“The Young Punisher” could be heading down to flyweight after at UFC 265.
Pedro Munhoz is happy with his performance against Jose Aldo despite losing a decision to “the greatest of all-time in UFC and WEC” in Houston at UFC 265, but might change a few things in his career going forward. Before the official result was read, Munhoz spoke with Aldo inside the cage and said he was thinking about cutting down to 125 pounds.
“What I felt in that fight was a little bit of body weight difference,” Munhoz told MMA Fighting. “He showed up a bit bigger, a bit heavier, and hats off to his nutrition team. It was something that helped me study other [possibilities], one of them being a move down in weight, if possible.”
Munhoz has competed in the UFC’s 135-pound class division since 2014, defeating the likes of Cody Garbrandt, Rob Font, Bryan Caraway, and Jimmie Rivera. The former Resurrection Fighting Alliance bantamweight champion has never competed as a flyweight in MMA.
“I have this idea at the moment,” Munhoz said. “I’m talking to professionals and will do some tests to see if my body adapts. I want to do something very professional if we’re talking about moving down in weight.”
“Many athletes reach the top or on their way down, or in the prime of their careers, and always move up in weight after cutting so much weight [for so long],” he continued. “Few fighters, myself included, think about going down because you can definitely add some extra weight on fight day and, with the technical level we have, like Aldo and myself and other top-10 fighters in the UFC, any weight more you can add in the recovery makes a difference when the technique is so leveled.”
Munhoz normally walks around 155 pounds when he’s off camp, and loses three pounds as soon as he kicks off training. The Brazilian usually leaves around 12 pounds to cut during fight week, the final “five or seven” in the last 24 hours before weigh-ins.
“That shows that, mathematically speaking, if I do a very specific nutritional work like Aldo’s to fight at bantamweight, something I’ve never done, I could fight at flyweight,” Munhoz said. “That’s me doing some math. We know there’s metabolism and other things besides us wanting to do something. I want to, but I also want to do a test and see if I can reach that. I’m a father and I want to have a life after my career where we’re health and active. I’ll start to run some tests now and see if we can lose 10 pounds and fight at flyweight.
“I’ve fought bigger guys before,” he continued. “I’ve fought Matt Hobar, who’s 5-11. I’ve fought Rob Font, who’s tall and has longer reach, longer than Aldo’s. But the physical attributes Aldo has presented, that was something that made the difference in terms of explosion and stamina. That’s a very specific weight-cutting work that has opened my eyes.”
Munhoz, who turned 35 earlier this month, is still studying the possibility of the weight class change, which means he’s open for fights at bantamweight next if offered something “that makes sense to me.” The American Top Team talent is 1-3 in his past four with decision defeats to Frankie Edgar and future champion Aljamain Sterling.
“If I have an offer at bantamweight that I think makes sense to me, I’ll fight one more time at bantamweight, even twice if needed be,” Munhoz said. “Am I thinking about going down [a division] in the near future? Yes, but I’ll adapt the best way possible if something happens along the way.”
