Anthony Pettis missing weight for tomorrow night’s UFC 206 card is the news of the day in MMA. Being the first time he missed weight in his career, it shocked a lot of fans, who wanted answers, and Pettis gave them to MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani. Probably the most intriguing part of Pettis’s comments to Helwani is that he claims he arrived in Toronto on Tuesday at 153 lbs., which would have seemingly put him well on his way to making 145 lbs. on Friday morning. But he got down to 146.5 lbs. before he stopped sweating and developed a number of severe symptoms that required he be rehydrated a bit before weighing in.
“It was a team call,” said the former lightweight champion. “My body just wouldn’t let go of that extra weight. It’s just one those things. We did everything right beforehand, everything was on point. My body just gave out. I had nothing left to give. […] In the end, we decided that my career and health are more important than those two extra pounds.” Apparently, the symptoms that really started worry came when his body temperature shot up, he got lightheaded, started gagging repeatedly, was unable to properly manage his breathing, and was getting bad acid reflux.
It would get better when he was able to lower his body temperature, only for the symptoms to come roaring back when he tried to break a sweat again. “It was definitely a different feeling,” he said. “I’ve never felt like that in my life.” Pettis wasn’t sure if he would stay at featherweight, deciding to look at the situation later since he felt he did all of the right things to cut the weight.
Pettis has been using the somewhat controversial Lou “Loutrition” Giordano for nutrition counseling in this camp. Giordano also works with Johny Hendricks, who missed weight in his last fight at UFC 200. There had been some concern from fans when the first episode UFC 206 Embedded showed Giordano allowing Pettis to treat himself to steak and eggs at his favorite local steakhouse a week or so before the fight. of the MMA reporter Iain Kidd, who is writing a book about weight cutting with George Lockhart, currently the most prolific nutritionist in MMA, tweeted these thoughts on Pettis missing weight:
First Hendricks, now Pettis. This is why fighters should NOT trust their weight cut to random bros who own supplement companies. #UFC206
— Iain Kidd (@iainkidd) December 9, 2016
Not surprised Pettis' body gave out. His nutritionist is on record as depleting the body weeks out. That causes body to retain salts & water
— Iain Kidd (@iainkidd) December 9, 2016
Managing the body's vasopressin & aldosterone levels is vital for a weight cut. A lot of these guys don't even know what they are. https://t.co/X3JaTU75aB
— Iain Kidd (@iainkidd) December 9, 2016
Giordano rose to prominence last year after Eddie Gordon, up to that point at thick, boxy middleweight, showed up for his fight ripped and weighing in at 183 lbs. without cutting and water or starving himself. Neither man gave much detail of the preparation other than that Gordon had to send Giordano photos of all of his meals and snacks for approval before eating. It was just a few weeks before he had skeptics, though, as in an interview for Bloody Elbow, he gave a rambling answer a question from Zane Simon about the ban on I.V. rehydration that worried some readers.
