All MMA fighters cut weight. How much depends on the individual, but it is common practice for fighters to "diet down" during the weeks leading up to a fight and then dehydrate themselves leading into the official fight weigh-in. The point of this practice is to be a "big man fighting a smaller man" when fight time rolls around, as the fighters rehydrate and load up on nutrients in between weigh-ins and the fight to get as close as they can to a maximum/optimum fighting weight.

The logic is sound, but does this logic still hold up when everyone is doing the same thing? It would then seem that the playing field is relatively level when fighters are cutting similar amounts of weight, yet they continue taxing their bodies with this weight-cutting procedure, perhaps quite unnecessarily.

In certain cases, we see a fighter who is "successfully" able to cut a staggering amount of weight. These fighters do in fact come in slightly larger than their opponents and, in some cases, significantly larger than their opponents - but cases where fighters are able to do this over a long period of time and with success are very rare.

*Here is what our research has yielded in terms of fighters' natural/walk-around weights:
(Not many Heavyweights have to cut to make the 265 lb. weight limit, so we focused on Light Heavyweight and below).

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Ryan Bader: 225-230 lbs. (20-25 lb. cut)
Rashad Evans: 220 lbs. (15 lb. cut)
Forrest Griffin: around 230 lbs. (+/-25 lb. cut)
Jon Jones: 220 (15 lb. cut)
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal: 220-225 lbs. (15-20 lb. cut)
Lyoto Machida: 215 lbs. (10 lb. cut)
Eliot Marshall: 225-230 lbs. (20-25 lb. cut)
Tito Ortiz: 220-225 lbs. (15-20 lb. cut)
Mauricio Rua: 220 lbs. (15 lb. cut)

Rich Franklin: 210 lbs. (15 lb. cut at 195 lb. catch-weight)

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Alan Belcher: 215 lbs. (30 lb. cut)
Michael Bisping: 210 lbs. (25 lb. cut)
CB Dollaway: 210-215 (25-30 lb. cut)
Kyle Noke: around 220 lbs. (35 lb. cut)
Anderson Silva: 220 lbs. (35 lb. cut)
Aaron Simpson: 198 lbs. (13 lb. cut)
Brian Stann: around 210-215 lbs. (25-30 lb. cut)

WELTERWEIGHT
Thiago Alves: 200 lbs. (30 lb. cut)
Charlie Brenneman: 185-190 lbs. (15-20 lb. cut)
Jake Ellenberger: 190-195 lbs. (20-25 lb. cut)
Dan Hardy: 205-210 lbs. (25-30 lb. cut)
Martin Kampmann: 190 lbs. (20 lb. cut)
Paul Kelly: 180-185 lbs. (10-15 lb. cut)
Josh Koscheck: 190 lbs. (20 lb. cut)
Duane Ludwig: 195 lbs. (25 lb. cut)
Rory MacDonald: 195-210 lbs. (25-40 lb. cut)
Pete Spratt: 185-190 lbs. (15-20 lb. cut)
Georges St. Pierre: 190-195 lbs. (20-25 lb. cut)

LIGHTWEIGHT
Donald Cerrone: 170-175 lbs. (15-20 lb. cut)
Mac Danzig: 172 lbs. (17 lb. cut)
Frankie Edgar: 165 lbs. (10 lb. cut)
Joe Lauzon: 172 lbs. (17 lb. cut)
Gray Maynard: 180-185 lbs. (25-30 lb. cut)
Jim Miller: 165 lbs. (10 lb. cut)
Anthony Njokuani: 170-175 lbs. (15-20 lb. cut)
Anthony Pettis: 175 lbs. (20 lb. cut)
Sean Sherk: 175-180 lbs. (20-25 lb. cut)
Jamie Varner: 180 lbs. (25 lb. cut)

FEATHERWEIGHT
Jose Aldo: 158-162 lbs. (13-17 lb. cut)
Leonard Garcia: 170-175 lbs. (25-30 lb. cut)
Pablo Garza: It's a "secret" he likes to keep (unknown lbs. cut)
Mark Hominick: 162 lbs. (17 lb. cut)
Dustin Poirier: 175 lbs. (30 lb. cut)

BANTAMWEIGHT
Joseph Benavidez: 140 lbs. (5 lb. cut)
Brian Bowles: 150 lbs. (15 lb. cut)
Urijah Faber: 153-156 lbs. (18-21 lb. cut)
Demetrious Johnson: 140 lbs. (5 lb. cut)

Plenty of fighters struggle significantly to make weight for each fight, draining and dehydrating their bodies to a dangerous degree, while others do it more easily. When you look at the numbers, though, they would apparently be just as well off staying at their natural weights and fighting the same opponents there. The catch: everyone would have to either agree to stop cutting weight OR it would have to be outlawed altogether. Neither case seems likely.

Do you think we will eventually begin to see a reversal of this weight-cutting trend in MMA?

(*Most information was ascertained directly from the fighters via email/Twitter/text/etc. Supplemental information was drawn from various interviews)