Thiago Alves gains nearly 30 pounds in three hours after UFC on FX 2 weigh ins

By the time Thiago Alves steps into the cage tonight (March 2, 2012) to face off against Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC on FX 2, which emanates live from the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia, he'll likely be doing it as a light heavyweight.

Not that it matters, but his contest against "The Hitman" was contracted at 170-pounds.

Celebrity nutritional adviser Mike Dolce, founder of the famed "Dolce Diet," was "Down Under" this week to help "The Pitbull" make his mark. The Brazilian has been inconsistent in successfully cutting weight throughout the course of his career, but based on a recent tweet by Dolce himself, he doesn't seem to have any trouble putting it back on.

27 pounds in just three hours, for those of you keeping score at home.

Alves weighed in at 170.5 at Thursday night's weigh in event, and Dolce later tweeted that he was already back up to 197.6. By tonight, who knows what the finally number might be.

I don't want to get on my soapbox here, but weight cutting has been known to be fatal, killing everyone from college wrestlers to professional bodybuilders. The sport of mixed martial arts, still in its infancy, seems to have an air of invulnerability to it, likely based on the simple notion that "Well, nothing bad has happened yet."

Yet.

Fighters cut weight. It's part of the sport and it's not going away. When a weight cut begins several weeks out from a fight and peaks with a few pounds the day of the weigh in, there is little, if any risk involved. But these massive fluctuations -- to go from 200 to 170 and back to 200 -- over the span of a couple of days, puts fighters at risk.

Dolce tweets it like a badge of honor.

Let's also take into consideration the exploitation of the system. A 200-pound fighter is not supposed to be fighting a 170-pound fighter. While it's highly unlikely that Martin Kampmann will show up anywhere near 170 (and may be closer to middleweight), there are plenty of fighters, like former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar, who compete just a few pounds above the contractual limit.

Are we inadvertently punishing them for not doing a better job of exploiting the system?

Let's get some thoughts here, Maniacs, am I missing the mark on this issue (pun intended)? Or do trainers and nutritional advisers have an ethical obligation to tell fighters not whether or not they can cut so much weight, but whether or not they should?

Opinions, please.

See all the UFC on FX 2 weighs in results right here.