UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is looking to make history on Saturday, January 19 when he makes the move to 125-pounds to take on flyweight champion Henry Cejudo in the main event of UFC on ESPN+1. Dillashaw will be looking to become the latest two-division UFC champion, joining the likes of Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, and Amanda Nunes.
Ahead of the fight, however, there has been plenty of discussion about Dillashaw’s ability to cut to the 125-pound limit for the title fight.
In a recent interview, Dillashaw and his nutritionist, Sam Calavitta of the Performance Specialist at The Treigning Lab in Orange County, California, discussed the meticulous process behind what they are calling the “most intricately executed” weight cut in MMA history.
Calavitta explained the science behind the cut in an interview with MMAjunkie.com.
“This here is probably, in combat sports, the most intricately executed and calculated-out weight cut in the history of it,” Calavitta said. “This process is not something that’s done overnight. Weight cutting in the industry has been bastardized to salt baths and sauna and starvation and dehydration for 24 hours to 48 hours, and it’s killing folks.
“There’s no calculations, there’s no metabolic process, there’s no high-grade equipment. I understood if this process was going to happen, we needed to have a certain calculated number of time to do it properly.”
According to Calavitta, Dillashaw began the training camp for UFC Brooklyn at 154 pounds with eight percent body fat.
Entering fight week, Dillashaw weighed 135 pounds, meaning he has 10 pounds to drop ahead of the fight on Saturday night but he and Calavitta are confident he will be able to hit the mark. We will see on Friday whether he is able to shed the final pounds.
UFC on ESPN+1 takes place Saturday, January 19 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event will mark the UFC’s first event under its new broadcasting partnership with ESPN.
