Veteran MMA Fighter Reportedly Drains Blood to Make Weight for Fight

A veteran MMA fighter reportedly went to some extreme lengths in order to make weight for his scheduled fight at ACA 205 this week.

Following last Saturday’s UFC 329 card that closed out with an anticlimactic rematch between Conor McGregor and Max Holloway, this weekend offers another loaded slate of combat sports action with events like UFC Oklahoma City, ONE Fight Night 45, RIZIN Landmark 15, PFL Austin, and plenty more.

Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) will also be in action on Friday with ACA 205, which will see the top Russian MMA promotion make the trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan for a card featuring two title fights at the top of the bill.

Mansur Khatuev Reportedly Drains Blood to Make Weight for ACA 205

ACA 205 featured a total of 15 scheduled bouts as of the start of fight week, but weigh-in day for the event unfortunately saw several fighters experience issues on the scale.

Artem Reznikov vs. Zaur Gadzhiev and Bagdos Olzhabay vs. Shamil Basayaev look all set to go ahead after both Reznikov and Basayaev came in heavy, but the bigger news out of weigh-in day for ACA 205 is the extreme measures Mansur Khatuev allegedly took to make weight.

According to Vestnik MMA, Khatuev shaved both his head and all of his body hair off, which is a drastic but not unheard-of method of making weight for fighters that are close to hitting the limit for their weight class.

In a significantly more extreme measure, Khatuev allegedly drained half a liter of blood in order to hit the bantamweight limit for his matchup with German Barsegyan.

😱Слить пол литра крови, чтобы сделать вес, как вам такое? Подробности и штрафы по итогам взвешивания перед #ACA205:

⚠️ Артём Резников не сделал вес, перевес составил 1,95 кг, если бы он составил 2кг Заур был в праве отказаться от поединка, при этом Гаджиев готов был принять и… pic.twitter.com/xEvjpkqfEU
— Вестник ММА (@VestnikMMA) July 16, 2026

"Mansur Khatuev, to make weight, went to extreme measures: he shaved off all his body hair and, in the literal sense, drained half a liter of blood from a vein."

The matchup between Khatuev and Barsegyan shockingly looks like it’s still set to go ahead, and MMA fans will be hoping that “Malysh” hasn’t put himself in any extra danger with his unorthodox method of making weight.

24-Fight MMA Veteran Moved Up to Bantamweight in January

Boasting a 16-6 record in his professional MMA career, the vast majority of Khatuev’s fights have come under the ACA banner.

A win over future UFC veteran Felipe Bunes in 2019 brought his record to a perfect 8-0 and earned Khatuev a flyweight title shot at ACA 104, where he dropped a decision to another unbeaten talent in Azamat Kerefov.

That loss kicked off a difficult 1-4 stretch for the Russian, but he’s currently on a 7-2 run dating back to late 2022 and is coming off a split decision loss to Kairat Akhmetov in his bantamweight debut at ACA 198.

Khatuev’s matchup with Barsegyan will take place as part of the prelim card for ACA 205, and the event will close out with a main event between undefeated ACA Light Heavyweight Champion Muslim Magomedov and Elmar Gasanov.

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