(WMMA) The myth that 115lbs is a deeper/better division than 135lbs. (JJs poor competition)

[Co-Co Zola]

I see quite a few people saying this. Am I the only one who thinks 135 has clearly got better competitors than 115lbs ?

Some people are saying that Joanna's striking is technically one of the best, regardless of weight/gender, in the whole of MMA/the UFC. May I ask WHO she has beaten who has a solid, respectable striking background ?

115 comes across to me as the division full of jack-of-all-trades master of none. Women who have poor boxing, wrestling and BJJ for the most part. That is, their bases are MMA level, none are world champions in their respective backgrounds. Many are 'mixed martial artists' as opposed to being great boxers, judokas and so on.

Joanna's competitors inside the UFC.
Esparza, 2 time all american wrestler.
Penne, trains BJJ. Has never competed outside of MMA.
Letourneau, trains 'boxing/kickboxing'. Has only ever competed in MMA.
Gadelha, multiple BJJ championships.
Kowalkiewicz, started training Krav Maga when she was 16. No championships/never competed outside of MMA.
Andrade, BJJ background, no titles/accolades. Only ever competed in MMA.
Lima, no background in nothing. A 'mixed martial artist'.

So JJ has fought one lady with an okay wrestling background. One lady with a decent BJJ background and a bunch of 'mixed martial artists'.

She has NEVER fought a talented striker in all her MMA career. The striking of all her opponents range from embarrassing to extremely mediocre. Did you see Andrades striking last night ? She ducks her head, looks at the ground, runs aimlessly forward windmilling hoping something lands.




Other 115lbers...
Waterson, Karate background. No championships. Never competed outside of MMA.
Namajunas, Taekwondo background. No championships. Never competed outside of MMA.
Van Zant, background in dancing. No championships. Never competed outside of MMA.
Grasso, no nothing. Never competed outside of MMA.

135lbs has/has had...
An Olympic silver medalist Freestyle Wrestler, Sara McMann. (she has vast amounts of experience in wrestling, to many achievements to list).
An Olympic bronze medalist in Judoka, Ronda Rousey.
Fila Grappling world silver medalist, Miesha Tate.
4 time all american and national champion in Womens Wrestling, Cat Zingano.

Here are the strikers...

Holly Holm
33-2-3 Boxing record.
2-1 Kickboxing record.
Countless titles at multiples weight divisions in Womens Boxing.

Germaine de Randamie
37-0 Muay Thai record. Multiple world championships.

Valentina Shevchenko
58-2-1 Muay Thai record.
2-0 Boxing record.
Countless world titles spanning multiple divisions in Muay Thai.


You then have the current champion Amanda Nunes who has never competed outside of MMA, but has heavy hands with many T/KO victories. Something that can't be said for anyone at 115lbs.



Cliffs:
- 135lbs > 115lbs
- JJ has fought poor competition, no one she has fought is a capable striker. She has fought one wrestler in her whole UFC career.

 

[CereserBr]

I like JoJed.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Deeper gene pool at 115 and 125 for women. 135 is not a natural weight class for them.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Athletic training women

 

[HHJ]

tl/dr/hater thread

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Solid thread. 135 is seen as a thin division because too many Sherdoggers are heavily invested in the idea that Rousey only ever beat soccer moms.

 

[HHJ]

Joanna haters after last night

 

[blaseblah]

People were only saying that to discredit Ronda's accomplishments. It was a more exciting division to them because they hadn't seen all of the fighters and had high expectations for them. Now that Joanna is running through these fighters and exposing their striking technique it isn't nearly as fun for them.

Remember when Jojo was supposed to be a title contender?

 

[HHJ]

135 is seen as a thin division because too many Sherdoggers are heavily invested in the idea that Rousey only ever beat soccer moms.

I totally agree but its got nothing to do with 115 imo. That division is cleared out because Joanna Champion is an excellent fighter.

 

[Co-Co Zola]

tl/dr/hater thread

I'm not a hater, buddy. JJ is a legit fighter. That's why she's been so dominant. Shes came into MMA with a strong striking background, and it shows. She's kicking the shit out of 'mixed martial artists' who started late and haven't mastered anything.

Have you seen the difference between her striking and her opponents ? She can strike, they can not.

 

[Dragonseeker]

I see quite a few people saying this. Am I the only one who thinks 135 has clearly got better competitors than 115lbs ?

Some people are saying that Joanna's striking is technically one of the best, regardless of weight/gender, in the whole of MMA/the UFC. May I ask WHO she has beaten who has a solid, respectable striking background ?

115 comes across to me as the division full of jack-of-all-trades master of none. Women who have poor boxing, wrestling and BJJ for the most part. That is, their bases are MMA level, none are world champions in their respective backgrounds. Many are 'mixed martial artists' as opposed to being great boxers, judokas and so on.

Joanna's competitors inside the UFC.
Esparza, 2 time all american wrestler.
Penne, trains BJJ. Has never competed outside of MMA.
Letourneau, trains 'boxing/kickboxing'. Has only ever competed in MMA.
Gadelha, multiple BJJ championships.
Kowalkiewicz, started training Krav Maga when she was 16. No championships/never competed outside of MMA.
Andrade, BJJ background, no titles/accolades. Only ever competed in MMA.
Lima, no background in nothing. A 'mixed martial artist'.

