Issue 132

George Lockhart is likely the nutrition expert behind your favorite fighter – and he’s also the man with a plan to make Rousey vs. Cyborg a reality.

When Cris ‘Cyborg’ and Ronda Rousey finally square off in the biggest fight in the history of women’s MMA, one of the key players involved in making it happen probably won’t even be inside the arena.

Nutrition guru George Lockhart began working with the Invicta FC featherweight champion at the turn of the year, and is the man solely responsible in making the once thought impossible, possible: taking the Brazilian destroyer down from 145lb to 135lb to face ‘Rowdy’.

Lockhart’s name may be familiar to UFC fanboys due to his brief appearance on season 16 of The Ultimate Fighter, where he lost to Bristol Marunde in the prelims. He also ran up an 1l-7 pro slate as a welterweight, but his real success came through planning weight cuts for long-time Marine corps buddy Brian Stann.

Today, he’s arguably the most sought-after performance nutritionist in the sport, working with the likes of Jon Jones, Rory MacDonald, Rafael dos Anjos and literally hundreds more. In fact, out in Manila recently, at UFC Fight Night 66, he actually orchestrated simultaneous weight cuts for both rival headliners Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber.

“That was cool but a little awkward,” Lockhart admits to FO. “The UFC literally had them in rooms next to one another, and I was coming out of one door and going into the next. It was bizarre. But we got it done and both those guys were really cool and put on a great show.

“Urijah was moving up and Frankie is a former lightweight champ, so most people would think they had totally different weight cuts. But actually they were pretty similar. Frankie is impeccable in just about everything he does. When it comes to cutting weight he’s so easy to work with, and the same goes for Urijah. But actually, out in the Philippines in the final few days, Urijah ended up needing to lose more than Frankie.”

Lockhart’s approach to shedding pounds is scientific and mathematical. And while he insists he can get anybody to any feasible number on the scales, making weight and still being strong and powerful is what matters most, which is why he’s taking things gradually with Cyborg.

“Everything I do is based on math. For instance, let’s say I’ve got two guys who are 200lb and 10% body fat, but one stands all day and the other sits all day. Or if one guy is 10% body fat and the other is 20%, it’s all about the math. It’s all based on activity and macronutrient ratios. 

“When I first started, I knew I would only be able to work with a very small amount of fighters because of the amount of work involved. But over the last two years I’ve worked out so many algorithms based on a series of questions and activities, that I can apply it to any fighter. 

“For example, I’ve been working with Dustin Poirier for six years and I rarely even talk to the guy. He just follows the program. It tells him what he needs to eat, when he needs to eat and how much, and I maybe just get a phone call in the final week asking about this or that. 

“But that’s what makes it so cool. And that’s why today I’m able to work with literally thousands of fighters. And then there are the small few, like Frankie and Urijah, for whom I will fly out to be with them for the week of the fight.”

Lockhart has built everything through recommendation, initially from Stann, and more recently directly through the UFC. Right now he works with: Greg Jackson’s team in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tristar in Montreal, Canada; Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, as well as Cyborg and the team at Kings MMA in Huntington Beach in the Golden State. And he just picked up Korean Top Team too.

“That’s one of the things I love about MMA,” he says. “It’s such a small community that when people find something that’s working it kind of spreads, and a lot of people see what we’re doing and they’re liking it. The phone never stops ringing.”

It was one such recommendation that led to Lockhart teaming up with Cyborg. He met with her team earlier this year, explained how he was going to help her drop the additional 10lb required to make bantamweight and the pair haven’t looked back since.

 “They really wanted to know how I was going to do it, how I was planning on getting her down to bantamweight to fight Ronda,” he recalls. “I just explained it to them, sticking with the science, and they invited me out to do an assessment on her and everything went really well. They took me in and we work well together. It’s a strong team.”

So, has Cyborg made 135lb already behind closed doors? “No, I don’t actually believe in test cuts. It’s all about the numbers and comes down to a mathematical equation. If someone has a lot of muscle people may say they can’t cut down to make a lower weight. But the truth is the more muscle you have, the more weight you can cut, because muscle is 70-75% water. It’s actually easier to cut weight if you’re a muscular person versus a fat person.

“Obviously, when you cut weight you don’t want to be drawing water out of the vital organs. The way we cut the weight is going to be the biggest thing. I want Cris to not only be as big and powerful as she is now up at 145lb, but I want her to be even faster and stronger when 10lb lighter. 

“We’ve worked with guys like Kenny Florian. When he was cutting weight he actually felt stronger. And people don’t realize how insane that is. But it can happen.

“When I first met with Cris I knew it was going to take time. But when I first saw her and took in her athletic ability, her mindset and the team around her – those were the big things that tell me how successful the cut can be.”

He adds: “Will she be as destructive as a 135lb fighter? Absolutely. And you know what, I wouldn’t want to take her down to bantamweight unless I was sure of that. I think fighting Ronda she has to be at her prime, and if she’s at 80% fighting Ronda and not able to put in the performance everybody wants, what’s the point in that?”