IMO, people make too much of a big deal out of how much muscle they supposedly lose during cutting. There’s an irrational fear, when in reality it only really becomes a concern when getting much under 10% or so. For ones like Stu, they don’t lose much muscle at all during contest prep.
At worse, you could lose something like a total of 5lbs of “muscle” getting under 8%, and it’s only in a matter of weeks. If it comes straight back again within weeks, plus more, what’s the big deal?
I think most would be surprised at how much strength/muscle they maintain at leaner levels (if they do it sensibly).