On Wednesday night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Ronda Rousey’s fighter, Anthony Gutierrez, failed to make weight for his fight vs. David Grant and was disqualified. Gutierrez struggled in the last few hours and eventually quit, still over the weight limit and was promptly sent home by UFC president Dana White.
Rousey apologized to White and was determined to make weight early to prove a point. Team Rousey member, Jessamyn Duke, blogged about Rousey’s weight loss to the Bleacher Report.
“She jumped on the scale after Anthony missed weight and was 152 pounds. Without any sort of prep (diet, water loading, sodium loading/cutting, etc.) jumped in the sauna and was in there for FIVE hours before it was time to go to the coaches challenge. Yes, Ronda Rousey cut weight in the sauna for five hours, went to a rock climbing challenge, won, and then went BACK to the sauna that night and cut some more … She did this to prove a point … Cutting weight is mental. You can’t use screwing up your diet or your water loading as an excuse. If you miss weight, it’s because you mentally broke. The fact that she pulled this off really showed that Ronda is on another level mentally. It was inspiring and motivating to see this happen in front of me. It made me realize that I never have to be afraid of missing weight… you just have to be mentally strong and never give up. Unfortunately, Anthony gave up.”
The next day, Rousey stepped on the scale during the weigh in for the final women’s fight and was 135 pounds. 152lbs to 135lbs in 24 hours.
There are healthy ways to cut weight, which boxers and MMA fighters follow proper guidelines to do, but 17lbs in one day does seem like quite a bit.