The Death of Heavyweight MMA

[LoneStalker]

I dont even consider Reem and Werdum to be all that these days tbh. Reem is nothing like what he was at his horsemeat peak and Werdum is fucking 40 years old. Stipe is a great fighter who would be near the top in any era, but the current division makes him look a hell of a lot better than he is. No way is he 1st RD KO'ing Reem or JDS in 2011.


Someone needs to throw big money at guys like Miljain Lopez and Teddy Riner to come in and save the HW scene.

THIS.


And, oh, yes, please PLEASE bring Riner to UFC!

 

[basedgodfedor]

MMA may be biggest in America but the biggest hotbed of talent is definitely Eastern Europe. The region dominates the Olympics in wrestling, boxing and Judo - as well as combat sambo. They've also historically already had some of the most dominant HWs in MMA and other fight sports (Igor V, Fedor, Karelin, Klitschko Bros, etc).

It would be nice to see the UFC sign some of the HWs from those areas. Outside of the obvious Minakov and Ivanov duo, I would like to see them pick up Goltsov (despite him coming off a bad loss), Pavlovich, Mokhnatkin, and maybe Zelimkhan Umiev.

I don't understand why they won't go for them. Easy to market too, makes no sense

 

[lolo 06]

the hw division really needs new blood
werdum is over 40 and reem is nothing compared to what he was
they should recruit young kickboxers,wrestlers and even rugby players all over the world
in holland there s alot of hw kickboxers who would love to fight for the ufc
and why not trying to get some pacific islanders?
excepted the lw div all the divisions aren t looking bright, seriously the level of talent below the best 2 or 3 guys is awful and the majority of the top guys are simply old.
great choice from the ufc to let guys like mousasi and rory got to bellator

 

[snugglecakes]

Haha, you are a true idiot.

Spoken like a true noob, who relies on fightfinder to write material.

Go back to the WWE forums.

You're simply a fuckwit. Stick to your UFC you dumb fuck!

well i'm not actually seeing any sort of actual counter argument from yall n just insults... because there is no counter argument. You're just butt hurt pride fangays. The top pride heavyweights were all small heavyweights fighting other small heavyweights.(or cans if not small) It's just an undisputed historical fact and it takes a noob, fuckwit, or true idiot to just turn a blind eye to historical facts. Any person in pride above 240 was either a complete can or a roider like josh barnet.

Lets just go through them for a sec.
-Fedor was around 230... people have said he should cut to 205 for years.
-Kevin randleman was a middleweight all along.
-Mark Coleman was a light heavyweight all along.
-Cro Cop was 220ish and people here have been saying he should cut to 205 for years.
-Josh barnet became the incredible shrinking man down to as low as 230 once he tried quitting the roids.
-Big Nog was not very big. He just did heavier roid stacks than his brother.. or else we woulda had two lil nogs. We kinda did. It should have been Little nog and littler nog.

SIZE MATTERS (unless you're a scrub)

 

[Roljo]

hw's are doing sportswhere there is real money i suppose, if they fail at that, then they coome to ufc at 30+ years old

 

[Black Paladin]

Consider this: 1 x 4 million PPV show = 40 x 100K PPV shows.

That is a short-sighted view of the business.

Each show is an opportunity for exposure for UFC's advertising partners, for example. That is just one aspect you aren't considering.

 

[Black Paladin]

Yakuza > Yakushi

Pop that yakushi?

 

[wompuscatwilly]

Bring in 8 fresh, new blood HW. Have a HW Grand Prix over several events and give the winner a title shot!

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

With the absolutely destroyed HW division in its worse shape ever, are we seeing the end of high-level HW mixed martial arts?

We are currently left with only THREE proven elite HWs whom are still active :

Stipe, Overeem, and Werdum.


We've lost Cain Velasquez, Mark Hunt and Derrick Lewis to injuries. It's possible we may never see any of them compete again, and if they do it will likely be at a compromised level.

USADA has robbed us of Junior Dos Santos, Ben Rothwell and the Brock Lesnar.

Brett Rogers is in jail for grabbing men's cocks in elevators.

Ngannou is promising but he's almost completely untested. The UFC division is so bad that he is ranked #4 despite his best win coming over Andrei Arlovski, whom was going into the fight riding a 3 fight losing streak. Atrocious.

Tybura is decent but doesn't seem like he'll be the "future of the division" - neither is 40 year old Oleinik. Struve might drop dead at any moment.


Outside the UFC, the most compelling attractions are Vitaly Minakov and Blagoi Minakov. However, it seems like the UFC doesn't seem to keen on spending the money on them.



Who is going to save the HW division?

