Weight Cutting in Muay Thai: History, Ethics and How-To

by Roxy Richardson

Every athlete is looking for that extra edge in competition. If we can be just a fraction of a step ahead of our opponent in one area of athleticism that gives us an advantage. In a sport where all it takes is one punch to make a champion that advantage could be cardio, strength, speed, agility, skill, experience, reach or size.

Muay Thai, like other combat sports is divided into weight classes. Theses weight classes are suppose to level the playing field so that opponents are equal in size, but with new modern techniques borrowed from other sports like wrestling and MMA, Muay Thai fighters are now using weight cutting to gain a serious size advantage over opponents.