Few stories in the UFC heavyweight division hit as hard outside the cage as they do inside it. Steven Asplund, the Minnesota-born fighter known as "Concrete," didn't just build a professional record — he rebuilt his entire body first. Before he ever threw a punch as a pro, Asplund carried more than 500 pounds on his 6-foot-5 frame. Today, he steps into the Octagon as a lean, fast-moving heavyweight who has become one of the most talked-about weight loss stories in modern mixed martial arts.
The phrase "Asplund UFC weight loss" has become a common search term for good reason: his transformation is not a marketing gimmick or a short-term fight-week cut. It's a multi-year overhaul of diet, lifestyle, and mindset that turned a struggling concrete worker into a UFC roster fighter. This article breaks down exactly how heavy Asplund was, how old he is, how tall he stands, and how his story fits into the broader — and often misunderstood — world of UFC weight cutting, including how lightweight star Paddy Pimblett manages his own dramatic weight swings.
Who Is Steven Asplund?
Steven Asplund was born on July 16, 1998, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He fights out of McCune's Martial Arts in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, under head coach Derek Getzel, and he shares his "Concrete" nickname with his father, Kevin Asplund, who also competed professionally in MMA. Both father and son work in the concrete trade, and Steven has described his fighting style as a heavier, more physical version of former featherweight champion Max Holloway — high volume, constant forward pressure, and a refusal to let opponents rest.
Asplund turned professional in November 2023 and needed just 11 seconds to finish his debut opponent. He climbed the regional ranks through LFA (Legacy Fighting Alliance), picking up finishes against tough regional heavyweights before landing a statement first-round stoppage on Dana White's Contender Series in 2025. That performance earned him a UFC contract, and he made his Octagon debut in December 2025 with a TKO win over Sean Sharaf.
But long before any of that, Asplund's biggest opponent wasn't another fighter. It was his own scale.
How Heavy Was Steven Asplund?
At his heaviest, Steven Asplund weighed more than 500 pounds — some reports place the figure above 525 pounds. For a man who now competes as a UFC heavyweight around 260 pounds, that means Asplund lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 to 270 pounds over the course of his transformation, essentially shedding the equivalent of an entire second adult from his frame.
This wasn't a fight-camp weight cut in the traditional sense — the kind of rapid, temporary water and food manipulation fighters use in the final days before a weigh-in. Asplund's weight loss was a genuine, sustained lifestyle change that took place over several years, well before he ever considered stepping into a cage professionally. He has spoken openly about being motivated by wanting more time and energy with his daughter, and about the toll his weight was taking on his health and his work as a concrete laborer.
Today, Asplund typically weighs in around 260 to 265 pounds for his fights, comfortably inside the UFC's heavyweight limit of 265 pounds. That means his current fighting weight represents roughly half of what he once weighed at his peak — a transformation that is as much about health and longevity as it is about athletic performance.
Why His Story Resonates Beyond MMA
What makes Asplund's transformation stand out isn't simply the number of pounds lost — plenty of people have lost significant weight without ever competing at the highest level of professional combat sports. It's the fact that he turned a health crisis into an entirely new career, one that requires elite conditioning, discipline, and technical skill on top of the initial weight loss. His story has become a reference point for anyone typing "Asplund UFC weight loss" into a search bar, because it represents something rarer than a typical fighter's fight-week cut: a complete physical reinvention.
How Does UFC Lose Weight?
The phrase "how does UFC lose weight" usually refers to how UFC fighters, in general, manage the weight-cutting process that's built into the sport's competitive structure. Unlike boxing, where weight classes are sometimes more loosely enforced, the UFC requires fighters to make a specific weight limit on the morning before fight night, then compete roughly 24 hours later — often at a body weight noticeably heavier than what they weighed in at.
