Joshua Burkman Believes Move to Lightweight Could Add 5-10 Years to MMA Career

Joshua Burkman made his lightweight debut against K.J. Noons at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 6, and while “The People’s Warrior” got the unanimous decision victory that evening, the overall experience was not a pleasant one for the 41-fight veteran. “Last fight I hadn’t weighed 155 pounds since eighth grade. That’s the first time I’ve weighed that in over 20 years,” Burkman said during an appearance on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “I think that when I went to Vegas I was 180 pounds…When I got to Vegas my body just didn’t want to go under 175 pounds. I was doing everything I normally do at 170 pounds except for my body didn’t want to cut the weight. So the day before weigh-ins I was still 175 pounds. That night I had to go and start cutting weight, and I was 173 after not eating pretty much all day. It was 18 pounds in about 12 hours is what it was.” Somehow, Burkman tipped the scales at 156 pounds and outworked Noons over the course of three rounds the following evening, ending an eight-year drought between Octagon triumphs. Burkman expects both his weight cut and performance to be improved this time around as he faces Paul Felder in a featured 155-pound tilt at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas on Sunday. The evening’s main card, headlined by a bantamweight clash between Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt, airs on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. “The chemistry and makeup of my body changed after that weight cut. I became a little bit of a smaller human being to where I haven’t got above 180, really 185 pounds since that fight, where before I’d get back to [190]…I started that training camp at 192 pounds,” he said. “I trained really about 180 pounds this …

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