Bellator San Diego fight night weights: Usman Nurmagomedov, Alexander Shabliy both pack on nearly 20 pounds
The fight night weights for the athletes who competed at Bellator San Diego have been revealed by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC)
In an effort to cut down on extreme weight cutting, the CSAC started tracking fluctuations between the time when the fighters set foot on the scale and then compete just 24 hours later. Any variance over 10 percent of overall body weight gets flagged as a potential suggestion for athletes to consider changing weight classes in the future.
All told there were 10 total athletes from the Bellator San Diego card who broke that threshold including lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and his opponent Alexander Shabliy.
Nurmagomedov hit the scale at 154.8 pounds on Friday and weighed 173.6 pounds on fight night — 18.8 pounds higher, which was a 12-percent gain.
As for Shabliy, he actually gained just slightly more weight after making the lightweight limit for the title fight at 154.8 pounds and then gaining 19.2 pounds to weigh 174 pounds when he competed on Saturday night. That was also within range for a 12-percent weight gain.
The fight itself went in Nurmagomedov’s favor with the undefeated Russian putting on a dominant performance to win a unanimous decision.
The co-main event fighters also saw some of the biggest weight gains on the card with Lorenz Larkin weighing 170.4 pounds on Friday and then gaining 18.4 pounds to weigh 188.8 pounds on Saturday night. His opponent Levan Chokheli hit the scale at 170.8 pounds and ultimately came into the fight at 189 pounds after gaining 18.2 pounds overnight.
Larkin scored a highlight reel knockout to cement himself as the No. 1 contender in the Bellator welterweight division.
Here are the full fight night weights for Bellator San Diego along with the percentage of weight gain, per the CSAC
Usman Nurmagomedov (154.8 to 173.6 pounds = 12 percent) vs. Alexander Shabliy (154.8 to 174 pounds = 12 percent)
Lorenz Larkin (170.4 to 188.8 pounds = 11 percent) vs. Levan Chokheli (170.8 to 189 pounds = 11 percent)
Aaron Jeffery (184.4 to 201.6 pounds = 9 percent) vs. Douglas Lima (184.6 to 189.9 pounds = 3 percent)
Mackenzie Stiller (125.2 to 131.8 pounds = 5 percent) vs. Sumiko Inaba (125.2 to 135.6 pounds = 8 percent)
Zhora Aivazian (155.4 to 169.2 pounds = 9 percent) vs. Yancy Medeiros (155.2 to 177 pounds = 14 percent)
Imamshavi Aliev (185 to 208.2 pounds = 13 percent) vs. Jordan Newman (185.2 to 192 pounds = 4 percent)
Herman Terrado (170.4 to 195.8 pounds = 15 percent) vs. Masayuki Kikuiri (169 to 181.8 pounds = 8 percent)
John MaCalolooy (134.8 to 146.4 pounds = 9 percent) vs. Bryce Meredith (135.8 to 153 pounds = 13 percent)
Josh Hokit (242.2 to 243.6 pounds = 1 percent) vs. Sean Rose (264.8 to 272.4 pounds = 3 percent)
Aysia Cortez (116 to 131 pounds = 13 percent) vs. Ashley Thiner (115 to 135.8 pounds = 18 percent)