This process, often called "cutting weight" or "making weight," generally unfolds in phases:
1. Long-Term Weight Management
Most fighters try to stay within a reasonable range of their fighting weight year-round, using structured training camps — typically six to twelve weeks — to gradually reduce body fat through a caloric deficit, resistance training, and cardio conditioning. This phase is similar to how any athlete or bodybuilder would approach a cut: eating slightly fewer calories than they burn, prioritizing protein to preserve muscle, and increasing training volume as the fight approaches.
2. Water and Sodium Manipulation
In the final one to two weeks before a weigh-in, many fighters shift toward manipulating water retention rather than pure fat loss. This often involves temporarily increasing water intake to "flush" the body's water-retention systems, then sharply cutting both water and sodium in the days immediately before weigh-ins. The goal is to trick the body into releasing stored water, which can account for several pounds of rapid, temporary weight loss.
3. The Final Water Cut
In the last 24 to 36 hours before stepping on the scale, fighters commonly eliminate water intake almost entirely and use methods like hot baths, saunas, or sweat suits to lose additional water weight through sweating. This is the most extreme and, according to sports scientists, the most dangerous phase of the process, since severe dehydration can affect cognitive function, kidney health, and cardiovascular stability.
4. Rehydration and Re-feeding
Once a fighter makes weight, the process reverses almost immediately. Fighters and their teams work to rehydrate and replenish glycogen stores as quickly and safely as possible in the roughly 24 hours before the actual fight, often gaining back 15 to 25 pounds before they compete. This is why fighters frequently look dramatically bigger on fight night than they did at the weigh-in the day before.
The UFC has generally recommended that fighters avoid cutting more than about 8 to 10 percent of their body weight through rapid water loss in the days leading into a weigh-in, though enforcement of that guideline varies, and some fighters push well beyond it. The organization has introduced measures over the years, including early weigh-ins for some events and hydration testing in certain commissions, aimed at curbing the most extreme and dangerous cutting practices.
How Does Paddy Pimblett Lose Weight So Fast?
No modern UFC fighter has become more associated with dramatic weight swings than Liverpool's Paddy "The Baddy" Pimblett. Between fights, Pimblett is known for embracing life fully — by his own admission, eating as much as 8,000 calories a day and gaining significant weight between camps. Then, in the weeks before a fight, he reverses course entirely and drops the weight with striking consistency.
Pimblett has been refreshingly candid about his method, and it comes down to a few core principles rather than any secret formula:
A Strict Caloric Deficit
Pimblett has described his approach as straightforward: get into a calorie deficit and stay there. Where he might eat several thousand calories a day between camps, he drops that intake down to roughly 1,400 to 2,000 calories daily during a fight camp, depending on how much weight he needs to lose and how far out he is from the fight.
Structured Meals and a Dedicated Chef
Pimblett credits his longtime chef and friend, Joel McCarthy, with much of his success in cutting weight efficiently. McCarthy structures Pimblett's meals around lean protein and nutrient-dense whole foods, helping ensure that even a reduced-calorie diet still supports recovery and energy during hard training sessions.
Daily Cardio and Walking
Alongside his structured diet, Pimblett incorporates regular low-intensity cardio, including several miles of walking a day, to help create the calorie deficit needed for consistent fat loss without overtaxing his body during intense training blocks.
Water and Sodium Loading
Like most fighters, Pimblett also relies on water manipulation in the final stretch before weigh-ins. By adjusting his water and salt intake, his body temporarily sheds water weight on top of the fat and muscle-sparing weight he has already lost through diet.
Why It Works — And Why Experts Urge Caution
Sports scientists who have studied Pimblett's approach note that his method, while extreme in scale, actually follows established principles of safe weight management: a sustained caloric deficit combined with strategic water manipulation, rather than relying purely on dangerous last-minute dehydration. Still, experts caution that fluctuating by 40 to 50 pounds between fights puts real strain on the body and isn't something recommended for casual athletes to replicate. Before his UFC 314 bout against Michael Chandler, Pimblett dropped roughly 40 pounds over several weeks, ultimately weighing in on the lighter end of his typical range and going on to win by TKO — proof, in his case, that the process worked without sacrificing performance.
