UFC 278: How Altitude Affects Fighter Performance
‘my body just wasn’t reacting how it was meant to react, […] I don’t know whether it was the altitude or what. Even when I was backstage watching other guys fight on TV, everyone was getting tired and gassing out, like Luke and everybody. Why’s everyone getting tired?’ ~ Leon Edwards
UFC 278 brought us many memorable moments and highlights. Dvalishvili cemented his place in the top 5 rankings with a huge win over Jose Aldo, the barn burner that was Rockhold vs Costa, and the head kick heard around the world that left the belt firmly wrapped around Leon Edwards.
However, one thing stuck out to a lot of fans across the fights, a lot of the fighters looked really tired, far more than they usually would. Leon Edwards went from being the first person (officially) to take down Usman, and even move to back control, to being dominated by Usman’s wrestling for three and a half rounds. Luke Rockhold finished the first round of his war with Paulo Costa with his hands on his knees and Daniel Cormier commented ‘Rockhold looks tired though, his mouth is wide open,’ after the first four minutes.
The new champ, Leon Edwards, addressed it at the post-fight press conference saying ‘my body just wasn’t reacting how it was meant to react, […] I don’t know whether it was the altitude or what. Even when I was backstage watching other guys fight on TV, everyone was getting tired and gassing out, like Luke and everybody. Why’s everyone getting tired?’
So why was everyone gassing out so quickly? The answer lies in the location chosen for UFC 278, Salt Lake City in the mountains of Utah.
How does altitude effect performance?
Cardiovascular performance is greatly inhibited at higher altitudes as the oxygen level decreases and the air thins the higher above sea level you travel. Oxygen levels effect more than just cardiovascular fitness, it also has a major affect on muscular endurance. As oxygenation within muscles decreases (due to extraneous use) lactic acid builds within the muscles causing fatigue, and in order for those muscles to recover freshly oxygenated blood needs to flow to the effected areas. However, due to the altitude and thinner air, the muscles will not recover as well and will fatigue faster, making strikes less powerful and grappling and wrestling even more taxing than it already is.
Las Vegas, where the majority of UFC events are held, has an average elevation of 2000 feet above sea level. Abu Dhabi has an average elevation of just 88 feet, and New York has an average of 32 feet. Salt Lake City, the host of UFC 278, has an average elevation of 4255 feet. This is just over 2x that of Las Vegas, and 132x the elevation of New York. As a result, a lot of fighters’ performances were affected by the drastic difference in oxygen level.
However, this is something that fighters can prepare for. The process of adjusting to a new altitude is called acclimatization and generally takes around one to three days. Although, this figure does not consider the extreme physical demands of Mixed Martial Arts. To prepare for his bout with Yair Rodriguez back in 2019, Jeremy Stephens spent around $30k living and training in a house in Zacatecas, Mexico for his entire fight camp. He did this to acclimatize to Mexico City’s altitude of 7,382 feet above sea level, spending six weeks adjusting his body to the city’s drastically reduced oxygen levels.
Has altitude effected fighters’ performances before?
This is definitely not the first time a UFC event has been affected by its host city’s altitude. UFC 135 in Denver, Colorado saw several of the fights hampered by the elevation, Browne vs Broughton, Assuncao vs Yagin, and most notably, Hunt vs Rothwell. ‘Big’ Ben Rothwell even said he ‘didn’t feel like his body reacted the same way it had in lower altitudes’, after an elbow from Mark hunt opened a cut above his right eye.
The most infamous example of this though comes from UFC 188, held in Mexico City. The headline featured Cain Velasquez, often referred to as ‘Cardio Cain’ for his impressive conditioning, face off against Fabricio Werdum. The fight left ‘Cardio Cane’ being remembered as ‘Sea Level Cain’ due to how quickly he gassed out from Mexico City’s altitude.
Will this happen again?
Unless you’re Dana White or Sean Shelby, it’s impossible to say if the UFC will continue hosting events at such high altitudes, especially with the recent additions of the UFC Apex in Nevada and the increasing list of events being held in Abu Dhabi. While it can have a drastic effect on fighters’ performances, it would also be very sad to see cities across the world blacklisted due to their altitude.
