30 years of UFC...what has been the best division in MMA?

[Fioretti]

I picked FLW.

With the exception of DJ, it is historically the most competitive division at the top.

 

[Barteh]

It's always HW. All the others are cutting weight to avoid HW or the division about whatever division they are fighting in.

 

[Striker Fox]

It's funnny because Maia was told to be one more weak one-dimensional contender when he was at MW.

K1 Maia is real!

His size was better suited for WW tho, so he wasn't really great at MW fighting those bigger guys

 

[Poatan Power]

Lightweight and it isn't close. The skill level and the parody is unrivaled.

light heavyweight is the only correct answer.

from the beginning, ever since the introduction of weight classes, it was light heavyweight-sized fighters that captured the public’s interest and became stars. it started with people like frank and ken shamrock, tito ortiz, vitor, randy couture, wanderlei silva, chuck liddell, and others who came up in the tournament era. many of those fighters would go on to become stars in ufc and pride, and that stardom would continue well into “modern” times. tito really helped grow the ufc in the early 2000’s, with his trash talk and rivalries with ken and chuck. chuck obviously went on to become the face of the ufc, and probably many people reading this got into mma when chuck was the top dawg. at that time, light heavyweight was just overflowing with stars. for reference, the lightweight champ was some nobody by the name of jens pulver, and heavyweight was occupied with names like pedro rizzo and josh barnett (and of course randy couture, but he was also a lhw). fighters like bj penn didn’t really emerge as stars at lightweight until much later (bj won the lw title in 2008 from joe stevenson).

meanwhile, the stars at lhw kept coming: rampage, shogun, machida, forrest, rashad, all the way up until the jon jones era. during jones’s era, he thoroughly cleaned out the deepest and most famous division in ufc, leaving it in its current state.

idk why some people continue to say lightweight was the deepest division. the only time that was true was after ufc absorbed wec, and those days have been over for some time. since then, there have been a number of placeholder champs and sub-par contenders. the division’s most respected talent—khabib nurmagomedov—won his title from al iaquinta, because tony ferguson was unavailable, and retired after only 3 defenses. lightweight was simply not the shark tank some people believe it to be.

Disagree. Jones dominated the LHW division for 9 straight years. Before that Tito had a 3 year span 2000-2003, Frank Shamrock 1998-2000, and Chuck 2005-2007. Then a bunch of 1 and done's or so albeit great fighters to watch. Lightweight has always had more parody. BJ, Khabib, Benson, Frankie...all different styles with 3 title defenses.

 

[pankrat]

K1 Maia is real!

His size was better suited for WW tho, so he wasn't really great at MW fighting those bigger guys

He was a big weight cutter at WW though.
Just like many WWs could fight at LW (unlike Maia), including Matt Serra yet they arent discredited as WW contenders because of it
A guy as Marquardt who KOed Maia at MW wasnt that bigger than him anyways.

At the end of the day, its all about the double standard. The same argument that is used to downplay MW contenders, isnt applied for WWs

 

[mkt]

Heavyweight is the only division that really matters. And it has still been the best even if you look at things through the 'P4P' lens.

No fight build has compared to Fedor vs Cro Cop. It was the two biggest killers the sport (not 'P4P killers') had seen fighting in their prime.

And Heavyweight gets to claim all of the early UFCs and most of the early Pride fights. Randy, Nog, Lesnar, Velasquez, Francis, Cormier, Jones etc., all provided later highlights.

LW is 'P4P' next. That's the division best suited to (athletic) average sized men, so you are going to have the deepest talent pool.

Everyone starts with Fedor, who wasn't in the UFC (see thread title). But technically everything was HW in the early years (no weight class) and there were other exciting HW fighters as well

• Don Frye
• Coleman
• Kerr
• Bas Rutten
• Mo Smith
• Ruas
• Couture (late 90s)
• Full Steroid Belfort (forget TRT)
• Rizzo

Plus fun guys who weren't the best and never won a tournament/belt but entertaining nonetheless:

• Goodridge
• Tank
• Kimo

There was also a brief period with Randy, Rizzo, Ricco, Barnett were battling it out while a few others (Mir, Arlovski and Tim Sylvia) were just getting started. That (2001-2003ish) was a strong and underrated HW division before Pride HWs got all the attention.

