Gallery Photos: Best of T.J. Dillashaw view 113 images

Sam Calavitta is the mind behind T.J. Dillashaw’s first cut to flyweight for Saturday’s title fight with Henry Cejudo at UFC on ESPN+ 1. He was the originator of the idea of moving the bantamweight champ down in weight to pursue a second belt, but it wasn’t a decision made on a whim.

Calavitta, who is the Performance Specialist at The Treigning Lab in Orange County, Calif, is a man of numbers. The former calculus teacher has the credentials in mathematics to back it up, and he has transferred those skills to help MMA fighters such as Dillashaw, Aaron Pico and Juan Archuleta achieve their highest level of potential.

His relationship with Dillashaw (16-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) has strengthened since they met roughly two years ago, and while some are beginning to fret about how the UFC champ looks from the exterior as weigh-ins for his 125-pound debut draw near, Calavitta and everyone else on Dillashaw’s side claim the weight cut is lining up with their incredibly detailed plan.

“This here is probably, in combat sports, the most intricately executed and calculated-out weight cut in the history of it,” Calavitta told MMAjunkie. “This process is not something that’s done overnight. Weight cutting in the industry has been bastardized to salt baths and sauna and starvation and dehydration for 24 hours to 48 hours, and it’s killing folks.

“There’s no calculations, there’s no metabolic process, there’s no high-grade equipment. I understood if this process was going to happen, we needed to have a certain calculated number of time to do it properly.”

Calavitta and Dillashaw first interacted during Season 25 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, and it didn’t take long for their bond to flourish. Dillashaw revealed to Calavitta that he and his wife were struggling to conceive a child, and Calavitta said he saw some “key areas” in Dillashaw life that could require change. The fighter obliged, and less than eight weeks later Dillashaw was set to become a father. Calavitta said he also helped Dillashaw vanquish some health issues including psoriasis.

With the bond between Calavitta and Dillashaw solidified, they begun to work together full time. Like he does with all his athletes, Calavitta kept close tabs on every trackable performance metric for the fighter. According to Calavitta, algorithms he put together based on categories such as diet, sub-strength use, oxygen efficiency, nervous system status, redux reactions, true recovery analysis and several others showed him that Dillashaw could safely drop a division.

So when Dillashaw was in a holding pattern after rival Cody Garbrandt got injured after “TUF 25” to postpone their scheduled bout at UFC 213 in July 2017, Calavitta suggested Dillashaw pursue a bout with then-flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson.

“Everyone in the industry is looking for a single variable, but I’m a mathematician by trade,” Calavitta said. “I account for all variables and I looked at all the variables that I can control in a weight drop. The numbers don’t lie. I’m actually the one who looked at the numbers and told T.J. that I believe it’s feasible to be able to bring him in not just on weight, but stronger, faster and better without ever having missed a meal or a drink. I believed we could do it so I said we should go ahead and challenge (Johnson).”

The Johnson fight never materialized, but the idea of moving down to flyweight has been a constant within Dillashaw’s camp for nearly two years. In fact, Calavitta said there was a partial test cut done when it looked as if a “Mighty Mouse” matchup was headed in the right direction. It went perfectly, he claims, and that’s when there was no doubts Dillashaw could become the first champion to move down in weight and challenge for a second belt.

The champion-vs.-champion fight became reality when Johnson was dethroned by Cejudo (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) at UFC 227 in August. Dillashaw defeated Garbrandt for a second time in the headliner of the same event, and the pair were put on a collision course from that night forward.

Gallery T.J. Dillashaw def. Cody Garbrandt at UFC 227: Best photos view 24 images

Eventually the fight with Cejudo was booked, and although Calavitta said his ideal scenario accounted for 16 weeks to do the cut, they were only given 12. That timeframe was closed even tighter when the fight was moved from Jan. 26 to Jan. 19 due to the cancelation of UFC 233, but Calavitta said it didn’t cause much of a disturbance because Dillashaw was ahead of schedule.

Calavitta said Dillashaw began his training camp at 154 pounds and with eight percent body fat. Every pound shed has been meticulously planned out, but Dillashaw’s coaching staff share a unanimous faith in the fighter’s ability to stay disciplined and not cut a single corner in the process of making weight.

