Watching veteran lightweight Ramsey Nijem barely being able to walk while dry heaving whatever liquid is left in his body is a shocking image to some but it’s an all too common moment for weight cutting in MMA.
On Tuesday night, HBO’s award winning series Real Sports took aim at the dangers of extreme weight cutting in MMA while sitting with Nijem as he dehydrated his body in order to lose 13 pounds over 17 hours ahead of his PFL quarterfinals bout this past October.
Nijem, who is a 10-fight veteran of the UFC, was attempting to cut down to the 156-pound limit for a non-title fight just months after he failed to make weight for a separate PFL event on July.