UFC Embedded: Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Valerie Letourneau begin the cut to 115 pounds
UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is just 48 hours away from her next title defense against Valerie Letourneau, but she had to shift her focus away from winning enough to start her weight cut down to 115 pounds.
Unlike normal fights where competitors are allowed a one-pound allowance over the regimented weight class rules, Jedrzejczyk and Letourneau (along with Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm) have to come in exactly on weight without an ounce over the limit.
So Jedrzejczyk has to begin cutting out food in the hours leading up to the weigh-in and as she shows in the latest episode of UFC Embedded, weight cutting is tough but that's what she signed up for when she became champion.
"It a hard part of the job, but it's still part of the job," Jedrzejczyk said. "Nobody's going to do it for me."
Letourneau will cut down to 115 pounds for only the third time in her career after spending most of her life fighting at 135 pounds. From the look of things, she's on point and ready to step on the scale on Friday.
She's also ready to take the strawweight title back to her home gym at American Top Team and celebrate the win.
"I am ready," Letourneau said. "I want that belt because I know I give it all.
"This is the easiest cut I've had so far, so let's keep it that way so I should look a little better for that weigh-in.
Elsewhere, part of the new Reebok uniform deal means the fighters arriving at every event get new gear, which also includes fight shorts and the shirt worn into the Octagon.
Middleweight contender Uriah Hall had the unfortunate pleasure finding out that not everybody fits into the sizes available when he got to Australia this week.
The former "Ultimate Fighter" runner-up is struggling to find the right size just 48 hours from his fight with Robert Whittaker on Saturday night.
"These are 'Bigfoot' Silva's shorts," Hall jokes when the large shorts are too big.
The bad news is the medium size isn't working much better, especially when Hall considers he has to wear an athletic cup underneath his shorts on the day of the fight.
"He's too excited to fight!" Hall says with a laugh.
Check out the rest of the action from Holly Holm and the other fighters getting ready for weigh-ins to Ronda Rousey going through a personal workout in her own training room.
