Weight classes

Fighters compete in weight classes so a fight comes down to skill, not size. Each class has an upper limit: a lightweight must weigh no more than 155 pounds at the weigh-in.

The Unified Rules list fourteen classes. Most promotions use only some of them: the UFC's men fight in eight (flyweight to heavyweight) and its women in three (strawweight, flyweight and bantamweight).

Slide to a weight to see where you'd fight.

Weigh-ins are usually the day before the fight, so most fighters cut weight: they shed water in the last days to make the limit, then rehydrate overnight. It's common for a fighter to walk into the cage well above their division's limit.

A fighter who misses weight usually forfeits part of their pay to the opponent, and the fight goes on at a "catchweight", if the opponent agrees. In a title fight, a fighter who misses can't win the belt.