I'll admit that HW over the last 5 years or so has been lame everywhere, including the UFC, with a few exceptions.

 

[HoelHomero]

LHW

 

[xhaydenx]

Straw weight.

Otherwise, either men's FW or LW.

 

[JKS]

As much as people shit on HW, I think looking back 30 years it's the most memorable division. So many big fights and moments.

 

[Dr Fong]

Everyone starts with Fedor, who wasn't in the UFC (see thread title). But technically everything was HW in the early years (no weight class) and there were other exciting HW fighters as well

• Don Frye
• Coleman
• Kerr
• Bas Rutten
• Mo Smith
• Ruas
• Couture (late 90s)
• Full Steroid Belfort (forget TRT)
• Rizzo

Plus fun guys who weren't the best and never won a tournament/belt but entertaining nonetheless:

• Goodridge
• Tank
• Kimo

There was also a brief period with Randy, Rizzo, Ricco, Barnett were battling it out while a few others (Mir, Arlovski and Tim Sylvia) were just getting started. That (2001-2003ish) was a strong and underrated HW division before Pride HWs got all the attention.

I'll admit that HW over the last 5 years or so has been lame everywhere, including the UFC, with a few exceptions.

OP thread title: 'What has been the best division in MMA?'

OP post: 'Over the course of the past 30 years (including PRIDE/Strikeforce), what would you say has been the most talent-loaded/exciting division in MMA?'

You: 'Everyone starts with Fedor, who wasn't in the UFC (see thread title)'

 

[Thad Castle v2]

155 is the GOAT division

 

[Chillez]

WW and LW both are neck and neck to me.

 

[marvinparsons]

Early ufc: lhw
Mid ufc: lhw
Consistently: ww

Tie

 

[krelianx]

Overall, WW I think. Hughes and GSP as back to back champions, then Lawler, Tyron, and Usman, is a pretty damn strong showing. Even now, it remains very strong, if stuck because of inactivity.

The division has always been strong as Hell. I think stronger than LW overall, or LHW which has fallen from grace considerably for several years now.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

I'm not talking about currently, but over the course of the past 30 years (including PRIDE/Strikeforce), what would you say has been the most talent-loaded/exciting division in MMA?

In my opinion:
1. Light heavyweight
2. Welterweight
3. Heavyweight
4. Lightweight
5. Featherweight
6. Middleweight
7. Bantamweight
8. Flyweight

I went WW and then immediately disagreed...then agreed again..

Now not sure but not changing it till i am.

WW has been a powerful Division in the UFC... But I dunno could be LHW..

 

[Baal]

Overall, WW I think. Hughes and GSP as back to back champions, then Lawler, Tyron, and Usman, is a pretty damn strong showing. Even now, it remains very strong, if stuck because of inactivity.

The division has always been strong as Hell. I think stronger than LW overall, or LHW which has fallen from grace considerably for several years now.

A fighter as limited as Woodley having 4 title defenses is a terrible look for WW

If Colby had held the belt during that soan then I'd agree

 

[krelianx]

A fighter as limited as Woodley having 4 title defenses is a terrible look for WW

If Colby had held the belt during that soan then I'd agree

Woodley had very heavy hands, and very good wrestling. He had a gun-shyness problem, but I think he's become very underrated.

 

[Baal]

Woodley had very heavy hands, and very good wrestling. He had a gun-shyness problem, but I think he's become very underrated.

His wrestling wasn't good for MMA

Had a good blast double but useless in the clinch and gassed quickly. His ground game wasn't great either. With him it was "land the right hand or back up against the fence and do nothing"

 

[RemyR]

Easily 155 IMO

 

[krelianx]

His wrestling wasn't good for MMA

Had a good blast double but useless in the clinch and gassed quickly. His ground game wasn't great either. With him it was "land the right hand or back up against the fence and do nothing"

You're looking at his career myopically. Before he became a power puncher and used his wrestling erratically he used to rely on it more heavily. Happens to a lot of wrestlers.