Kaitlin Young's Invicta Fighting Championships 1 Blog, Part 2We are only two weeks out from the Invicta Fighting Championships 1 event. This training camp flew by. In my last blog, I mentioned how much of a challenge finding balance can be. I don’t think I’ve ever been as successful at balancing all of the elements of training and life as in this camp.

With each fight, I learn a little more about what is needed to perform at my best. With training beginning to wind down into a taper, I feel I’ve made more strides in this camp than in any other over the duration of my career. In this blog, I’ll discuss weight cutting and the final preparations for my fight.

As many of you are aware, most fighters cut weight in order to make the class in which they primarily compete. Because weigh-ins are often conducted the night before the fights, usually more than 24 hours before the start of the event, fighters are able to gain a significant amount of weight back prior to entering the cage. Originally, this was done to give the fighter a size advantage while still competing within the rules and making weight. Now that the majority of fighters practice cutting weight, those that do are competing against other fighters their size and those that don’t cut weight are at a significant size disadvantage.

I woke up at 146.4 pounds today (Sunday) and hope to be 144 or lighter the week of the event. This should be no problem. Normally, I’d prefer to be a bit heavier but the fights are taking place in Kansas City, Kansas. This means they will be governed by the Kansas Athletic Commission. Kansas is one of the few states that enforces a “day of” weigh-in policy. Fighters competing under the 155-pound class are only allowed to gain back an additional 8 pounds after weigh-ins. This number is not a percentage of body weight, so whether you weigh in at 115 or 145 you are only allowed to weigh 8 pounds more within eight hours of the event the following day.

That probably doesn’t sound that bad to someone who is not familiar with the practice of cutting weight, but typically for a fight at 135, I will gain back somewhere between 13 and 16 pounds by fight time. That is a BIG difference. There are many fighters who compete at 135 or 145 that gain back that much or more. I suspect this is the Kansas Commission’s attempt at curbing weight cutting practices, but it could lead to some compromising situations for fighters that agreed to a fight in their normal weight class without first reading the Kansas weigh-in policy. Hopefully, everyone is able to cope with the alternative regulations and all fights go through as planned.

Training for this fight has been excellent. I feel like all elements of my game have received the correct amount of attention for improvement without taking away from other areas. Though it is my least favorite part of training, I have spent more time drilling in this camp which has made a difference. The strength and conditioning at Horsepower has been out of this world. I’m hitting bigger lifts after 6 weeks of training than I ever thought I’d reach in my lifetime. The best part is that it has transferred well to striking and grappling, but hasn’t burnt me out for actual MMA practice.

This week I will be backing off of the hard stand-up sparring, but still doing full goes in other areas and hard pads and conditioning. We are working out the final details of printing shorts, shirts, and a banner for the fight. I’m getting excited for this coming Tuesday because Ryan and I have taken the evening off to go see Gloria Steinem speak at a nearby Synagogue. She always has such interesting ideas. I love that she is for the advancement of women and others, yet remarkably devoid of man-hate.

Next week will be a complete taper with a few hard rounds, but primarily working on drilling and visualization. We will fly out on Thursday, make weight on Friday, and then make the 2nd weight and fight on Saturday. That is it. It’s strange how it becomes hard to see past that point, at least for me. It feels like the world is going to stop.

I’d like to thank Greg Nelson, Ryan Murray, Robert Brant, Matt Miller, Nat McIntyre, and all of the guys and girls at The Academy for an excellent training camp. I’d also like to thank my sponsors Gamebred Fightwear, Intimidation Clothing, Sterling Entertainment Group, One N Done, and of course my manager, Nick “The Goat” Thompson.