What does it take to successfully defend the UFC lightweight and bantamweight titles?

At least an extra 20 pounds.

Islam Makhachev won his UFC 311 fight by submitting Renato Moicano in the first round. He weighed 178 pounds, up from 154.5 pounds the day before, according to the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).

Merab Dvalishvili, the 135-pound champion, weighed in at 134 pounds but was 156.8 pounds during his fight against Umar Nurmagomedov at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.

If that sounds like an unfair edge, note that Moicano outweighed Makhachev at 181.8 pounds and Nurmagomedov was identical to Dvalishvili at 156.8.

Weight cutting is a common practice in modern MMA, particularly in the lightweight and lower weight classes, for both male and female fighters. It has become increasingly extreme over the years.

Each of the four men in the main and co-main events stepped into the octagon carrying at least 15 percent more mass than he did roughly 36 hours earlier, with Moicano and Dvalishvili eclipsing 17 percent.

Of the 26 competitors on the card, 11 added at least 13 percent more mass, topped out by flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov jumping from 125.5 pounds to 147.4 (17.45 percent larger) for his decision victory over Clayton Carpenter.

Ulanbekov’s fight-night weight is the largest by a UFC flyweight who made weight since CSAC began recording such data in 2018.

Seven of the 13 bouts at UFC 311, including both championship fights, went off between fighters who were within 4 pounds of one another on fight night — including four in which each fighter had increased their mass by more than 12 percent between weigh-in and the bout.

Reinier de Ridder, a first-round submission winner over Kevin Holland to open the pay-per-view portion of the event, got the victory while possessing a 21.6-pound edge, the largest size gap of the event.

Holland, who has floated between welterweight and middleweight, was originally 183.5 pounds for their 185-pound clash before a relatively small increase to 190, and he was still dwarfed by the 212-pound de Ridder on Saturday.

De Ridder actually weighed more than Jiri Prochazka, the former lightweight champion who defeated fellow ex-champ Jamahal Hill in their 205-pound showdown.

Prochazka, who had toyed with a move down to middleweight, who tipped the scale at 208.2 pounds when he knocked out Hill — who had swelled to 221.8 by the time he reached the cage.

Clearly, the 13.6-pound deficit did not keep Prochazka’s hand from being raised after their thrilling, back-and-forth slugfest.