5 UFC stars who got out of shape between their fights

Paddy Pimblett's weight gain between his fights has become a major talking point
Paddy Pimblett's weight gain between his fights has become a major talking point

#4. Darren Till – UFC middleweight contender

Darren Till famously revealed his weight gain during the COVID-19 pandemic
Darren Till famously revealed his weight gain during the COVID-19 pandemic

Like his fellow Liverpudlian fighter Paddy Pimblett, current UFC middleweight contender Darren Till has gained a reputation for letting his weight get somewhat out of control when he isn’t in training camp for a bout in the octagon.

‘The Gorilla’ was once a svelte welterweight, although the struggles he would regularly go through to make that division’s 170lbs cut-off limit were well documented. In 2018, for instance, he missed weight by 3.5lbs for his clash with Stephen Thompson, and looked painfully drained on the scale.

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A move to 185lbs in late 2019 seemed to have solved Till’s weight cutting issues – but hilariously, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘The Gorilla’ posted an Instagram photo that seemed to show an even more alarming weight gain.

At the time, of course, the UFC was on hold and so Till was not preparing for any fight. However, to see him in such bizarre shape – something he credited to a diet of junk food – was still highly amusing and also alarming.

Since then, of course, Till has made the 185lbs middleweight limit for multiple fights without any issues, suggesting that his weight problems may well be behind him now.


#3. Mark Munoz – former UFC middleweight contender

Mark Munoz ballooned worryingly after his 2012 loss to Chris Weidman, forcing him to undertake a dramatic weight loss
Mark Munoz ballooned worryingly after his 2012 loss to Chris Weidman, forcing him to undertake a dramatic weight loss

One of the best middleweights of his generation, Mark Munoz never quite reached a UFC title shot during his six-year run with the promotion, but he still picked up a number of huge wins, including victories over Demian Maia and Chris Leben.

At his peak, Munoz was a ripped 185lber who never failed to make the middleweight cut-off limit, something that was slightly surprising given that he won his NCAA Division I wrestling title while competing at 197lbs.

However, ‘The Filipino Wrecking Machine’ was also renowned for gaining tremendous amounts of weight between his fights – particularly if they came with long gaps between them – and famously documented this in the build for his 2013 clash with Tim Boetsch.

Through a series of posts on social media, Munoz revealed that following his 2012 loss to Chris Weidman, he’d ballooned in weight all the way up to 261lbs – putting him nearly 100lbs over his fighting weight.

According to ‘The Filipino Wrecking Machine’, depression following the Weidman fight was to blame for the weight gain, and it took five months for him to get back down to 199lbs, after which he performed his regular cut to 185lbs.

Thankfully, the weight gain and loss didn’t seem to affect him, as he produced one of his career-best performances to down ‘The Barbarian’ – showing that a dramatic weight gain isn’t always destructive.

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Edited by C. Naik
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