Ariane da Silva: UFC 316 weight miss related to pituitary tumor treatment — and bad advice

Ariane da Silva’s bad weight miss for her UFC 316 clash with Wang Cong was caused by poor advice from her new nutritionist and medication taken to treat a recently-found benign tumor on her pituitary gland, her coach and husband Renato da Silva told MMA Fighting on Friday.

The former KSW flyweight champion stepped on the scale six pounds over the limit for the UFC 316 preliminary bout and had to forfeit 30 percent of her purse as a fine. That was the second time she missed weight in the UFC with the previous one being caused by COVID-19.

According to her longtime coach, a blood test done during camp came back with high levels of prolactin and abnormal levels of cortisol, and further exams revealed she had a benign pituitary tumor. They reached out to a new nutritionist to help through the weight cut, which required more attention and care due to the recent diagnosis.

“We wanted to get the cortisol levels down so it wouldn’t affect her health,” Renato da Silva said. “By controlling the cortisol levels, we wanted to cause as little stress as possible to her body. And the nutritionist opted for a strategy that would have her hold as much as weight as possible until the end, and it was too much for the final days. He doesn’t know her as much as I do, and he thought she would be able to do that.

“There was a moment this morning she wasn’t feeling good. I know her body. There was still something left there to cut, but at the same time her reactions weren’t normal. She wasn’t walking right, she was blinking too slow, she had double vision, and couldn’t focus, her voice sounded weak. She was giving us dangerous signs as she dropped weight.”

Renato da Silva said he called the UFC medical staff for a check-up and together they decided it was enough. Ariane da Silva had already cut 10 pounds the day before, her coach said, and it would be too risky to try and cut the final six pounds.

“She still had liquids in her body,” Renato da Silva said. “But her physical state was showing signs of danger, her body was showing signs that it was time to stop.”

Ariane da Silva was fined 30 percent of her purse, and her coach said the nutritionist shares part of the blame for this outcome.

“It was too much [weight] for such a short amount of time,” Renato said. “I think that was the mistake by the nutritionist. We trusted the process and unfortunately it didn’t work. It’s a mistake we made. I also made that mistake as a coach, to have believed and tried something different, but my goal is always to take care of the health of Ariane, an athlete and also my wife. I’ll always put her health first.”

The fight will proceed as a catchweight, and the coach debunks the notion that da Silva will have an advantage over Cong for being six pounds over the limit 36 hours before the match.

“Ariane won’t have an advantage in the fight because she suffered more than she would have had she made weight,” Renato da Silva said. “And she won’t gain more weight than usual because she always recovers the same amount. She can’t come in heavier than she is. She won’t have any advantage in the fight. It’s not correct, we’ve failed, but she will have no advantage.”