UFC women’s flyweight Ariane da Silva stepped on the scale Friday morning closer to the bantamweight division, and her team has since provided a shocking explanation.
Da Silva (17-10 MMA, 6-7 UFC) is scheduled to face Wang Cong at UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) in a preliminary bout at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., but the fight was in jeopardy of not going forward after the official weigh-in session. Weighing in at 132 pounds, da Silva came in six pounds over the flyweight limit. Cong (7-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who made 125 pounds on the nose, would have been justified in refusing the fight, but decided to keep the bout alive.
Renato da Silva, Ariane’s husband, told MMA Fighting that a poor treatment plan for a benign pituitary tumor led to complications with the weight cut. According to Ariane’s coach, the tumor was discovered during further examination after a blood test during fight camp showed abnormal levels of prolactin and cortisol. The team brought in a new nutritionist to deal with the weight cut for UFC 316, but the plan did not work.
“We wanted to get the cortisol levels down so it wouldn’t affect her health,” Renato told MMA Fighting in Portuguese (translated by MMA Fighting). “By controlling the cortisol levels, we wanted to cause as little stress as possible to her body. And the nutritionist opted for a strategy that would have her hold as much as weight as possible until the end, and it was too much for the final days. He doesn’t know her as much as I do, and he thought she would be able to do that.
“There was a moment this morning she wasn’t feeling good. I know her body. There was still something left there to cut, but at the same time, her reactions weren’t normal. She wasn’t walking right, she was blinking too slow, she had double vision, and couldn’t focus, her voice sounded weak. She was giving us dangerous signs as she dropped weight.”
After contacting the UFC’s medical staff, it was determined that attempting to cut the remaining six pounds would be too dangerous, so the weight cut was stopped. The team places some blame on the nutritionist’s plan to get Ariane to the flyweight limit.
“It was too much (weight) for such a short amount of time,” Renato said. “I think that was the mistake by the nutritionist. We trusted the process, and unfortunately, it didn’t work. It’s a mistake we made. I also made that mistake as a coach, to have believed and tried something different, but my goal is always to take care of the health of Ariane, an athlete and also my wife. I’ll always put her health first.”
Cong accepted the new terms of the fight after weigh-ins, which included 30 percent of da Silva’s purse, and the fight changed to a catchweight at 132 pounds.
