Getting on Weight

Every two years, there is a championship weekend in no-gi jiu jitsu that has been become the sport’s de facto Olympic Games. The biggest stars, names, and talent have been competing there for 20 years. It’s a difficult road to qualify, even harder to win, and when you do, your legacy is cemented as one of the sport’s best. Marcelo Garcia, Gordon Ryan, Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes and his brother, Bruno “Tank” Mendes, and more than I can name— have all put themselves on the sport’s Mount Rushmore by winning ADCC.

That tournament and weekend is known as ADCC, Abu Dhabi Combat Club. When an old acquaintance and neighbor of mine, Matheus Diniz, reached out to me to help him prepare for ADCC 2024 in Las Vegas it was exciting; Matheus himself was a former champion in 2019 (-88kg), and here he was looking to add to that legacy in 2024 with a second title. Anyone who knows Matheus knows that he’s an explosive athlete, a big guy (nicknamed “King Kong”), and a difficult matchup.

What we ended up with was quite a bit different and called on us to do far more than just train.

For reasons that are well beyond the scope of this article, ADCC found itself in a dispute with some athletes, which led to the birth of a competing tournament that same weekend. That tournament became the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), and it came with two unique elements:

• There would be only two divisions: -80kg and +80kg (-176.4lbs and +176.4lbs)

• A $1 million purse for the winner of each division

Having previously defeated Craig Jones twice, one of those times being to win ADCC in 2019, and having a good relationship with him, Matheus was invited to compete in CJI. 

Many people, including Craig Jones himself, thought Matheus would be game and ready to come in at +80kg. Matheus had competed earlier in 2024 against Nicholas Meragali and had been as high as 225lbs earlier in the year. For ADCC, we’d planned to have him training in the upper 190lbs area until it was closer to the tournament so he could easily make -88kg (194lbs). 

Instead, Matheus surprised everyone and opted for -80kg. This was something we discussed before the contract was signed and we had a few good reasons for it:

• CJI would feature 24 hour prior-to-the-event, MMA-style weigh ins with a 1kg allowance.

• Matheus’ happy, relatively disciplined weight was around 195-200lbs. We did some careful calculating to determine actual average weight (this is important, many people just go by their daily scale weight as their actual weight, a common trap).

• That “walking around weight” is actually the size of your average UFC Welterweight, and they need to make 170lbs— almost 8lbs less than what was required of Matheus.

• We knew that with the right guidance and plan, making weight would be easy. We have a history of being able to do this with athletes in jiu jitsu and in the 24 hour weigh-in format (read about our successful weight cut with Matheus Lutes for the 2019 Spyder Invitational here).

  
  

How We Did It

Figuring out the energy demands and macros

We calculated his maintenance calories based on his activity level, height, weight, and age. Our goals were for him to not only drop about 10lbs from his weight at the time, but do so in a way that maximized his performance on the mats and in the gym leading up to the tournament. I had noticed he was coming into the gym a little sluggish on some days, and would occasionally hit a wall during our workouts. The cut plan he was on (and used most of his career) before we got started was super low on carbohydrates and as a result, he was not fueled adequately for all of his training. We let him know in advance that it was going to be a lot more food than he was used to during a cut (and he agreed once he saw the plan). 

We took into account his two-a-day jiu jitsu training plus the days he came to the gym when building out his daily macronutrient needs and timing. The top priority and bulk of his calories were carbohydrates (for energy and recovery), followed by protein (for mitigating muscle loss and boosting recovery), followed by fat (for general health and function). We also took into account his personal preferences in terms of what he likes to eat and when - Matheus isn’t a breakfast guy, for instance. Days that he came to the gym immediately after jiu jitsu, we leaned on a carbohydrate supplement mixed with his whey to quickly replenish his glycogen stores and give him some energy. The supplement also helped considering he was at around 500g of carbohydrates a day to start the cut. 

As for what he was eating, we made sure he was getting plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats along with the large amounts of chicken and rice that made up the bulk of his meals. It was a hot six weeks in July and August, so water targets were high and electrolyte supplements were used as needed. 

The big trap we see so many jiu jitsu athletes and grapplers more generally get into is that they severely under eat and don’t keep carbohydrates in their diet while cutting. Carbohydrates are not responsible for weight gain or loss - your management of calories and macros more generally is. Carbohydrates also are an athlete’s most readily available form of fuel.

