A simple proposal- merge light heavyweight & heavyweight, max weight 250 lbs.

[sakfjgadsyukgf]

As the title says- merge 205 & 265, new max weight 250 lbs. Why?

Most of the great heavyweights have weighed in the 240s (Cain, JDS, Stipe, Cormier, Couture), the 230s (Fedor, Crocop) or could plausibly cut down to 250 (Ngannou, Overeem, Aspinall, Gane). Meanwhile, most of the great light heavyweights are starting their weight cut from around 230 or so (Jones, Poatan, Jiri, Rountree, Hill, Glover, Gustaffson, Rumble, etc.) Is it really that crazy to have guys that weigh in the 230s and guys that weigh in the 240s fight each other? If you're smaller than that, you can cut down to middleweight (which I would bump up to 190 lbs. anyways, but that's a separate discussion). Lots of middleweights these days walk around in the 220s in between camps.

The new weightclass would be the athlete's division- guys who could have been linebackers, tight ends, power forwards. We all agree heavyweight is shallow, right? Make one weight class for big, fast, explosive athletes who aren't fat slobs. Call everything over 250 lbs. 'super heavyweight' and you can put the occasional Derrick Lewis/Tuivasa/Rothwell/a sumo wrestler/whatever freakshow fights in there. Who cares.

How many fights starring fighters over 250 lbs. have you ever enjoyed?

I think it'd revitalize the UFC (well, that and getting rid of WMMA). Change my mind

 

[shunyata]

no

set up cruiserweight and uncap heavyweight

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Just add a super cruiserweight (bridgerweight?) @ 225. That could entice some of these fatties to lose the weight and drop down. But it would also pull from 205 which is already shite.

I still think they should have added 165 and bumped WW to 175.

 

[orca]

alot of fighters at HW weighs more than 265 lbs at off season

guys like gane aspinal for sure offseason weighs more

it would mean 30 plus lbs more of a weight disadvantage for natural LHWs

 

[flektarn]

idk I think 235 would make more sense but it would suck for the very rare true HW's like ngannou who weighed in at 263 with pretty low fat on them. I'm kind of against the idea entirely honestly.

 

[sakfjgadsyukgf]

alot of fighters at HW weighs more than 265 lbs at off season

guys like gane aspinal for sure offseason weighs more

it would mean 30 plus lbs more of a weight disadvantage for natural LHWs

Aspinall weighed in at 251 lbs. for his last fight. Ngannou has weighed in in the low 250s for his fights. Gane weighed in 245 for his last, 250 for the one before that. I went through the Tapology records for every single fighter I named before I posted this, it shows their weight on the scale before every fight (i.e. it doesn't just say heavyweight). No one I named is really that fat

 

[Xoleth]

the divisions are fine as they are
leave them be
HW should be unlimited weight, though
265 limit doesn't allow sumo wrestlers, 8 feet giants (I mean, sherdoggers) and strongmen

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I say get rid of the weight cap at 265. It is a pointless cap and has been useless since it was created. 205 stays lol

 

[MRudi]

+95 kg
95-86 kg
77-85 kg
70-77
64-70
59-64

Just one difference - weigh in 15 minutes before fight.


The change of pace would be great

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

A 250lb cap would have potentially shut out quite a few good bigger HWs over the years.

 

[JBJ was here]

A 250lb cap would have potentially shut out quite a few good bigger HWs over the years.

Lesnar would have had to lose a little roid mass, and several HW would have had to diet and/or cut weight. No one worth watching would have been shut out. Barely any would have real trouble cutting to 225, a weight class already allowed under the unified rules.

 

[Ares Black]

No

 

[Natural Order]

No.

Two weight classes - sub 200, plus 200.

 

[jitzmonkey]

No.

Two weight classes - sub 200, plus 200

The 90s were fun

 

[orca]

Aspinall weighed in at 251 lbs. for his last fight. Ngannou has weighed in in the low 250s for his fights. Gane weighed in 245 for his last, 250 for the one before that. I went through the Tapology records for every single fighter I named before I posted this, it shows their weight on the scale before every fight (i.e. it doesn't just say heavyweight). No one I named is really that fat

yeah but thats their fighting weight where they trained .for sure they could weigh more.its their ideal weight for fighting


natural LHWs like jones weighs 224 lbs for example its the weight he perfrorms the best
jon jones 230 lbs looks really fat and slow

30 lbs of weight is big

 

[humdizzle]

HW should be uncapped

but i think there was a worry about 7'5 freaks showing up and just dominating out of sheer size and power. 'most' HWs are not that talented and just refuse to cut to a healthy weight for their frame. So it was capped at 265 to prevent freak show fights.

 

[Deceasedxo]

L take.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

no

set up cruiserweight and uncap heavyweight

why lol. just watering shit down even more with cruiserweight. You don't even have enough decent ranked guys to fill out LHW and HW as it is.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Merge FW and LW

 

[don't ask]

I'd prefer to ban weight-cutting tbh.