Why are UFC/MMA fighters heavier during the fight when compared to weigh ins? Then,What is the point of weigh ins and weight classes?
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If you’re trying to win a fight against someone, your only goal is to win, and you’d want whatever advantage that you can get. This means that you want to be stronger, faster, have more stamina, etc. than your opponent. To prevent an absolute hulk of a human being from squashing a much smaller opponent, the weight class system exists (because as much as you want to win, there needs to be some fairness for honor and integrity of sport). The weight class system ensures that, assuming that both bodies are capable of training the same amount, their skill would be the determining factor to decide the victor. But people want every advantage over their opponents as possible. If you know that there are a few pounds of weight in your body that is useless, ie. water, liquid, fecal matter, getting rid of that weight to put you in a lower weight class would mean gaining the extra advantage over someone comparably small and less powerful opponent. In order to shed this extra weight, fighters fast for a day or more, not drinking or eating anything, which can decrease this excess weight by a few pounds, enough to bump them down a weight class
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