Cutting those numbers progressively

Matheus shared his weigh-ins with us almost daily, and we used the average of those weights on a weekly basis to determine how much to reduce his calories. Protein stayed the same and we had a floor for his fat target that we would not pass, so carbs were where we had the most wiggle room. His carb intake stayed relatively high around his training schedule, so performance stayed high despite him getting progressively hungrier. 

[The Easiest] Water Cut in Vegas

It is indeed physically possible for humans that are large enough to cut 20 or more pounds of water. That doesn’t make it healthy, safe, or even able to set you up for a good performance the next day. Studies have shown repeatedly that there are resulting detriments in an athlete’s power output with only 1% of body weight lost to dehydration. Imagine what 20lbs would do.

We are also well aware that many individuals come into weight classes looking massive for the range because of their weight cuts. To be too much smaller is certainly a competitive disadvantage. I’ve learned this the hard way with athletes in both jiu jitsu and wrestling. That said, with Matheus, we knew that this wouldn’t be a problem. There was only a single competitor in -80kg that could compete that much larger than him, and we knew that even if we had Matheus lose weight (not simply dehydrate), he would still be at the larger end of the -80kg division.

We only wanted Matheus to have to drop 8-10lbs during weigh-in week, and we used a combination of sodium reduction, “gut cut,” and sauna to get to 176lbs - with no water load. 

We started reducing sodium the Sunday before the Thursday weigh-in, then it was strictly no salt Mon-Wed. Starchy carbohydrates were dropped significantly following his Monday morning training session, and then completely following his second session that afternoon. We kept his water, protein, and fat intake relatively high through his travel day on Tuesday. When he landed that evening, dinner was sodium-free salmon and broccoli at an iHop near his hotel. 

Fun fact: did you know iHop even served salmon? It became a bit of a running joke with iHop’s serving staff over the following few days. 

Wednesday was the toughest day, and if you’ve prepared for this type of weigh-in, you’ll understand. Water was very limited and meals were essentially small amounts of protein or nuts/nut butter to keep the contents of Matheus’ stomach light. That evening we needed two short sauna sessions to sweat the remaining few pounds and he was good to go for Thursday morning. He stepped on the scale exactly on weight at 176 lbs. 

The period after weigh-ins, the refeed and rehydration time, is vital for the athlete to feel 100% once competition starts. Immediately after weighing in, Matheus started drinking a water and electrolyte mix and moved on to plain white bread during the CJI media period. 

With a 24 hour weigh-in, the goal is to get back to your pre-cut weight by the time you start competing, but it’s important to rehydrate first before adding any food, and that food should be pretty plain and low in fat to reduce the chance of gastrointestinal distress. Once that was covered, we basically spent the day going from restaurant to restaurant.

By mid-afternoon, Matheus was back to 195lbs and feeling good - signs of a successful water cut and refeed.

Parting Thoughts

As jiu jitsu grows in viewership, participation and sponsorships, we’ll see more events like CJI. With that elevation of the sport to a bigger stage, we’ll also see more professionalism in the preparation among athletes. When this much money is on the line, it’s not only inevitable, it’s simply the smart thing to do if you hope to maximize your earnings. Having a handle on your nutrition like any other professional athlete would in any other sport is the way to do this. 

As I said above, this isn’t my first time working with the highest level of jiu jitsu athletes, but the thing that stands out most now is that there’s two tiers of “full time” jiu jitsu athlete: those who simply train and do nothing else, and those who treat themselves like the professionals they are. And take it from me, the latter category is more accomplished, earns more, and is that much more elevated in accomplishments for longer than the former. 

It was a privilege and true highlight of my year to be involved with an event that has done so much for the sport of jiu jitsu, and even on a personal level as someone who has been practicing and training for over 10 years.

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Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article series, where we’ll cover his training methods leading up to CJI. You may have seen some of these already on our YouTube short documentary, which you can find here. 

This article featured insights from our nutrition coach, Bianca Franqui.

About the Author: Mark DiSalvo, CSCS

Mark is the founder and owner of DiSalvo Performance Training. He brings over a decade of experience training clients and athletes of all backgrounds and is the strength and conditioning coach to grapplers of all levels and disciplines: from youth to professional and Olympic-level. He is currently a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu himself, with 10 years of experience in the sport. You can read more about him here.

A graduate of Northeastern University, he’s an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Sports Performance Expert with a specialty in combat sports. He’s also a Steve Maxwell Certified Kettlebell Instructor (Levels 1 & 2).

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