UFC's Paulo Costa Banned From Middleweight Competition Until Cleared By CSAC
Walk around at heavyweight, dehydrate to middleweight, KO the middleweights.
The CSAC (California State Athletic Commission) is among the only commissions to reveal fight night weights to the public, and the numbers for UFC 241 revealed that the undefeated Paulo Costa had a significant weight difference of 14.9 percent from Friday’s weigh-ins to just before Saturday’s fights.
For perspective, Costa weighed in as a Middleweight at 186 pounds on Friday and re-hydrated to 213.8 pounds on Saturday, the weight of a small Heavyweight.
Costa has been banned from competition in California as a Middleweight until he completes a series of evaluations and tests at the the UFC Performance Institute including diet and nutrition as well as healthy water cutting.
Cutting massive amounts weight, especially as a fighter with little body fat, can have disastrous consequences on their overall longevity and mental health, due to overheating the brain and drawing water from it as well as other organs. Combine the rigorous physical demands in order to shed the water weight with the ability to get knocked unconscious much easier due to less fluid surrounding the brain, and you have yourself a recipe for athletic sanctions.
Costa and his team remain adamant that the Brazilian striker can healthily continue his domination of of the the Middleweight division.