 

[blaseblah]

The UFC heavyweight division is a lot better than it was during the supposed glory days of mma

 

[elwani]

That is a short-sighted view of the business.

Each show is an opportunity for exposure for UFC's advertising partners, for example. That is just one aspect you aren't considering.

It was a joke brah, not a new business plan for the UFC.

But if you really want to be pedantic, also do not forget to consider the substantial cost savings of putting on 1 show instead of 40.

 

[CoreCanyon]

being technically sound seems to kill all heavyweight divisions. and toughness...

and basketball.

 

[beastman]

The UFC needs a TUF that is open only to guys who recently washed out of the NFL or didn't quite make the practice squad. Preferably with guys who wrestled in high school. Split the 16 guys into 4 different camps that are close to their hometown. Jacksons- mountain, Serra-east coast, AKA-west coast, Roufussport-midwest and/or ATT- south/Florida. Subsidize training for 6-8 months, have the first round of the tournament on a LFA card. Over the next 4 months have 2 more rounds. Then the final you can put on a Fight Night card. If you are able to develop 3 solid prospects over the course of the year, it is a win.


_____________________________
Right now, these guys are the future of the division:

Minakov - 32y/o - 20-0- stuck in contract hell.

Ngannou - 31y/o- 10(all finishes) and 1(dec) could be the next big thing. Power, athleticism, finishing ability.

Blagoy Ivanov - 31 y/o - 15-1 former combat sambo champ, torched Shawn Jordan in last fight. If PFL folds, hope he goes to UFC.

Tybura - 31 y/o- 16-2- had a rough UFC debut, looking better. Tough test next.

Ivan Shtykov - 29 y/o- 11-0- beat Bigfoot, Ishii, De Fries, Monson on small circuit. Should be offered a contract.

Volkov - 28y/o- 29-6(1 KO loss) is still young enough that he was room to get better. Just KO'd Struve.

 

[cevo]

Can you imagine if Cain comes back and beats Stipe for the title? Division would be dead officially at that point.

 

[A.S. Deep]

Amir Aliakbari, an olympic caliber wrestler got ko'd by Mirko in Rizin and he barely won old Heath Herring. That just feels so wrong.

That goes to show you how skilled a lot of these old school HWs are. We make fun of chinny Reem, boring Stipe, "can crusher" Cro Cop but even in old age they can beat younger, more athletic guys with Olympic pedigree. Perhaps the reason HW is so stale is because the top guys are just that good. Besides Ngannou, I don't see newcomers beating Reem, Werdum, Stipe, JDS, and Cain, regardless of how athletic they are.

 

[SRN]

There are plenty of exciting HWs outside UFC, mostly East European guys that wouldn't pass a test, I'm afraid. Not sure what the UFC is planning for this division but it needs some new blood asap!

 

[tenniswhiz]

How the hell does Brett Rogers make your list?

Because this:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bl...isconduct-strikeforce-bellator-crime-mma-news

 

[SRN]

What happened to Bilyal Makhov? I was excited about his move to UFC, he's not wrestling anymore. Is he still preparing himself or what?

 

[Black Paladin]

It was a joke brah, not a new business plan for the UFC.

But if you really want to be pedantic, also do not forget to consider the substantial cost savings of putting on 1 show instead of 40.

Chess > checkers

Making tens of millions > saving a few million

 

[Black Paladin]

The UFC needs a TUF that is open only to guys who recently washed out of the NFL or didn't quite make the practice squad. Preferably with guys who wrestled in high school. Split the 16 guys into 4 different camps that are close to their hometown. Jacksons- mountain, Serra-east coast, AKA-west coast, Roufussport-midwest and/or ATT- south/Florida. Subsidize training for 6-8 months, have the first round of the tournament on a LFA card. Over the next 4 months have 2 more rounds. Then the final you can put on a Fight Night card. If you are able to develop 3 solid prospects over the course of the year, it is a win.


_____________________________
Right now, these guys are the future of the division:

Minakov - 32y/o - 20-0- stuck in contract hell.

Ngannou - 31y/o- 10(all finishes) and 1(dec) could be the next big thing. Power, athleticism, finishing ability.

Blagoy Ivanov - 31 y/o - 15-1 former combat sambo champ, torched Shawn Jordan in last fight. If PFL folds, hope he goes to UFC.

Tybura - 31 y/o- 16-2- had a rough UFC debut, looking better. Tough test next.

Ivan Shtykov - 29 y/o- 11-0- beat Bigfoot, Ishii, De Fries, Monson on small circuit. Should be offered a contract.

Volkov - 28y/o- 29-6(1 KO loss) is still young enough that he was room to get better. Just KO'd Struve.

I like posts like this. You get it. The UFC needs to fill that talent pipeline ASAP.