Coming out of retirement, Alexander Gustafsson decided that he would be moving to heavyweight. Now he has decided to share what his target weight will be, for this massive change.
When Gustafsson retired a little over a year ago, many people felt that it was too soon. However no one expected that when he did return, he would do so at heavyweight. Nevertheless that is what he decided to do, as he returns to the Octagon to face former champ Fabricio Werdum, on July 25th, in Abu Dhabi.
Alexander Gustafsson on the Scales
Leading up to this bout, there was some questions as to what Alexander Gustafsson may look like at heavyweight. Speaking in a recent interview, the multiple-time title challenger revealed roughly what he plans on weighing for this fight. Interestingly enough, he does not plan to weigh much different than he usually does.
“I’ve always seen myself as a big light heavyweight fighter, I have a big frame and walk around quite heavy. So I’ve always had to cut around 33lbs to make weight. And since the fight got finalized just now, with 6-7 weeks to go I wouldn’t have been able to make LHW anyway. But regardless I would’ve made to move to HW to try it out, it’s a new challenge to put it simply. For me to be able to down a chicken pasta in fight week hasn’t happened in 15 years.
My walk around weight is at about 236-238lbs and at the time of the fight I think I’ll be around 231-233lbs. Even though I’m moving up a weight class I don’t want to add any unnecessary mass. I want to stay at the weight I perform the best at in training and that is around 227-231lbs. It’s right at the sweet spot, I feel strong there while also retaining speed and keeping myself injury free. In the past when I’d made my 33lbs weight cut there would always be some small injury, my back, my knee or something else. It takes a toll on you to make that cut during all these years.”
It seems to make sense that Alexander Gustafsson not try to pack on much more weight for this relatively short notice fight. Although it will be interesting to see if that changes, provided he stays at heavyweight moving forward.
