If there’s one thing the UFC has made painfully normal, it’s fighters missing weight. We’re not just talking about random undercard slips, but contenders, main events, and title eliminators. And many of them don’t get many second chances. One lousy dietary decision, and your entire career trajectory changes.

That’s why UFC 324 fight week isn’t only about training hard anymore. It’s about eating wisely. The difference between “made weight” and “disaster” can literally be one salty meal or one late-night craving. So when the UFC PI nutrition team decided to walk into a well-known Vegas burger joint and began rewriting the menu for fighters just days before the event, it surely raised several eyebrows.

UFC PI turns Irv’s Burgers into weigh-in-friendly “cheat food”

The UFC Performance Institute’s nutrition staff attempted to turn a Vegas staple—Irv’s Burgers—into pre-weigh-in fuel for UFC 324 fighters. The idea is simple but genius: fighters don’t stop craving comfort food during a cut, so instead of pretending the cravings don’t exist, the PI meets them halfway with smarter alternatives.

In the video the UFC shared on social media, Chef Steve Petre from the UFC PI visits Irv’s first and samples the actual menu items. Then it’s back to the Performance Center kitchen, where he collaborates with Director of Nutrition Charles Stull to recreate the same dishes, but now they’re designed for athletes in the most fragile stage of fight week.

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They weren’t simply swapping fries for salad. They went full mad scientist. Low-sodium cheese to help prevent water retention. Protein whipped cream allows fighters to have something sweet without jeopardizing their cut. The food still resembles the delicious burger-and-dessert experience, but it’s designed for discipline, not regret.

However, many would like to believe they are playing with fire here. We’ve just seen how ugly weight issues can get at the elite level. Arman Tsarukyan‘s withdrawal against Islam Makhachev was first blamed on a back injury, but Dana White suggested that there was more to the tale—something that unfolded last month, when ‘Ahalkalakets’ joked about not missing weight.

“CapNutrition this time did work 100%; we didn’t miss weight like last time,” Arman Tsarukyan accidentally revealed as he joked with his nutritionist in a video filmed just days before his fight against Dan Hooker. And now, as we all can see, missing weight last minute is the kind of stuff that will have you snubbed, skipped over, and quietly punished in matchmaking.

The UFC PI’s clip can be seen as an attempt by the UFC to remove excuses from the situation. Fighters are going to crave comfort, and the cut is going to hurt. So, if the PI can provide a cheat meal without affecting the scale, then missing weight starts looking less like an accident.

However, there is no denying that this bold move may actually end up backfiring as well. Something that the UFC cannot afford after Kayla Harrison pulled out of the much-anticipated co-main event of the card. A tragic pullout for fans and Amanda Nunes, who was all geared up to make her UFC return.

Amanda Nunes breaks silence after UFC 324 cancellation

That is the part that the UFC cannot control: you can optimize food, discipline, and weight cuts, but you can’t stop bodies from failing at the worst possible time. UFC 324 already took that hit when Kayla Harrison’s neck injury canceled the co-main event and stalled Amanda Nunes‘ long-anticipated return.

‘The Lioness’ stayed silent for several days, allowing the news to sit without providing anyone with a response to clip and run with. When she finally surfaced, she offered no explanation at all. No rant or lengthy caption. Just training footage on Instagram and one line that said it all: “The flame continues to live.” The message was clear: she still wants this, and she is not going back to retirement.

The other detail mattered too: Amanda Nunes was grappling with Larissa Pacheco, Harrison’s arch nemesis and the only woman to defeat her in MMA. It’s clear for fans to see that ‘The Lioness’ is already honing her skills for the exact mountain she intends to climb once Harrison gets back to full health. After all, the fight has been postponed, not buried, and Nunes is training as if she intends to take the belt the moment the door opens again.