- Mackenzie Dern revealed that coach Jason Parillo once made her drink a big IPA the night before weigh-ins to shed the last few pounds.
- Alcohol acts as a diuretic, flushing out water weight and getting her to the scale on target.
- She told the story in a TikTok video alongside Edson Barboza, who passed out mid-cut, and Neil Magny, who turned his car into a sauna.
- The reigning UFC strawweight champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion then defended her belt at UFC 330.
A Big IPA Before Weigh-Ins
The Mackenzie Dern beer weight cut story is the kind of thing you don’t quite believe until she tells it herself. The UFC strawweight champion has run just about every cut in the book — saunas, sweat suits, salt baths, the works. A cold beer the night before weigh-ins was never on the list, until her longtime coach Jason Parillo handed her one.
Dern, Barboza and Neil Magny swapped their craziest weight-cut stories in a TikTok video, and Dern’s was the one that raised eyebrows. According to the 33-year-old, Parillo told her to drink a beer the night before a weigh-in because she was dangerously close to missing weight.
My coach, Parillo, he had me have a beer on the night before because it helps you, it dehydrates you, and you go pee more. I mean, my weight was, like, very close, and he said, ‘Hey, have this beer.’ And so he had me have like a big IPA, and I made weight.
– Mackenzie Dern –
The plan, then, was simple: crack open a big IPA, let the alcohol do its thing, and step on the scale a little lighter.
Why The Beer Weight Cut Actually Works
There is a genuine mechanism behind the madness. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it makes you urinate more and shed fluid quickly. For a fighter already drained close to the limit, that temporary drop in water weight can be just enough to get them across the line on the scale.
The catch is that it is not a harmless trick. UFC athletes already push dehydration to the edge during a cut, and throwing alcohol into the mix can deepen that dehydration, throw off electrolyte balance and raise the risk of serious complications. There is no explicit UFC rule banning alcohol during a weight cut, but a beer moving the number down does not make it a safe strategy.
Dern is not the only fighter who reaches for a drink. Ilia Topuria has said he enjoys a glass of red wine before weigh-ins as part of his routine. The difference is intent: Topuria’s is a habit built into his weight management, while Dern’s sounds like a last-minute rescue when she was already on the edge.
@bleacherreport She drank a beer the night before weigh-ins? 😭 #ufc #mma #mixedmartialarts#iangarry#islammakhachev ♬ original sound – bleacherreport
‘Pass Out, Come Back, Keep Going’
Dern was not the only one in the video with a wild story. Edson Barboza’s answer to the weirdest thing he has done to make weight was almost too casual.
Pass out, come back, keep going.
– Edson Barboza –
Passing out mid-cut is a terrifying sign that something is badly wrong, yet fighters get so locked on the number that they simply keep pushing.
Magny, meanwhile, turned his car into a makeshift sauna on the drive to weigh-ins.
I used to drive in my car to the venue with the heat on, full blast, and the sauna suit, trying to sweat in my car to make the last bit of pounds on the way to weigh-ins.
– Neil Magny –
Picture sitting in traffic in a sauna suit with the heater cranked, knowing there is a scale waiting at the end of the trip. For Magny, that was just part of getting down to the number.
From Beer Hack To Strawweight Title Defense
The beer weight cut is now a footnote in a bigger week for Dern. On Saturday night at UFC 330 in Philadelphia, she defended her strawweight title against Gillian Robertson by unanimous decision — 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 — making the first defense of the belt she claimed against Virna Jandiroba at UFC 321.
It was a fitting result for a fighter who built her reputation on the mats long before she ever held a UFC belt. Dern is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion and the daughter of surfing legend Wellington “Duda” Dern, and she spent much of the Robertson fight hunting submissions from top position.
Robertson, who holds the UFC record for most submission wins by a female fighter, was saved by the bell in the opening round before Dern controlled the middle rounds.
Dern wanted the tap and said so plainly afterwards: “I wanted to get the submission with Gillian. I definitely wanted to submit her. That was the goal.” She did not get it, but she left Philadelphia with the belt still around her waist — and with one of the most talked-about weight-cut confessions in recent memory.
