What talents do traditional sports miss out on without weight classes?

[superpunch]

Think of the NBA and the NFL. The NBA doesn't have height classes. The NFL doesn't have weight classes.

Anyone under 6'5" can't show their talent in the NBA. Anyone under 220 lbs can't show their talent in the NFL.

In MMA, Anderson Silva and GSP would lose to: Bigfoot. Matt Mitrione. Brendan Schaub. Tank Abbott. Without weight classes, the 5th greatest talent in the entire sport of mixed martial arts would be Alexander Volkov.

Yet, with handicapped divisions, we've gotten to see the great talents of guys like: Mighty Mouse, Aldo, GSP, Anderson, Jones, etc.

What about the 5'10" basketball wizard? What about the 150 lb guy that can throw a fucking football? What kind of talents are regular sports missing out on?

 

[accolyte1022]

WTF.

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

Nobody wants to see a 5'4'' guy dunk on a 8 foot rim. In nba and nfl, small guys can succeed in specialist roles. In combat sport, everyone is doing the same thing and trying to knock out the other guy, so weight classes are more important

 

[accolyte1022]

 

[accolyte1022]

 

[superpunch]

Nobody wants to see a 5'4'' guy dunk on a 8 foot rim. In nba and nfl, small guys can succeed in specialist roles. In combat sport, everyone is doing the same thing and trying to knock out the other guy, so weight classes are more important

If there were height capped football leagues and weight classed football leagues, you'd see some amazing GOAT Jordan and Brady level talent that we've never seen before. Just like in MMA.

You can see in MMA how much it holds it back: the #5 greatest talent in the world, without handicapped leagues, is Alexander Volkov. Same for football and NBA.

 

[R.N.J.]

That's why soccer and hockey are the best sports.

 

[Azure]

Wow, Did somebody forget to tell me that is it "Shit Posting Day"

 

[FKAri]

The NFL and NBA have specialized positions where guys of varying body types succeed. Allen Iverson(5'10 165lbs) and Shaq(a 7'2 350lbs) were neck and neck in player of the year voting(which ignores weight classes). The same won't be happening in a combat sport that ignores weight classes. This is why it's a strange comparison. In these sports there are alternative avenues to just being bigger and stronger than the other guy.

I don't know the NFL too well but I know that at least with the NBA, the positionless trend we are currently seeing means we are starting to miss out on big guys who just aren't quick enough(to play perimeter help defense) as well as little guys(point guards) who just don't have the height/wingspan to be effective on defense. So I guess those two categories have talent that gets shutdown by those physical limitations but those limitations are part of what makes you good at said sport. And you can overcome those limitations by just being even more athletic.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

5'10 basketball wizard - Allen Iverson
Isaiah Thomas from the Celtics was 5'8 (on the official roster which means he was probably 5'7) and was a league MVP candidate like 3 seasons ago.

150 pounds lmao but there's plenty of NFL players under 220 pounds. Believe it or not the players in the NFL are getting smaller as the league attempts to regulate hitting out the sport.

Ray lewis said early in his career he was between 245-260 because he has to go up against big power backs in the AFC like Fred Taylor, Eddie George, Corey Dillion, Jerome Bettis, Edgerin James, etc. He said by the time he got into his final seasons he had to trim down to 230 pounds to chase people around in the open field because the game had moved from run oriented to pass heavy.

But yeah without weight classes in MMA the Khsbibs, Aldos, GSPs and other lighter world class fighters and legends of the sport would get whooped by journeyman HWs.

 

[G10]

I agree, TS. One reason why I don't follow most mainstream sports is that you have to be a freak of nature in order to be competitive in them. It doesn't matter how skilled an average sized person is, they're never going to be able to play in the NFL or NBA. Weightclasses in MMA allow people of all sizes to excel.

However, I don't think there's a market for it. If they did an football league that only allowed people below 200lbs, or a basketball league that only allowed people below 6ft in height, nobody would watch it.

 

[countswagula]

Well, the NBA and the NFL are kind of unique in how much they select for big athletes.

Outside of purely performance driven competitions (swimming, running, etc) most other sports don't select that heavily for a specific morphology.

 

[DanAndroid]

Because we want to see the objective best, not the "are you the #1 ranked guy when compared to the relative skill and weight class of the other top contenders". Other sports want to know who is the best period, no caveats for being a little twerp. Weight classes and shit like P4P are simply created to give the manlets something to do.

