Change my mind... Middleweight is the premier division of UFC

[The Witcher]

A blind man sees what he wants to see.

No a blind man sees nothing.

 

[ixRanGzeNxi]

It was more of a response to your comment of being competitive doesn’t mean better. Adesanya and costa look promising. Weidman tho 1-4 was never completely outclassed in those fights, they were competitive scraps he always brings it. LW is great I just don’t see the division marching past Conor, khabib and Ferguson as opposed to MW

Yes, because your original post I responded to was using "competitiveness" as your main reason for MW being better than LW. As I mentioned, basically every fight Tony is in is competitive - he is always losing up until he wins. Khabib is on top of the mountain, but he has yet to face consistent top level fighters. My same complaint of Conor would apply to Khabib - they haven't faced top level competition (top 5-10) enough times or consistently enough to really show they are above the rest of the division.

Kevin Lee has all the tools to beat BOTH Khabib and Tony. The depth of the division or competition is also not just defined by the top 5 or even top 10 either. Even though LW top 10 is much deeper and competitive than MW's already, LW has really good fighters even outside of top 10 or even 15.

 

[mikesparrow]

The middleweight division for me is the best division out here in the game today. i know most will argue that lightweight is better. For me there are like 2 top candidates with amazing fighters behind them in lightweight.
I feel middleweight right now will be what the light heavyweight division was when Rampage dethroned Liddell. Timeline from UFC 71 to UFC 128 Pretty title becomes hot potato. Champions at the time included Rampage > Griffin > Evans > Machida > Shogun > Jones. In this time there were killers in belfort, wanderlei, thiago silva (4 fight winning streak with 13-0), strategists in RIch Franklin, Hendo, and Jardine (underrated at the time). It was a glorious time where even if the title wasn't up for grabs a mixture of these matches would main event and no one was upset over it. Things changed with Jones obviously

Looks at the monstrous killers in this division in the middleweight division now. They also seem to match up regularly enough which is amazing in this day and age of the WME era.

Current champ:
Robert Whitaker - The Reaper
He has to contend with all these mofos, narrowly survived against the soldier of God fair play to him

Kelvin Gastelum -
Retired bisping and narrowly defeated Jacare

Israel Adesanya - Stylebender
Has won 4 fights this year alone including his first legit test in brunson

Yoel Yomero - Soldier of God
He has beaten three of the guys here however his fight with jacare is incredibly close, could not get the job done against Whitaker but i would argue he can beat him if they met for a third time. Forever old, forever dangerous

Paulo Costa - The Eraser
Has dispatched four fighters in a row by ko, only John McCarthy has knocked him down

Ronaldo Souza - Jacare
One of the all time great BJJ practitioners, coming off highlight reel win over Weidman

Chris Weidman
Despite having some brutal losses, they are not losses where he is completely outclassed, in fact they are fights where his winning or drawing and he seems to make a fatal error. He beat Gastelum

Luke Rockhold
One of the best grapplers in the game, can beat anyone here except maybe Yoel

Gegard Mousasi (in bellator but can always come back, doesn't seem to have much left in bellator unless he goes LHW)
One of the best complete fighters in the game today

At lightweight i feel like Khabib and Ferguson are above the rest. For some reason fights against GSP, Aksren (welterweight) and Conor rematches are more important to WME. So whats the point of having two great fighters but not having them fight. Because it keeps getting cancelled is the excuse.

I love Poirier, Gaethje, Alvarez (in ONE FC now for good it seems) and Diaz fights. They are incredible but i just don't see them touching the belt soon or beating Khabib or Ferguson. Kevin Lee seems most likely to give those two trouble (he had staph against Ferguson and was doing very well or this could be Ferguson just waiting to get his groove). There is a solid prospect in Dan Hooker, let's see how far he goes. Also let us remember that the main 3 of this division Khabib, Ferguson, Conor fight infrequently. Tony is looking to have 4 fights in three years. Khabib somehow was blessed with an Islamic miracle fighting 5 times in 3 years. Let us not forget how easy it is for him to pull out and how infrequent he once was. Conor does whatever he wants.

