The Spanish mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Ilia Topuria, who aspires to become the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Featherweight world champion, is in the final stretch of preparation for his next fight against Alexander Volkanovski, with the title at stake.
A fundamental part of their preparation is the weight loss process to reach the limit of their category, a challenge that involves a strict diet, intense training and an extreme dehydration process.
Topuria, born in Germany but living in Alicante since his adolescence, must lose approximately 15 kilos from his ‘normal’ weight to reach the maximum weight allowed in the Featherweight, which is 66 kilograms. This process, very common in combat sports such as MMA and boxing, has been described by Topuria himself as “hell in real life.”
Topuria’s training regimen includes daily sessions at the gym, where she focuses on strength and power exercises, as well as functional and cardiovascular training, such as HIIT and running. Additionally, she conducts specific mixed martial arts sessions to improve her technical and tactical skills.
However, weight loss is not only due to physical training, but also to a strict diet and a controlled dehydration process. According to Topuria, the diet is gradual and begins three months before the fight, progressively reducing food intake and even controlling the amount of salt consumed.
The dehydration process intensifies in the week before weigh-in, where Topuria increases his water intake before drastically reducing it. This causes additional weight loss, which is completed by sauna sessions to remove fluid from the body.
In fact, the week of the fight he loses about 8 kilos and begins to do a “water load” by increasing his water intake and then going 24 hours without drinking anything.
“On the Sunday before the fight I drink four liters of water, on Monday I drink six, on Tuesday eight, on Wednesday I drink ten and on Thursday morning short, I no longer drink any water,” he explains. The moment the water is cut off, dehydration begins.
“That’s when you take advantage and go into the sauna, you start sweating and you don’t replenish it, you stay dry. It’s when your body hits you, and you lose five or six kilos”, “It’s like living hell in real life. A bathtub with super-hot water, which doesn’t burn you, but almost, going without eating and drinking on a diet for three months, having trained a lot, being with your body at its limit… And after all that, getting into water like this for twenty minutes. Then you go out, they put you in a mummy (process of wrapping yourself with transparent paper to sweat) for twenty minutes,” says Topuria. Then he takes a short break and repeats the same thing six or eight times.
On the day of the weigh-in, Topuria hydrates again with special products provided by doctors and nutritionists, and gradually reintroduces food into her diet. Although he reaches the required weight for the weigh-in, his weight increases significantly before the fight due to rehydration and food intake.
As challenging as this process may be, Topuria is determined to achieve glory in his sporting career and is fully focused on his goal of becoming a champion. His dedication and sacrifice are examples of the hard work that goes into the world of elite mixed martial arts.