How Old Is Asplund UFC?
Steven Asplund was born on July 16, 1998, which makes him 28 years old as of 2026. He's considered a relatively young heavyweight by UFC standards, a division where fighters often peak physically in their early-to-mid thirties due to the added time it typically takes to develop heavyweight power, durability, and technical skill. At 28, with a professional record built largely in the last few years, Asplund is still viewed as a developing prospect with plenty of runway left in his career — assuming his conditioning and durability continue to hold up as he faces tougher UFC-level competition.
How Tall Is Steve Asplund?
Steve Asplund stands approximately 6 feet 5 inches tall (roughly 196 centimeters), giving him a notably long frame even by heavyweight standards. His reach is listed at around 78 inches, which pairs with his height to give him a real range advantage against shorter, stockier heavyweights — a common body type in the division. That combination of height and reach, layered on top of his dramatic weight loss, is part of what makes his current fighting style so unusual: most heavyweights his height are plodding, power-punching specialists, while Asplund's transformation has allowed him to move and strike with a pace and volume that's rare for a fighter his size.
What Asplund's Story Teaches About Sustainable Weight Loss
It's worth separating two very different things that both fall under the umbrella of "UFC weight loss": the rapid, temporary water cutting fighters do in fight week, and the kind of sustained, life-changing transformation Asplund went through before he ever turned pro. His story is closer to what a doctor or nutrition coach would actually recommend to the general public — a gradual reduction in body weight over an extended period, built on consistent habits rather than short-term extremes.
For anyone inspired by his journey, a few broad takeaways stand out:
- Consistency beats intensity. Asplund's weight loss happened over years, not weeks, which likely helped him retain muscle, avoid the health risks associated with rapid weight loss, and build habits that stuck.
- Purpose matters. Asplund has pointed to wanting more time with his daughter and improving his quality of life as major motivators — a reminder that sustainable change is often rooted in something bigger than the scale itself.
- Physical activity followed, rather than preceded, the initial change. His structured training under coach Derek Getzel began after he had already started changing his lifestyle, suggesting the earliest phase of his transformation was driven primarily by diet and daily habits rather than an intense training regimen.
Weight Cutting in the UFC: A Necessary Caution
While stories like Asplund's highlight the positive, health-driven side of weight transformation in combat sports, it's important to note that the rapid, extreme water cuts common in fight week carry real risks. Severe dehydration in the 24 to 36 hours before a weigh-in can affect kidney function, cognitive performance, and cardiovascular health, and several commissions and the UFC itself have taken steps in recent years to reduce the most dangerous practices, including earlier weigh-in windows for some events. Fighters like Paddy Pimblett, who cut large amounts of weight between fights, are often held up as examples of both what's possible and what's risky about the sport's weight-management culture.
Asplund's approach — a gradual, sustained transformation completed largely before his professional career began — stands in useful contrast to the short-term, high-risk cuts that dominate fight week. Both are part of the modern UFC weight loss conversation, but they represent very different paths, with very different implications for long-term health.
Final Thoughts
Steven "Concrete" Asplund's journey from carrying more than 500 pounds to competing as a UFC heavyweight is one of the more compelling transformation stories in the sport today. At 6-foot-5, 28 years old, and now walking around at roughly half his peak body weight, Asplund has turned personal hardship into professional opportunity — all while inheriting his father's nickname and his father's fighting spirit. His story sits alongside more familiar UFC weight-cutting tales, like Paddy Pimblett's dramatic pre-fight drops, as a reminder that "weight loss" in this sport can mean very different things: a rapid, calculated cut for a single fight, or a complete, years-long rebuild of a person's health and identity.
Whichever category a fighter's story falls into, one thing is consistent across the sport: making weight, staying healthy, and performing at an elite level all require discipline that goes far beyond what happens in the days right before a fight.
