Settling the 170 vs 165/175 debate

Joseph_McBride

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If the ufc adopted 175 & 165 & dropped 170 critics say 165 would ruin 155 & 175. Lets take a look a the potential top 15 in each class. For the sake of the argument lets say GSP vs Khabib will be the inaugural 165 title fight & GSP wins. Conor stays retired and we remove him & Nate because why not? And Max moves to 155 after Ortega win or lose because hes been hinting at it...Tony vs Poirier if Max loses to Ortega. For sake of argument Max wins. Poirier vs Max 2 for vacant belt, #1 Tony gets winner.

145 without Max:

1. Ortega
2. Aldo
3. Edgar
4. Moicano
5. Stephens
6. Zabit
7. Elkins
8. Cub
9. Zombie
10. Emmett
11. Lamas
12. Bektic
13. Mendes
14. Volkanovski
15. Choi

155 lb rankings:

1. Tony
2. Poirier*
3. Holloway*
4. Eddie
5. Barboza
6. Gaethje
7. Pettis
8. Felder
9. Iaquinta
10. Hernandez
11. OAM
12. Gillespie
13. Teymur
14. Taisumov
15. Islam

Dariush, Duffy, Trinaldo among the outside looking in.

165 lb rankings

1. GSP
2. Khabib
3. RDA
4. Lee
5. Masvidal
6. Cowboy
7. Gunnar
8. Chiesa
9. Vick
10. Jouban
11. Yancy
12. Cowboy Oliveira
13. Prazeres
14. Means
15. Perry

175 lb rankings:

1. Woodley
2. Thompson
3. Colby
4. Usman
5. Lawler
6. Till
7. Maia
8. Magny
9. Ponzinibio
10. Edwards
11. Luque
12. Zeleski dos Santos
13. Millender
14. Griffin
15. Condit

Brown & Kim on the outside looking in.

All in all, the top 10s are all very intriguing and it allows guys like Gillespie, Islam, Zeleski, Millender, Luque, etc to get some well-deserved recognition. Divisions in fact not ruined.

Plus alot of these guys can bounce between like RDA & Gunnar from 165 to 175. And if Kelvin gets snuffed out again at 185 he could potentially be a 175 champ. 185 has Adesanya, Costa, & Anders among others who will challenge Whittaker in the coming years.
 
Some good points. Most people fall within that weight range so there's no shortage of quality fighters in those classes. What would the 165 division be called?
 
That's a lot of variables, what is this algebra?!!
 
Every 10 pounds is fine. The 15 pound differences between 170-185 and 20 between 185-205 can be dangerous.
 
I think Tony also moves to 165, he mentioned 170 a lot during his last few interviews and I remember some wierd IG post he made about how much he hated diets and cutting weigh.
 
Every 10 lbs isnt fine.

The reason why everyone is missing weight is because its absurd to ask fighters to fight guys 10 lbs heavier when theyre under 200 lbs.

Should be just like boxing

Theyve been doing this shit for 150 years, they have it down. Every 5 lbs should be different class. Belts need to be decided by outside parties

Yea. If you guys want mma to be legit its not gonna be a fringe sport where you personally can name every champ. Thats just part of it actually becoming legit


As of now we have the biggest steroids problem in all of sports and the worst sports fans ive ever seen.

Were like boxings inbred retarded second cousin.

Ufc needs to die, union needs to happen. Ali act needs to pass.. Until that happens its all downhill bros
 
it's great, people like till gastelum kevin lee wouldn't miss weight anymore and they will be in their proper divisions

@executionermma also made a list like that
 
The ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports) has already approved the weight classes (and added them to the Unified Rules of MMA), and named them. It's just up to each promotion if they want to institute them, and I'd bet the UFC will within the next 12 months.

165 is called Super lightweight and 175 is called Super welterweight, but with the elimination of welterweight (170) I expect 175 to be just called welterweight. Calling 165 Super lightweight makes sense and 195 (if added at some point, though I wouldn't be surprised if itdoesn't happen for a couple of years) would be called Super middleweight.

Moving Welterweight to 175, and adding 165 makes a ton of sense, as does adding 225 (Cruiserweight). I expect that to happen by mid 2019. The UFC adding 195 however does not make sense because 185 and 205 are both thin divisions as is. I expect they'll hold off on adding 195 for a few years until they've built up 185 and 205 and after they've gone through any growing pains/issues with adding 165/175/225.
I agree with everything aside 225. the ufc just doesn't have depth for that. maybe in some 5 years, who knows
 
I’m not mad at anything you said man I just think you were a bit off on who would be in what division

But in general I’m with you, there is enough depth in 145, 155 and 170 to fill multiple divisions
 
New or added weighclasses will still cause fighters to cut weight. It may even lead to fighters cutting even more weight.

Keep the current weightclasses.
 
The ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports) has already approved the weight classes (and added them to the Unified Rules of MMA), and named them. It's just up to each promotion if they want to institute them, and I'd bet the UFC will within the next 12 months.

165 is called Super lightweight and 175 is called Super welterweight, but with the elimination of welterweight (170) I expect 175 to be just called welterweight. Calling 165 Super lightweight makes sense and 195 (if added at some point, though I wouldn't be surprised if itdoesn't happen for a couple of years) would be called Super middleweight.

Moving Welterweight to 175, and adding 165 makes a ton of sense, as does adding 225 (Cruiserweight). I expect that to happen by mid 2019. The UFC adding 195 however does not make sense because 185 and 205 are both thin divisions as is. I expect they'll hold off on adding 195 for a few years until they've built up 185 and 205 and after they've gone through any growing pains/issues with adding 165/175/225.

Thanks for the detailed answer.
I'm not too into the idea of a 225 division though. ThenI you'll see guys who weight 225 fight at 205, and guys up to around 245 at 225. Heavyweight division would be extremely thin.
I love the big vs small heavyweight matchup too. Theres not gonna be a whole lot of talent at 245+ and the Heavyweight division needs to be exciting. Look at boxing.
 
Just have 10 pound increments all the way from 135 - 205 and add a 225 weight class and remove the cap on the Heavyweight limit but introduce something like a body fat percentage threshold that fighters can't be over, no one wants to see two Akebono looking mother fuckers go at it, at least I don't.
 
Made a similar thread about it here
155 > 165 > 175 > 185 is how it should be, the 15 lbs gap between LW and WW makes no sense and fucks up with many guys

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I dont think making 165 and 175 is going to do anything for weight cutting but i do think it will help spread the talent aroind those stacked divisions.
 
I think Tony also moves to 165, he mentioned 170 a lot during his last few interviews and I remember some wierd IG post he made about how much he hated diets and cutting weigh.
Definitely possible. I could see quite a few 155ers trying 165 as well as big 45ers jumping up to 155.

The possible inter-divisional matchup would be great.
 
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