UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz claims the promotion’s light heavyweight division was made for him, so naturally, he’s never had a problem making the limit.

Tonight’s Bellator 131 headliner puts it like this: “When the UFC first started making weight classes, (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva asked me what weight did I want to be, because I was the champ at the time. I said 205 (pounds) would be perfect for me. I walk around at 220, 225, and cutting the 20 pounds is really easy. When I was in college, I kind of mastered it.”

And so it went. Ortiz, a former collegiate wrestler, never struggled to make weight for his more than two dozen fights in the division. Others in lighter divisions haven’t been so lucky.

As the competition has grown stiffer in MMA, dramatic cuts become more commonplace, as have misses at the scale. The sight of a miserable fighter watching the numbers, too weak to muster any enthusiasm, is ever-present.

By now, the issue has bled over to all the major MMA promotions. On Friday, UFC vet Melvin Guillard came in nearly four pounds overweight for what was supposed to be a WSOF 15 title bout with champ Justin Gaethje. WSOF was forced to make its co-headliner a non-title affair, and Guillard was fined 50 percent of his purse.

Ortiz said he’s got his weight-cutting regimen down to a science and adds fighters who struggle are simply out of shape when they start the process.

“I always eat every single day and maintain and watch what I eat,” he said. “I cut the weight down, and right after weigh-ins, I’m good.”

Asked for his opinion on a rumored shift in the California State Athletic Commission’s weigh-in rules, which would prohibit a fighter from cutting above a certain percentage of his weight on the week of a bout, he said it wouldn’t have an affect on him.

“I think that really goes to the guys that don’t know how to cut weight, or that cut weight out of shape,” Ortiz said. “You can’t do that. You’ve got to be in great cardio shape to cut the weight.

“(If the rules changed), I’d probably start cutting from 215 pounds, but that’s fine. I like to put a little more muscle on, so when I do cut the weight, it’s just water weight. I’m not cutting muscle or burning anything in my body besides water. I just put it right back on when it’s fight time. I’ve mastered this over the last 17 years.”

The increased prevalence of weight cutting has led to a concurrent rise in the use of nutritionists, some of whom have become stars in their own right in the MMA world.

Today, the most visible personality in the business is Mike Dolce, whose book, “The Dolce Diet,” is a foundation of a program he’s used to tutor dozens of MMA athletes looking to get an edge in the process. Dolce currently works with two UFC champions: Johny Hendricks and Ronda Rousey.

Not all of Dolce’s clients have endorsed his work, however. This past month, former UFC champ B.J. Penn accused the nutrition guru of underfeeding him in advance of a July rematch with Frankie Edgar. Dolce, in turn, said he did his job and accused Penn of throwing him under the bus after a loss.

Ortiz has never worked with Dolce but said he would never use a consultant to help him shed weight.

“Guys like Dolce, they’re bodybuilder weight-cutters,” he said. “It’s totally different. To compete at wrestling and jiu-jitsu, you can’t cut weight like that. I talked to B.J. Penn about the way he had him cutting weight. You don’t do it like that. If you’re a bodybuilder, yes, cool. (Dolce) knows what he’s doing with bodybuilders. But when was the last time Mike Dolce stepped into the cage and fought? He doesn’t know.

“He’s just doing what he thinks bodybuilders do, and it bothers me that people go to Mike Dolce to cut weight when he cuts weight for bodybuilders, for people who want to look shredded, and not like a top athlete. That’s the wrong recipe. You’ve got to go by somebody who’s fought in the cage or wrestled at the highest division.”

Ortiz dismissed Dolce’s work with Hendricks and Rousey, saying the fighters already knew how to cut weight and adding “the UFC just wanted to make him a superstar by selling merchandise and getting big gyms. It’s all a marketing tool. The guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Reached in Mexico City, where he was in town to roll out his UFC Fit program in Mexico ahead of Saturday’s UFC 180 event, Dolce stated he was “collateral” in Ortiz’s bad feelings toward the UFC.

“I don’t personally know Tito, and Tito does not personally know me,” he said. “Tito’s statements prove he knows absolutely nothing about my business, my athletes, my career, or what I do. I have fought professionally over 20 times in MMA, competing on Season 7 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ I coached ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ as an assistant coach on three separate seasons. I’ve competed as a high school and Division I college scholarship wrestler, as well as jiu-jitsu tournaments, amateur boxing, and organized powerlifting. The one thing I’ve never been associated with is bodybuilding. I’ve never worked with a bodybuilder, I’ve never been a bodybuilder, and I’ve never body-built myself.

“My athletes are not known for being ripped. We don’t care how we look on the scale. Johny Hendricks will never be confused as being a ripped athlete. But he is a world champion. Hendricks has stated he has never felt better in his MMA or wrestling career until he started doing the Dolce Diet, and that he wished he followed my program while competing as an amateur wrestler. Ronda Rousey has said multiple times that I’ve helped revolutionize her career. Before she started working with me, she did not know how to truly cut weight in a healthy manner.

“So Tito’s statement are completely wrong, out of context and it seems that he has more of an issue attacking the UFC, where I seem to be collateral in his issue with the company.

“The Dolce Diet is a Las Vegas based corporation with office space in Summerlin, (Nevada). On my staff, I have Registered Dietitian Nutritionists, licensed by the state of Nevada, as well as employees who hold Master of Science degrees in Exercise Physiology. We blend cutting edge science with the experience of what is truly effective at the highest levels of sport. Tito’s statements are deluded and defamatory.”

On Friday, Ortiz (17-11-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who’s two months away from 40, stepped onto the scale yet another time, weighing in for a headliner at Bellator 131 opposite rival Stephan Bonnar (15-8 MMA, 0-0 UFC). He made weight, flexing for cameras, wearing a T-shirt bearing his face that said “Most Wanted.”

He looked far from miserable.

For more on Bellator 131, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.