 

[DanAndroid]

I agree, TS. One reason why I don't follow most mainstream sports is that you have to be a freak of nature in order to be competitive in them. It doesn't matter how skilled an average sized person is, they're never going to be able to play in the NFL or NBA. Weightclasses in MMA allow people of all sizes to excel.

However, I don't think there's a market for it. If they did an football league that only allowed people below 200lbs, or a basketball league that only allowed people below 6ft in height, nobody would watch it.

The absolute state of manlets lol, 5'10" Drew brees a freak of nature? Tom Brady a freak of Nature? Peyton Manning a freak of nature? Manlets literally view slightly above average athletes as "freaks of nature" now lol.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I agree, TS. One reason why I don't follow most mainstream sports is that you have to be a freak of nature in order to be competitive in them. It doesn't matter how skilled an average sized person is, they're never going to be able to play in the NFL or NBA. Weightclasses in MMA allow people of all sizes to excel.

However, I don't think there's a market for it. If they did an football league that only allowed people below 200lbs, or a basketball league that only allowed people below 6ft in height, nobody would watch it.

That's kind of interesting, in that most people watch high level sport (as opposed their kid's sport) to see the best play (ie freaks of nature). It also occurs to me that we tend to want to see the best when possible in most other entertainment as well -- how do you feel about watching freaks of acting or music talent?

 

[DS66]

Anyone under 6'5" can't show their talent in the NBA. Anyone under 220 lbs can't show their talent in the NFL.

?

Under 6'5" stars currently in the NBA (off the top of my head):
Steph Curry
Chris Paul
Kyrie Irving
Damian Lillard
Bradley Beal
Trae Young
Russell Westbrook
Donovan Mitchell
Kyle Lowry
Kemba Walker
Jrue Holiday

I'm sure I'm missing a ton too. Not to mention all the past players guys in history (Steve Nash, Jerry West, John Stockton, etc)


Under 220 lbs stars in the NFL (off the top of my head):
Russell Wilson
Lamar Jackson
Drew Brees
Kyler Murray
Baker Mayfield
Dalvin Cook
Aaron Jones
Alvin Kamara
Tyreek Hill
DeAndre Hopkins
Davante Adams
Stefon Diggs
Calvin Ridley

I'll stop there, but the list could go on and on with WR's, and I haven't even got to defense (most CB's are under 220).

You might wanna alter your assessment here bud.

 

[waldywaldy]

Only in the fucking states where this is considered the epithomy of athleticism:

In the rest of the world a 5ft7 Argentinian kid was the biggest thing in sports for the last decade or so

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Think of the NBA and the NFL. The NBA doesn't have height classes. The NFL doesn't have weight classes.

Anyone under 6'5" can't show their talent in the NBA. Anyone under 220 lbs can't show their talent in the NFL.

In MMA, Anderson Silva and GSP would lose to: Bigfoot. Matt Mitrione. Brendan Schaub. Tank Abbott. Without weight classes, the 5th greatest talent in the entire sport of mixed martial arts would be Alexander Volkov.

Yet, with handicapped divisions, we've gotten to see the great talents of guys like: Mighty Mouse, Aldo, GSP, Anderson, Jones, etc.

What about the 5'10" basketball wizard? What about the 150 lb guy that can throw a fucking football? What kind of talents are regular sports missing out on?

This isn't completely true. Some outliers in NBA and american football have been able to have a successful careers being undersized in height/weight.

- Basketball
Allen Iverson is only 6ft.
Nate Robinson (who fought Jake Paul) won slam dunk contest 3 times is only 5'9''
And there are lots of other examples of this is NBA throughout the years.

- American football
Running backs are all usually shorter than 6ft with Barry Sanders being only 5'8''

 

[Werdun]

Its dumb to even think that team sports would have weight or height classes. Who would want to see that when compared to open weight?

 

[MCS]

If you're good enough you can make it in any sport. Like that one-armed MMA fighter who went undefeated for a long time. Or Iverson in Football. Or Mugsy Bogues in the NBA. Soccer is the beautiful game because it doesn't discriminate on short or tall. All based on skill.

Anderson at his best would wipe the floor with Schaub. It's not that absolute.