5 UFC stars who got out of shape between their fights

#2. Johny Hendricks – former UFC welterweight champion

Johny Hendricks' weight issues ended up damaging his reputation with the fans

One of the most infamous examples of a fighter who would get out of shape between his fights remains former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks. In his prime, ‘Bigg Rigg’ was a truly fantastic fighter, but whether he could’ve achieved more had he been more disciplined with his weight remains a fair question to ask.

To be fair, Hendricks’ weight issues didn’t actually raise their head until later in his UFC career, largely after his most successful period that saw him defeat Robbie Lawler for welterweight gold. Prior to that, he never failed to make the 170lbs limit for the division.

However, the fact that he would gain large amounts of weight between his fights was already well-documented at that stage, and his issues quickly came to the forefront when he was forced out of a 2015 clash with Tyron Woodley due to a weight-cutting failure.

In 2016, Hendricks claimed to have his weight under control – even bragging in an interview prior to his clash with Kelvin Gastelum that he could still eat burgers as long as he avoided the fries that usually came with them.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case, as ‘Bigg Rigg’ missed weight for that bout – and went onto miss weight a further two times during his career, including in a middleweight fight with Tim Boetsch that saw him weigh a ludicrous 188lbs.

In the end, Hendricks’ weight issues made him somewhat of a comical figure in the eyes of the fans – something that his legacy probably didn’t deserve, given his outstanding wins over the likes of Lawler, Carlos Condit and Jon Fitch.

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#1. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson – former UFC light-heavyweight champion

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson began to struggle with his weight in the latter stages of his career

Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson might’ve been one of the most feared men in MMA during his peak years, but he was also renowned for gaining plenty of weight between his fights.

Sure, it’s true that Jackson never failed to make the 205lbs light-heavyweight limit during his peak years – only missing weight once in the UFC for a 2012 bout with Ryan Bader – but there were also notable instances of him struggling on the scale, too.

Most notably, ‘Rampage’ appeared to be bloated and out of shape prior to his 2010 grudge match with Rashad Evans – and during the build-up for that fight, it was well-documented that a great deal of his training camp was centered around him getting his weight down.

Unsurprisingly, the fight itself saw Jackson struggle to match the pace of Evans – arguably proving the point of his doubters – as he lost a three-round decision.

‘Rampage’ did rebound from the loss by picking up big wins over Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamill, but later in his career – once he’d left the UFC – his weight issues reared their head again, causing him to take a number of catchweight fights, rather than cutting to 205lbs.

In his most recent fight, meanwhile, Jackson moved to heavyweight and suffered a loss to Fedor Emelianenko – after which he stated that he “felt like a hippopotamus out there”.