Fighters have to push their body to the limit during extreme weight cuts so that they can qualify for a lower weight class. Many have complained that the process is harder than the fight. But one UFC lightweight star shocked the MMA world by revealing he gained significant weight on fight day after cutting weight intensely just a couple of days earlier.

Ranked number 6 in the lightweight category, Paddy Pimblett returned to the spotlight nearly two months after losing his title fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 324. In his latest YouTube video from last week’s UFC London, he joined teammates preparing for their fights on the London card. Backstage, while talking with his team, one of his teammates asked him about the brutal weight cuts and how quickly he recovered.

“You’re never actually that weight,” Pimblett explained. “People think you walk around at that weight — I’m only ever 70kg for an hour or two, but I get back in the cage at 87 (191lbs)kg.”

This comes as no surprise from Pimblett, who has built a reputation for drastic weight fluctuations between fights. He has claimed in the past that he often balloons to over 200 pounds during the off-season when he is not training or preparing for a bout. Last year, after beating Michael Chandler at the UFC 314 event, Pimblett shut the mouths of critics who, from time to time, body-shamed him.

“I’d rather be fat and happy than rip them,” Pimblett said at the post-fight press conference.

While this approach works for Pimblett, extreme weight cutting carries serious health risks and can sometimes threaten a fighter’s life. UFC 324 clearly showed this danger when bantamweight Cameron Smotherman collapsed unconscious, face down, just walking off the scale, which forced Dana White and Co to cancel his fight against Ricky Turcios.

On the bright side, Smotherman will return to action on May 30 at UFC Macau, where he will face Japanese sensation Kai Asakura.

But Pimblett knows the risks and has managed them well so far. However, problems could appear in the coming years, as he is already 31. As fighters approach 35, they struggle to maintain extreme weight. For example, former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev moved up to welterweight last year. So, in the future, we could see Pimblett competing in the 170 or even 185 lbs divisions.

For now, Pimblett is focusing on the lightweight title. However, just a few weeks ago, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan raised the topic of weight cutting on his podcast and even suggested to the UFC CEO that they stop risking fighters’ lives with gruesome weight cuts.

Joe Rogan urges UFC to stop dangerous weight-cutting practices

Back in 2023, after witnessing UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira’s grueling weight cut, Rogan immediately called it “sanctioned cheating.” Yet, very few people paid any attention to the issue. Over the years, many fighters have struggled with extreme weight cuts. For example, Khabib Nurmagomedov faced several canceled fights during his UFC career. Fans especially remember his matchups against Tony Ferguson. Despite the promotion’s repeated attempts to make the fights happen, Nurmagomedov’s hospitalizations from weight-cut issues often forced cancellations. Eventually, rumors even spread in the MMA world that he retired because of weight-cut struggles, rather than following his mother’s advice.

Some fighters, however, managed to avoid these problems by moving up to higher weight classes. Alex Pereira, who began his UFC career in the middleweight division, is now ready to fight for the heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House event in June. Still, Rogan continues to warn that extreme weight cutting poses long-term health risks and recently urged Dana White to introduce more weight classes.

“I think for MMA, they really need to recognize that one of the things that’s going to stop weight cuts is give people more weight classes, give people more options,” Rogan said last month on his JRE podcast. “If they had more options, more weight classes, I think we’d have more competitive fights, we’d have less extreme weight cuts, we’d have healthier fighters.”

So, what’s your take on Rogan’s suggestion to add more weight classes? Do you think it could actually prevent unnecessary weight cutting? Interestingly, Dana White already rejected Rogan’s proposal last week. Drop your take below.