Why are divisions getting shallower?

[Paolo Delutis]

will they ever

Ever they will..

 

[Marc A]

Reebok money

 

[HHJ]

Both Heavy and Light Heavy are pretty much bone dry when it comes to potential new title contenders. All the women’s divisions don’t seem to have much going on. Mighty Mouse has nobody to fight at flyweight. Aren’t divisions supposed to get deeper as time goes on?

No.

They dont all get deeper,or shallower at the same time.

 

[HHJ]

This is my opinion. HW and LHW have been shallow for some time, due to generally taking more punishment and bigger athletes going to other sports where they can get paid. Arguably the most stacked WMMA division, Atomweight, isn't even in the UFC. WFW sucks, everyone knows it. The new WFLW division is taking some contenders from other divisions. SW is fine imo, WBW is kinda meh. FLW is shallow yes, but not as bad as HW and LHW, and I think there are some guys with potential possibly outside the top 10 atm.

Imo HW and LHW will get better with time, as long as the UFC provides incentive.

This.

 

[JBJISGOAT]

HW has ALWAYS been shallow.

 

[aerius]

The UFC has always sucked at creating good fighters, what they're good at is poaching good fighters from everyone else. Problem is the UFC has strangled its competition so there's no more high level organizations for them to poach fighters from.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

There's been no new blood in either division for the longest time. This is a sport of constant evolution and replacement and WME just doesn't want to do anything.

On top of that, fighters are becoming more entitled than ever and would rather sit-out than take a "low-reward" fight that's "bad" for their "brand."

 

[aristocrat]

No money in mma for the vast majority of fighters coming up. Most of the fighters i know do a couple of fights to get the name recognition so they can open their own mma/fitness gym and not for the money out of the sport. Then when you factor in the time to get "famous" and rack up W years pass and the future is still uncertain so even the big potentials drop off, because fighting for entrance level contract is not tempting at all.
And people are being more and more aware of the imminent CTE risk. Risk/Reward ratio is still very low.

 

[Crystaline Entity]

Because its a cycle that always comes around and goes around. In a couple years you might be saying "Where did all these contenders at HW and LHW come from"? Since fighters only fight 1-3 fights per year average, it takes time for divisions to reload. As for flyweight, MM is so much better than everyone else, until he loses, it will always seem like there is nobody else. It was the same at MW while Anderson was beating everybody. After he fell off, it seemed like there was contenders everywhere. Also, in the past when divisions started to stagnate, UFC would buy out their competition like Pride and Strikeforce to bring in fresh talent and also had a great talent building in TUF and WEC. It does not seem the new owners think to the future the same way.

 

[Mangar]

 

[HHJ]

The UFC has always sucked at creating good fighters, what they're good at is poaching good fighters from everyone else. Problem is the UFC has strangled its competition so there's no more high level organizations for them to poach fighters from.

Lol at creating good fighters. "You go be good! Win goddamnit!!!"

 

[Russie]

HW never has and likely never will be a deep division. The last time LHW was deep it was due to a lot of experienced fighters coming in from PRIDE and Strikeforce and mixed with an influx of new talent. It's not likely to be very deep anytime in the very near future. Boxing experience the same with there HW, LHW, Cruiserweight divisions. The number of guys that size that are any good are very limited. The best skilled big men are in other professional sports where the dollars are better.

 

[cevo]

It's going to fluctuate regardless. MW was seen as a weak division for a long time and then all of a sudden you had Rockhold, Whittaker, Weidman, Jacare etc at the top.

Also sometimes fighters improve more quickly than you expect. Who expected Whittaker to move UP a division and beat a former Olympic silver medalist in wrestling to become champion!? There's lots of fighters at LHW and HW that no one has heard of, hopefully some of them will climb the rankings.

 

[Bodil]

Because 6'2+ 230lbs athletes don't want brain damage for 25k per fight while having to train 6-7 days a week, 2x a day and paying for tons of food, equipment, trainers, sparring partners, etc.

 

[MMAfanJabroniJew]

will they ever

 

[aerius]

Lol at creating good fighters. "You go be good! Win goddamnit!!!"

Maybe "creating" wasn't the best term, but there is an art to developing fighters through intelligent matchmaking. The UFC sucks at that, and a lot of prospects get derailed by bad matchups and end up getting cut. They either baby their favourites like Sage or give them tough matchups and cut them when they lose, they rarely have matchups where the fighter can win if he fights smart, or at least learn something in a loss instead of being hopelessly blown out.

Other than Invicta on the women's side, we don't have a 2nd tier org that can develop fighters and help them get good so the UFC has to do that itself. And it sucks at it.

 

[superpunch]

Maybe "creating" wasn't the best term, but there is an art to developing fighters through intelligent matchmaking. The UFC sucks at that, and a lot of prospects get derailed by bad matchups and end up getting cut. They either baby their favourites like Sage or give them tough matchups and cut them when they lose, they rarely have matchups where the fighter can win if he fights smart, or at least learn something in a loss instead of being hopelessly blown out.

Other than Invicta on the women's side, we don't have a 2nd tier org that can develop fighters and help them get good so the UFC has to do that itself. And it sucks at it.

PRIDE was great at this.

They made Cro Cop fight Fujita 2x -- a mediocre HW, Wanderlei Silva (a striker), and 2 professional wrestlers before they put him up against Heath Herring. And then put him up against Igor -- a striker, and another professional wrestler before putting him up against Nog.

UFC would have just thrown him up against Brock Lesnar and then Cain Velasquez, and cut him.

Then again, the UFC doesn't have that many cans on the level of PRIDE did to build guys up..

 

[HHJ]

Then again, the UFC doesn't have that many cans on the level of PRIDE did to build guys up..

This is untrue. The difference is that Pride's "cans" were still stars. The fans still loved fighters who never won any fights,just because they fought with heart.

They knew Fujita wasnt the best fighter,but he was japanese,and he was tough. He would take his beating like a man. Thats all that mattered. Our culture isnt like that.

 

[mmmjojo]

Both Heavy and Light Heavy are pretty much bone dry when it comes to potential new title contenders. All the women’s divisions don’t seem to have much going on. Mighty Mouse has nobody to fight at flyweight. Aren’t divisions supposed to get deeper as time goes on?

Pretty soon, this sport will fold. The majority of their bigger names are on the wrong side of 30. Young talent isn't being marketed right. And the crap pay doesn't justify the rigors these guys put their bodies through. In boxing, Terence Crawford is the equivalent, popularity wise, to Holloway yet Crawford has made 7 figures is last couple of fights. You think you a young killer like Holloway is gonna see that type of pay in next 2 fights if ever?

 

[superpunch]

This is untrue. The difference is that Pride's "cans" were still stars. The fans still loved fighters who never won any fights,just because they fought with heart.

They knew Fujita wasnt the best fighter,but he was japanese,and he was tough. He would take his beating like a man. Thats all that mattered. Our culture isnt like that.

They liked Fujita because he was a professional wrestler.

Then again, the UFC has guys just because they're really really good looking.