Julija Stoliarenko attributes fainting at UFC on ESPN 21 weigh-ins to mismanaged weight cut

UFC bantamweight Julija Stoliarenko said she did not have a “bad” weight cut, but she did mismanage it.

It was a scary scene Friday at UFC on ESPN 21 weigh-ins as Stoliarenko collapsed twice while on the scale. The first time, Soliarenko stumbled backward and crashed to the floor hard, only being held upright by the signage behind her. After roughly two-and-a-half minutes of being tended to, UFC and Nevada Athletic Commission officials allowed her to weigh in again.

Stoliarenko made weight at 135.5 pounds, but she fainted a second time. She was held by an official as she dropped to the floor, and briefly lost consciousness and started convulsing. She regathered her senses moments later and eventually was taken off on a stretcher.

In an Instagram video posted Friday, Stoliarenko explained what she believes was the root cause of her body shutting down.

“The problem wasn’t my weight cut, and actually I want to say it was one of the easiest cuts in my career and weight was dropping too fast,” Stoliarenko said. “The main issue, I think, was that I made weight too early.”

According to Stoliarenko, she was on weight at 5 a.m., four hours before the weigh-ins start time, which was too long for her to be dehydrated.

“I just was too long time on weight,” she said. “As everybody knows, when you cut weight you cannot be on this weight for too long, because you’re already on the limits of your dehydration and so on. That was an issue why it all happened.”

At the time of her video, Stoliarenko (9-4-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) said she was fully recovered and would have been OK to fight, but she understands why her fight with Julia Avila was canceled. Stoliarenko apologized to Avila and said she hopes they can rebook the fight at a later date.