Let S be a closed oriented surface of genus at least 2. Using the parameterisation of the deformation space of globally hyperbolic maximal anti-de Sitter structures on S ×R by the cotangent bundle over the Teichmüller space of S, we study the behaviour of these geometric structures along pinching sequences. We show, in particular, that the regular globally hyperbolic anti-de Sitter structures introduced in [Tam18] naturally appear as limiting points.