Anthony Smith Really Sheds Light on the State of the LHW Division

[MMAProfessional]

Smith accomplishing what he has really shows the state of the UFC LHW division. A journeymen losing to the likes of Ferreira and Santos, moving up in weight and being in line for a title shot in the span on four months. Is the LHW division this weak or has his rise been manufactured?

Rashad: being promoted as a former champion even though he's less than a shell of his former self.

Rua: Also a shell of himself but was given a high ranking after beating an old Nog, IMO losing to Anderson, and getting a from behind win against Gian who has never been that good.

Volkan: Was given fights he was suppose to lose but won. Those being OSP (could have arguably lost that fight), Misha who was suppose to be the next big thing but turned out to be a bust, and Jimi who has undeserved hype in all of his fights.

If you look at his wins Volkan is the only arguable good win although I believe his skills are a lot less than what he's made out to be. He was in the right place at the right time to get his rank. Thinking about him fighting Gus, DC, or Jones seems ridiculously laughable to me but looking at the division it makes sense.

 

[ThePatriot]

The division kinda shouldn't exist, they'd all be decent sized heavyweights, and smaller guys can go down

But maybe Anthony Smith is just a late bloomer, sometimes guys with tons of losses start to piece it together if the damage wasn't too bad

 

[Rovert]

3-4 wins in a row + KO ing old guys used to be title shots in UFC , so its normal for 2008

 

[stinkynecklace]

I think he would get finished by Bader and Davis as well. Looking at the UFC 205 rankings makes me sad.

 

[MMAProfessional]

3-4 wins in a row + KO ing old guys used to be title shots in UFC , so its normal for 2008

It's sad watching. They use their old guys to fight people with big KO power to hype them up. Fighters like Shogun can still get wins if it's technique vs technique instead of raw punching power.

 

[rurouni]

The division kinda shouldn't exist, they'd all be decent sized heavyweights, and smaller guys can go down

But maybe Anthony Smith is just a late bloomer, sometimes guys with tons of losses start to piece it together if the damage wasn't too bad

150
165
180
195
hw

 

[WallyBear]

That happens when you let fighters like Bader and Davis go. Yeah, they were boring, but atleast they had more skills and were perfect to sort out who is a valid title contender and who is not.

 

[NoSmilez]

That division still has guys from pride era in its top ten. The TUF generation was suppose to be young blood but they are retired as well. I think a lot of their stars got really old or retired and they never injected new blood. I think it is also jones was very dominant and not many came close. I am not going to lie. The new guys are sorta forgettable as well. I mix up osp and 25/7 sometimes as well

 

[MMAProfessional]

That happens when you let fighters like Bader and Davis go. Yeah, they were boring, but atleast they had more skills and were perfect to sort out who is a valid title contender and who is not.

Looking at whose taken their place like Corey Anderson and Latifi is pretty sad. We need Anthony Johnson back to humble these fools, either HW or LHW I don't care which

 

[ThePatriot]

150
165
180
195
hw

That works for me, if you do 165 it makes sense to rework the rest

Iirc it was 199 when Frank was champ, and Tito forced them to make it 205 because it suited him more

 

[moogie101]

Maybe its just like Kelvin, he was killing himself to make a lower weight & now fighting better without that physical constraint.

 

[Fatback96]

It's true! It's crazy how 205lbs used to be UFC's "glamour division", and now they can't even put together a legit top 10.

 

[jx820]

Smith is just one of those guys that's experiencing a Renaissance. Moving up has had a profound effect on his performance (he was definitely cutting too much), and beating some big names (even past their primes) probably built his confidence.

It's easy to forget that before Rumble was the defacto #3 at LHW he was a middling WW with losses to Koscheck and Clementi and he washed out after a failed attempt at MW against Vitor. A new weight class and some high profile wins can change someone's whole career.

 

[surrealworlds]

Its funny because sherdog hates on manlets yet the smaller guys are the only competitive divisions.
HW is ruled by a fat lhw-
Stipe just GKTFO.
Derrick Lewis getting his shot
Curtis Blaydes and Ngannou still have some hope

LHW is ruled by the same guy
The PED King is back and then you have Gustaffson. Everyone else is leagues behind.

MW - Robert Whittaker- hes legit but you never hear about this guy
Who are the contenders for MW?
WW- T Woodley and noone is even close. GSP needs to come back.

So whats left? Manlets. Manlets rule the UFC sherdog. Your nightmare has come true!

 

[Deleted member 510653]

It was the OSP fight that put Volkan on the rise. It was a close fight and a hard one to score and either guy had a case of winning but that decision boosted Ooze to start climbing the ladder and he did get those next 2 ko's but he wasn't going to beat Cormier. I mean Volkan could be a champion in a different era and a good one - He's got the look, he's foreign, knocks motherfuckers out, it's just the combination of Jones and DC doesn't let these other good fighters become champ.. They are too good and miles ahead of the rest of the division.

 

[Deleted member 551049]

Dan Hooker. Robert Whittaker. RDA. Kelvin Gastelum. Anthony Johnson. Daniel Cormier (even though he started at HW).

Not weird to perform better when your biggest fight is no longer against the scale. Says nothing about the division.

 

[Mammothman]

It's crazy how weak LHW division is, I still think he losses to guys like Latifi, Corey and Blacowicz, he might beat some but will also lost to some, he won't touch the LHW elite tho...

 

[youllneverwalkalone]

I think Smith is legit. He has a lot of losses but most date to his early career. Maybe he went pro too early, or MW was a bad WC for him (or both). He has shown decent skills and a great chin in his last fight.

I don't think his rise was manufactured but, as the TS also wrote, rather a case of being in the right place at the right time to get his rank.

However, I don't necessarily agree that he deserves a TS next. Rankings aside, and considering overall body of work at LHW, I'd say Blachowicz and Latifi have at least as strong a claim as Smith does.

 

[zxyss25]

See Exhibit A - Robert Whitaker

 

[MakeSherdogGreatAgain]

I think he's a prime example of why they need to tighten up the rules on weight cutting. He's good. Nothing special, but good. LHW isn't very deep right now because a lot of those guys are just guys that should be at hw, but they cut to avoid the big boys. I think some of them would be surprised at how much better they fight without a weight cut.

You can pretty much go down the roster and probably 50-60% of UFC fighters should be fighting one division up.