Bellator fighter Daiane Silva has been hospitalized for over a month following a failed weight cut, per recent reports.
29-year-old Silva was scheduled last month to face Eman Almudhaf in a featherweight bout as part of a Bellator card in London, England. The fight was set to be Silva’s first time coming down to the 145-pound limit, as her four previous MMA bouts between professional and amateur appearances saw her fight up at the lightweight limit.
A recent report from Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting has confirmed that Silva suffered an illness due to dehydration in the process of cutting weight for the fight, causing her to be rushed to a hospital and placed into a medically induced coma after suffering kidney failure. Silva reportedly remains in the U.K. hospital, where she is sedated.
Reports have stated that Bellator has flown out a friend of Silva’s to the U.K., allowing them to check up on the fighter.
Bellator/PFL has yet to publicly comment on Silva’s severe injury, with the development only becoming known this week through reports. Per Drake Riggs of Yahoo! Sports’ Uncrowned site, PFL staff have “been told explicitly to not talk about the situation.” When the promotion announced the bout’s cancellation last month, the reason for its departure from the lineup wasn’t specified.
Weight cutting, while a common practice deployed by fighters ahead of nearly every single combat sports competition, has been considered by some to be a flawed system. Many fighters deploy tactics to lose significant amounts of weight in the lead-up to their fight, dehydrating their body in an attempt to make the limits of a weight class.
The weight-cutting process has caused injuries in the past, with some turning fatal. In 2015, ONE Championship fighter Yang Jian Bing passed away due to dehydration while cutting weight. The news of Silva’s hospitalization is just the latest in an ever-growing list of instances where an attempt at weight-cutting left a fighter injured and unable to compete.
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