his body, and he was finally re-booked against Edson Barboza at UFC 219 this Saturday. But many wondered: would he make weight this time?
I’m happy to report that Khabib did indeed make weight at the commission weigh-ins Friday morning in Las Vegas, coming in at 155.5 pounds (non-title fighters may weigh in up to a pound above their limit).
No drama today. Khabib Nurmagomedov makes weight for #UFC219 looking in fantastic shape. 155.5 lbs. pic.twitter.com/TN69EFFsVr
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) December 29, 2017
All through fight week Nurmagomedov and his team were reassuring us there would be no problem, and there wasn’t one! In fact, Khabib felt so good during this cut that he’s gone one major step further and suggested he may drop down a weight class and fight in the 145 pound featherweight division.
“We’re thinking about 145 now,” he said during a UFC 219 media event. “We’ll see about this, but, first of all I’m going to fight this fight and beat Edson Barboza, and I’m going to fight with [interim 155 champ] Tony Ferguson, and after I’m thinking about going to 145.”
https://youtu.be/Fnfs0cZ9Odg
He could just be screwing with the media as some sort of strange revenge for all the non-stop coverage his weight has received since UFC 209, but if he is, his nutritionist Tyler Minton is in on it as well.
“When a guy sees that the cut’s going really well, and you see big possible fights at 145, you think, ‘Well, are there things I could start doing two months sooner and be 10 pounds lighter to make the cut easier?’” Minton told MMA Fighting. “You start looking, ‘Are there things I could do?’ So, I think he’s seeing this weight cut’s going better and seeing maybe if he even starts sooner, it would be easier. But no, I think he means it.”
As easy as Khabib claimed the cut was, he still looked like a wax statue on the scale this morning, never mind his kidneys nearly shutting down back in March. Maybe it’s not a good idea? The current crop of MMA nutritionists are approaching mad scientist levels to shave 30+ pounds off their fighters leading up to a fight. And while Minton thinks they could hit featherweight, thank the gods he’s also questioning whether it’s a good idea.
“I think his body will do it,” Minton said. “That being said, I think he would need to have plenty of time. He would need to have the most integrity he’s ever had in his life. He’s going to have to be on his game way ahead of time. It might be worth it, it might not. Some guys, just because you can make a weight doesn’t mean you should.”
Now that Khabib has made weight, it will be interesting to see how his cardio holds up over up to 15 minutes of fighting in the cage. That’s just another factor in all this weight cutting madness. So many fighters cut massive amounts to try and get a size and strength advantage, only to find their gas tanks compromised. That’s never been an issue for Nurmagomedov when he makes it to the cage, but he also didn’t have an issue with his kidneys until he did.
