UFC weight classes

cowboyronnie · Post #1 » by **cowboyronnie** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:14 pm

1. The UFC desperately needs a Junior WW division, between 155 and 170. In a conditioning sport with grappling, men are going to fall into the 150-170 range predominantly. To have only 2 options on either end is unfair to the fighters.

I understand it's way easier to market two stacked divisions (and they are stakced), but this is needed. Fitch, GSP, and Alves are goign to dominate WW for years entirely because of their size, and no one who doesn't walk-in at 183-185 is going to have much of a chance against them. That leaves a lot of guys out in the cold, needing to drop a huge amount of muscle mass jsut to get down to the next division. It was sad looking at how much muscle Diego lost, legit muscle. His back was skin and bone.

2. There needs to be a more concerted effort to make 145 a legit option for certain 155ers to drop to. There are still super talented guys who are negating all thier potential because of muscle-boundedness. Sherk, Stevenson and even Serra need to be at 145. You need long, loose muscles in order to strike with the variety now needed in MMA. Tons of guys have dropped divisions between LHW and LW, only two that I can think of from LW to 145 (Curran and Pulver). It's hindering the sport.

cowboyronnie · Post #2 » by **cowboyronnie** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:17 pm

Franklin and Nate are the only two muscular guys I can think of still successful in the UFC - the only two with a V-shape of mass, anyways. Physiologically, I think MW is the only division where that's possible. Unless you're 6'3''+, you're to require muscle to fit into a 185 body. So they're able to get away with it. But I don't see any of the lower divisions being amenable to the ground-and-pounder phsyique for much longer. Ortiz, Hughes, Sherk...that era is over.

Cammo101 · Post #3 » by **Cammo101** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:53 pm

I see no reason to ad another division, though I do agree that a handful of 155 pounders need to move down. Frankie Edgar for example is way too small for 155 and would be an excellent fight with Urijah. Stevenson as well is pretty small for 155.

Post #4 » by **CPT** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:52 am

If anything, it would make more sense to do 155, 165, 175, 185 instead of 155, 170, 185, but I'm fine with the way it is.

I suppose the divisions are deep enough to handle it, but I'd still like to see all of the fights at 155 and 170, without taking a bunch of them away by throwing in a division in the middle.

Also, no matter what the weight class is, you're always going to have guys who are big weight cutters. If you have a division at 165, there will still be guys walking into the cage at 185. If guys can't compete physically, then make up the difference with technique. If they can't do that, then....well, every fight needs a loser, right?

2009NBAChamps · Post #5 » by **2009NBAChamps** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:40 am

While it might even out the competition, I don't know if it makes sense for the UFC business wise.

It's pretty hard to market so many different champions, and I think by having so many different classes, there's going to be a lot more crossover and possibly champion vs. champion.

Also, there will always be guys with an advantage in weight going into fights regardless of adding more classes.

cowboyronnie · Post #6 » by **cowboyronnie** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 7:36 am

GSP, FITCH, ALVES

They don't have an advantage, they have a monopoly. The three best, the three biggest.

Post #7 » by **Chach** » Mon Mar 2, 2009 7:46 pm

The more champs you have, the easier it will be to have a "marquee" name for events. The UFC seems like they want to be doing 12-15 UFC events and 5-6 FNL events a years. You don't need title fights on the FNL but having more champs would reduce the number of Henderson vs Franklin headline fight cards.

If I could re-align the weight classes, I would do:
146-155 lightweight
156-165 new class, junior welterweight?
166-175 welterweight
176-190 middleweight
191-210 light heavyweight
211-230 heavyweight
231-265 super heavyweight

The heavyweight division is starting to see the same statification as the welterweight division. having a 60 pound gap is going to have the division run by the Lesnar/Mir/Carwins of the world while smaller guys who could cut to LHW but there are guys that are Couture's size who might have trouble dropping to LHW regularly but don't stand a chance against someone Lesnar's size. The weight advantage tends to be more significant at lower weight classes and you could see see guys like GSP and Alves cutting to the junior WW class but Alves would be cutting 35-40 pounds so I would expect to see him cutting to the 175 limit, which is already a big enough cut. mahalo
~Chach~