26/02/2026
Most people think fight week means cutting carbs. It doesn’t.
If a fighter is already 2 to 4% over their fight weight, the goal is to remove excess water and gut content.
So instead of pulling carbs out all week, we keep them in to maintain performance.
For 3 to 5 days we reduce:
• Fibre
• Sodium
Fibre increases gut bulk.
Sodium increases water retention.
Lower both slightly and most fighters will drop 1 to 4% of their bodyweight without touching carbs.
We then coincide this with a controlled fluid restriction strategy in the hours leading up to weigh-ins. That final adjustment is usually enough to make weight comfortably.
Because carbs stay in, the refuel doesn’t need to be as aggressive, and fighters tend to feel much better on fight day.
We’ve used this approach multiple times with ONE Championship fighters
It’s always individual and depends on how close someone is to weight current diet etc
If you want this structured specifically for you, drop us a message .nutrition
