Matt Brown has spent almost his entire career competing as a welterweight, but in reality, he knows his body isn’t actually built to set foot on a scale at 170 pounds.
Despite going through dozens of weight cuts, the 43-year-old veteran admits that every experience has been different in some way and he’s endured plenty of mistakes over the years. That’s why Brown knows that two-time PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison likely has an arduous journey awaiting her as she prepares to compete as a bantamweight for the first time ever.
No matter how much work she’s done to get ready, Brown cautions Harrison that she’s almost certainly going to go through hell as she sheds those last few pounds with her body desperate for food and water.
“We always talk about this doing it the right way. There’s no right way to almost kill yourself,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “You’re not supposed to be that dehydrated. I know my lean body mass. I know how hydrated I am. I know all these details about my body. I’m not supposed to be 170 pounds. It’s simply not healthy for me. I would put money Kayla Harrison is not supposed to be 135 pounds.
“So no matter how perfect you do everything, those last few pounds suck horribly. You can literally do the entire thing perfect, exactly what every world class scientist tells you to do, all the research is perfect, you practiced 100 times, whatever. It will f***** suck, period. Your body is not supposed to do what you are doing to it.”
Harrison debuts at UFC 300 against former champion Holly Holm after spending the majority of her fighting career at 155 pounds. Prior to that, Harrison claimed a pair of gold medals at 78kg — approximately 172 pounds — in the Olympics.
She has fought at featherweight once previously and UFC CEO Dana White already stated that Harrison has gone through several test cuts to prove she can get down to bantamweight. That all sounds great but Brown knows from plenty of personal experience that all the preparation in the world can still backfire on you.
“You feel a little different every time,” Brown said. “A lot of that’s the lead up, not just the week of the weight cut, fight week. Not even necessarily the week before but the five, six weeks leading to it. All that time leading up to it plays a part where how adapted is your body to being depleted? How much energy are you expending? Did you water load properly? Also a lot of times, it’s the location you go to. For instance, I fought in Brazil one time and there’s no sauna there and it was a very, very long flight to get there or when I fought in Abu Dhabi, that was a really, really hard weight cut because I was jetlagged and not really feeling energetic all week, and the time difference threw everything off.
“There’s a lot more pieces to that puzzle than just simply you’re cutting weight and everything’s good.”
Even if Harrison has her weight cut down to a science, Brown expects all that preparation will almost certainly go out the door when she’s sweating off those last few pounds.
Through 35 career fights and nearly 16 years in the UFC, Brown can’t deny that weight cutting has probably pushed him to the breaking point more than anything that’s ever happened in the cage.
“All that s***, when you get down to the last five pounds, it sucks, period,” Brown said. “It doesn’t matter what you did. It’s just simply going to suck and you’re going to have to push yourself and all of your mettle’s going to be tested. Your mind’s going to be tested. Your will’s going to be tested.”
As much as Harrison will be offered advice from other fighters in the days and weeks leading up to her UFC debut, Brown says there’s no perfect way to go about weight cutting.
For instance, Brown revealed that the team from the UFC Performance Institute provides athletes with supplements that help with rehydration after weight cuts but it just doesn’t work for him.
“I tried that s*** once and it did terrible for me,” Brown explained. “Now I just drink water. That’s just what I want is some f****** water. I don’t need all your supplements and all this bulls***. Give me some damn water and I’ll be good.”
Brown won’t even attempt to give Harrison some lesson in best practices when it comes to the weight cut she’s about to endure but he will offer her one piece of advice that he’s found invaluable.
It’s the same thing he tells his fighters when they’re suffering through those last few hours and the last few pounds before getting on the scale.
“I would give the same advice in just about any very difficult venture that you’re going to do and that’s just about keeping a positive mind,” Brown said.
“It’s the hardest time that I can think of to keep your mind positive and focus on the goal. You start really questioning whether you can do, whether it’s physically possible. I’ve been there where you start wondering like how healthy is it? Am I going to f****** die in here? That’s why I’ve never been a fan of locking guys in saunas and s***. When I’m helping other people weight cutting, I’m just trying to be positive the whole time. That’s all you can do. That’s the only advice I can give. Keep your mind positive.”