“T.J. is my life’s work,” Dillashaw’s striking coach, Duane Ludwig, told MMAjunkie. “He’s the person I’ve spent the most time investing in and giving back. He is my main pupil and he has laser-like focus on what he needs to do. He’s the epitome of hard work and dedication.”

That hard work and dedication had Dillashaw, 32, feeling in a better state than expected at his first fight week media appearance on Monday, where he reported to being 135 pounds.

“I always knew I would be able to make the weight,” Dillashaw said. “But I’m surprised with how good I feel trying to get down there. It’s because of how professional I took it. The weight cut is already over. It’s been 12 weeks of doing this. Now it’s just some tricks of trying to get the last weight to drop. My diet’s been strict, my workout routine has been strict.”

Although Calavitta assures that Dillashaw’s weight cut is almost perfectly aligned with his pre-camp analysis, he is aware of “real-time factors” that can throw a wrench into the works. Many weight cuts have gone haywire down the stretch, and the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), who sanction the UFC on ESPN+ 1 event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., will be monitoring Dillashaw before and after stepping on the scale at Friday’s official weigh-in.

“All fighters are first seen by NYSAC medical staff on the day of the weigh-in, and they are closely evaluated via weigh-in and pre-fight physicals,” NYSAC officials told MMAjunkie in a written statement. “NYSAC reserves the right to require additional physician’s assessments (in addition to weigh-in or pre-fight physicals) if concerns are raised about potentially severe dehydration or other adverse medical conditions in the days or hours preceding the fight.

“NYSAC allows early weigh-ins and supports safe weight management practices. Our medical practices are designed to identify those who have failed their weight cutting plan and/or anyone impaired by such a plan. Anyone who fits that description will be cared for and likely disqualified.”

No one on Dillashaw’s side is denying that this process has required an additional layer of focus and commitment. Ludwig said he envisions it being a one-off, but the stakes make the sacrifice worthwhile, because Dillashaw has the opportunity to join Daniel Cormier, Conor McGregor and Amanda Nunes as the only simultaneous two-division champions in UFC history. If he wins, however, all signs point to there not being a flyweight belt to defend for long.

Dillashaw, No. 8 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA pound-for-pound rankings, has proven himself as one of the great fighters in the sport during a record-setting tenure at bantamweight, but with a switch in scenery comes the questions of how the weight cut will impact his fight night performance. Coach Ludwig said he’s noticed no dip in Dillashaw’s energy throughout training camp, though, so if the fight goes Cejudo’s way, it won’t be because of the weight cut.

“This has been similar to his past camps, just eating less,” Ludwig said. “He looks faster, he’s still as strong on the pads and looks right when it comes to sparring. He’s not weak, not slow and he’s on point. There really hasn’t been much changes. Oh, we’re going down to 125 and getting a second title? That’s doing an extra round of pads, try a little harder with conditioning and diet. Nothing really changes.”

No matter what is said about Dillashaw’s weight cut, questions and speculation are sure to run rampant until he steps on the scale for an announced weight of 125 pounds or less. Calavitta assured that Dillashaw won’t be in a diminished state when he’s finally standing across the octagon from Cejudo in the ESPN+-streamed headliner on Saturday, and he actually has a good chance of going to bed Thursday evening on weight.

Dillashaw is making the move to fight Cejudo because he wants to leave a mark in UFC history. It could be just the beginning, though, because as Dillashaw and his team have mentioned several times in the lead-up to UFC on ESPN+ 1, the cut down could merely be framework for changing weight classes in the other direction down the line.

“T.J. is basically doing something unprecedented at ’25 to become one of the greatest fighters of all-time,” Calavitta said. “To solidify that legacy I have assured him that we will be able to, mathematically, physiologically and biologically, be able to take him the other direction. I believe T.J.’s plan if all goes well is to go ahead and go on up to 145 because we all believe has the skillset to formidably challenge Max Holloway and be the first-ever three-belt holder and retire as unquestionably the greatest of all-time.”

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