So JJ has fought one lady with an okay wrestling background. One lady with a decent BJJ background and a bunch of 'mixed martial artists'.

She has NEVER fought a talented striker in all her MMA career. The striking of all her opponents range from embarrassing to extremely mediocre. Did you see Andrades striking last night ? She ducks her head, looks at the ground, runs aimlessly forward windmilling hoping something lands.




Other 115lbers...
Waterson, Karate background. No championships. Never competed outside of MMA.
Namajunas, Taekwondo background. No championships. Never competed outside of MMA.
Van Zant, background in dancing. No championships. Never competed outside of MMA.
Grasso, no nothing. Never competed outside of MMA.

135lbs has/has had...
An Olympic silver medalist Freestyle Wrestler, Sara McMann. (she has vast amounts of experience in wrestling, to many achievements to list).
An Olympic bronze medalist in Judoka, Ronda Rousey.
Fila Grappling world silver medalist, Miesha Tate.
4 time all american and national champion in Womens Wrestling, Cat Zingano.

Here are the strikers...

Holly Holm
33-2-3 Boxing record.
2-1 Kickboxing record.
Countless titles at multiples weight divisions in Womens Boxing.

Germaine de Randamie
37-0 Muay Thai record. Multiple world championships.

Valentina Shevchenko
58-2-1 Muay Thai record.
2-0 Boxing record.
Countless world titles spanning multiple divisions in Muay Thai.


You then have the current champion Amanda Nunes who has never competed outside of MMA, but has heavy hands with many T/KO victories. Something that can't be said for anyone at 115lbs.



Cliffs:
- 135lbs > 115lbs
- JJ has fought poor competition, no one she has fought is a capable striker. She has fought one wrestler in her whole UFC career.

135 pounds have better top 5 fighters. That is about it. The difference is, 115 has tons of new prospects. I don't see any prospects coming up from 135. Tatiana Suarez is probably a better prospect than any one in 135.

 

[Fuzzybabyducks]

everytime we have a dominate champion people seem to try to go out of there way to say the division is weak.. Did it for Jones and Anderson as well. JJ is a great fighter, great striker and no one can keep her on the ground..

 

[HHJ]

I'm not a hater, buddy. JJ is a legit fighter. That's why she's been so dominant. Shes came into MMA with a strong striking background, and it shows. She's kicking the shit out of 'mixed martial artists' who started late and haven't mastered anything.

Have you seen the difference between her striking and her opponents ? She can strike, they can not.

Rousey can Judo,her opponents cannot.

I dont have anything bad to say about 135 though. That was Rousey haters. I think Claudia showed that she was always a tough test for Joanna,and though she lost every round i thought Andrade was a dangerous opponent. Joanna had to be perfect to win.

 

[lsa]

I'm not a hater, buddy. JJ is a legit fighter. That's why she's been so dominant. Shes came into MMA with a strong striking background, and it shows. She's kicking the shit out of 'mixed martial artists' who started late and haven't mastered anything.

Have you seen the difference between her striking and her opponents ? She can strike, they can not.

And yet you have been here all day posting negatively about her

 

[lsa]

everytime we have a dominate champion people seem to try to go out of there way to say the division is weak.. Did it for Jones and Anderson as well. JJ is a great fighter, great striker and no one can keep her on the ground..

Yeah.
Aldo after WEC
GSP
AS
Ronda
And on and on.
If you are dominant you suck.

 

[Daweed]

I don't know man. I enjoy 115 lbs fights way more than 135.

Outside of Shevchenko and Nunes, 135 is pretty much unwatchable for me.

At 115 I can watch and enjoy Thug Rose, Karolina, Joanna champ, Gadelha, PVZ (she has heart for days), Waterson. They're maybe not as accomplished, but they look way slicker than 135 fighters to me.

 

[MayhemMonkey]

Jojo Calderwood - ISKA muay thai world champion

why not include her in the list? or doesnt that play into your generalisation?

 

[HHJ]

"omg dominant fighter,just lose already,its selfish of you to lord over a division this long,move up and lose there,corward!!"

 

[Ashenthorn]

Maybe we should give Joanna more credit for being able to carve her way through all of these wrestlers, grapplers and "mixed martial artists" despite not having a wrestling & grappling background herself. It hasn't proved so easy for say, Jorina Baars and Tiffany Van Soest, who found themselves taken down, getting pounded and tapping out immediately upon entering an MMA cage

 

[Co-Co Zola]

everytime we have a dominate champion people seem to try to go out of there way to say the division is weak.. Did it for Jones and Anderson as well. JJ is a great fighter, great striker and no one can keep her on the ground..

List one good striker Joanna has fought. Gadelha is okay for a 115lber who has no background in striking. Karolina has heart and is sort of okay. That's it buddy.

Name one good wrestler Joanna has fought. Esparza is the only wrestler she has fought in the UFC. This is a fact. 135lbs has much better wrestlers if we're being honest.

I'm not a hater. I'm looking at the credentials, and the showings these ladies are putting in. You can not call what Jessica Andrade did last night, 'striking'.