So change my mind what division is better and why?

I agree. Lightweight is the 2nd best.

 

[Zabit 145 Goat]

1- Yoel won second fight vs Whittaker
2- LW and FW are better

 

[LetThemBleed]

It’s so stacked in fact that the champ and the top contender are both blown up welterweights

Don't think you can really call a guy whose on a 9 fight win streak, 8 of which are at MW a blown up WW.

 

[drbolony]

that's if you don't count cejudo

I was actually writing 7 and decided to edit since the elimination of FlW isn't official yet. Besides, Cejudo will be defending against TJ.

 

[smiles mma]

I'd say it's the biggest class that is still full of athletic fighters. Lhw has done but mw is stacked with athletes.

 

[Mortal Wombat]

You're right but forgot Anderson Silva.

 

[Mob69]

LW is better, but I agree that MW is pretty special these days. I just wish the elite fighters were physically capable of competing more often. Whittaker, Weidman, Rockhold are all perma-injured. Romero and Jacare are pushing 40.

 

[MMA_enthusiast]

Romero and Jacare are pushing 40.

And they still look good, I argue Romero is over 44 just like Luis Ortiz and Guillermo rigondeaux (obviously I am joking) . A lot of sherdoggers are dogging on guys who are old in the game. Cormier is almost 40 with two belts. T-wood looks like he will be champ til he is 38 (36 now). Werdum was almost 40 when he beat Cain, bisping was 38 when he beat rockhold.

Also don’t forget how injury prone Ferguson and khabib are

 

[RockyLockridge]

Right now its lw but middleweight is right there behind it.

 

[kuka45]

MW is my favourite division.
LW isn't that interesting tbh and don't forget before Conor's "era" they were free tv material.
Khabib is very good, but one-dimensional.
Compare Khabib-Conor to Whittaker-Romero and you will see difference between both divisions, at least top figthers.
Khabib, Ferguson are not even close to level of fighters like Romero, Whittaker.
Strikingwise Conor is nothing compare to Isreal.
Yeah Rockhold and Weidmann looking washed up, but we will see.
Costa, Hall, Cannonier, Branch, Brunson....

 

[Wise1]

imo these are the only guys with real champion potential AT THIS TIME:

MW
Whitaker
Romero
Rockhold
Gastelum

LW
Khabib
Conor
Tony
Nate

The thing that puts MW over the top is that they have two very exciting undefeated prospects in Israel and Costa.

So, I’d have to agree with TS.

 

[MMA_enthusiast]

imo these are the only guys with real champion potential AT THIS TIME:

MW
Whitaker
Romero
Rockhold
Gastelum

LW
Khabib
Conor
Tony
Nate

The thing that puts MW over the top is that they have two very exciting undefeated prospects in Israel and Costa.

So, I’d have to agree with TS.

<{monica}>

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

MW is where mid-tier WWs go to be elite

 

[FlyThaiMMA]

MW is like the ideal size for a complete martial artist it seems. It always had some of the most SKILLED fighters ever

 

[I.Broke.The.Bat!]

Weidman

 

[snugglecakes]

Don't think you can really call a guy whose on a 9 fight win streak, 8 of which are at MW a blown up WW.

Or maybe his win streak for such a small MW goes to show even more how shallow the division really is

 

[Lay N Pray 101]

I like the MW division BUT LW is where it's at right now.

*C Khabib
1. Ferguson
2. McGregor
3. Poirier
4. Lee
5. Barboza
6. Gaethje
7. Pettis
8. Iaquinta
9. Diaz
10. Chiesa

Some great matchups to be formed out of this division.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Yeah it's LW imho.

I like the MW division BUT LW is where it's at right now.

*C Khabib
1. Ferguson
2. McGregor
3. Poirier
4. Lee
5. Barboza
6. Gaethje
7. Pettis
8. Iaquinta
9. Diaz
10. Chiesa

Some great matchups to be formed out of this division.

Add Cerrone and likely Aldo to that as well. LW division is crazy right now.