Why does the 126 pound division lack talent, or even fighters?

FlowchartKen

Banned
Banned
Joined
Jul 9, 2016
Messages
655
Reaction score
0
It's a known thing, low talent pool in Mighty Mouse's division, not many fighters - but why?

For the boxing fans here, you'll obviously know 126 is boxing's featherweight division. Needless to say, featherweight is a classic division in boxing, home to some of the best fighters ever.

Henry Armstrong, Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez, Salvador Sanchez, Sandy Saddler, Willie Pep, and then more recently Morales and Barrera, and Marquez and Pacquiao. Even Floyd started his career at super featherweight, only 4 pounds up.

So certainly no lack of talent there, why aren't there more elite 126 pounders in MMA?
 
It's a known thing, low talent pool in Mighty Mouse's division, not many fighters - but why?

For the boxing fans here, you'll obviously know 126 is boxing's featherweight division. Needless to say, featherweight is a classic division in boxing, home to some of the best fighters ever.

Henry Armstrong, Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez, Salvador Sanchez, Sandy Saddler, Willie Pep, and then more recently Morales and Barrera, and Marquez and Pacquiao. Even Floyd started his career at super featherweight, only 4 pounds up.

So certainly no lack of talent there, why aren't there more elite 126 pounders in MMA?

I think they are "elite", it's just that Johnson is one of the all-timers, so he has a way of making them look amateurish, at times. The only exciting thing that can happen in that division is if Dillashaw moves down to challenge, otherwise, it's cleaned out, in my opinion. Demetrius is just too good.
 
Cause MMA isn't as popular among small Hispanics.
 
The division you speak of doesn't exist.
 
Why are you calling it the 126 pound division?

The extra pound allowance doesn't apply to all fights.
 
I think they are "elite", it's just that Johnson is one of the all-timers, so he has a way of making them look amateurish, at times. The only exciting thing that can happen in that division is if Dillashaw moves down to challenge, otherwise, it's cleaned out, in my opinion. Demetrius is just too good.

I don't think it's much to do with that tbh. In their other fights it's clear enough they're not on the level of not only DJ, but the other best fighters in the UFC.
 
Mighty Mouse makes the division look like it lacks talent.

But these guys he's making look amateur are great fighters by most metrics. There are less guys in the division because men are generally 5'4" and 130 pounds.
 
Why are you calling it the 126 pound division?

The extra pound allowance doesn't apply to all fights.

I actually completely forgot it's 125 and not 126, probably because of the extra pound.

Either way, it's splitting hairs, it's essentially featherweight in boxing.
 
Cause MMA isn't as popular among small Hispanics.

I think it is largely this. Probably significantly more hispanics and asians go into boxing.

Having said that, there's a fair share of all time great black and white featherweights in boxing, so it's not just that.
 
On a skill vs skill basis, they are some of the most complete fighters in the sport. Watch them in the scramble, they are very skilled for the most part.

DJ is just that good.
 
On a skill vs skill basis, they are some of the most complete fighters in the sport. Watch them in the scramble, they are very skilled for the most part.

DJ is just that good.

Dunno man, even Benevidez and Dodson don't look great to me. Good, yeah, but far from the best fighters in the sport.

Same with Cejudo, he's decent and talented, but fairly basic and not even close to being an elite UFC fighter.

I feel like the division should be better.
 
Dunno man, even Benevidez and Dodson don't look great to me. Good, yeah, but far from the best fighters in the sport.

Same with Cejudo, he's decent and talented, but fairly basic and not even close to being an elite UFC fighter.

I feel like the division should be better.

Dodson moved up and lost a dicey decision to Lineker, so he's legit, in my book. Benevidez beats up on pretty much everyone except for Demetrius. Cejudo is an Olympic wrestler and looked out of place against DJ. There's plenty of talent, it just doesn't match that of Mighty Mouse. Even though he's tiny, Demetrius has what it takes to move up and challenge, I just wish that defense streak wasn't so important to him.
 
Dunno man, even Benevidez and Dodson don't look great to me. Good, yeah, but far from the best fighters in the sport.

Same with Cejudo, he's decent and talented, but fairly basic and not even close to being an elite UFC fighter.

I feel like the division should be better.

You know what...I feel you, man. The argument could be made that some of the top guys are a little one dimensional. We don't really see the kind of well-roundedness of the top 3 BW or FW for example...

It has a lot to do with the division being quite young. When you factor in that it's very low drawing too, it doesn't help encourage talented athletes to pursue it..

A breakout star would fix that, though. Think of all the greats you mentioned. They're there because of the success of their predecessors.
 
MMA is still green. Even in the realm of boxing, there are more well known cruiserweights, middleweights, heavyweights or welterweights compared to flyweights. If MMA had been around and popular as long as boxing, we'd probably see the same numbers. So it's the same ratio, just different numbers. No, heavyweights aren't the most popular, but with both boxing and MMA, the most interest is usually at the middle of the spectrum, not the highest or the lowest. Heavyweight and flyweight seem like the most stale divisions in both sports. And just for reference, by the time boxers like Manny, Floyd and Marquez were household names, I think they'd already outgrown flyweight into the welterweight range.
 
Because there aren't many men that are 5'3 125 lbs

and most of the ones that are probably don't consider being a pro fighter as a great option
 
You know what...I feel you, man. The argument could be made that some of the top guys are a little one dimensional. We don't really see the kind of well-roundedness of the top 3 BW or FW for example...
Yeah Cejudo seems really unimpressive to me, maybe one of the least impressive top 5's in the UFC including the women. Even against the unknown guys he fought at 125 before Formiga he never impressed.

Will eat words if he somehow destroys Joe B lol.
 
Because there aren't many men that are 5'3 125 lbs

and most of the ones that are probably don't consider being a pro fighter as a great option

Asian-body-odor.jpg
 
when's the last time you saw a 125lb man in real life?
I could practically be one, 5'10 150 (which is within range to cut to FLW...)

A better question would be how many 5'4 men you see since most guys fighting at FLW aren't 'tall', skinny twigs lol.
 
Because grown men shouldn't be killing themselves to lose that much weight?
 
Back
Top