Besides Heavyweight - How Does The Talent Compare to Past Eras?

JakePaulMMA said:
PRIDE was the  prime.
Click to expand...
For sure. The way I see it - the money was always pretty lackluster but MMA Was this new thing. So you're thinking maybe it'll grow exponentially, and we will be making bank.

But in 2025.. actually first off the money is even worse, because its maybe one of the only salaries in any field that doesn't adjust with inflation.

If Im like an all star wrestler coming out of college.. If I'm smart.. If I can make money without fighting. I do that. One hundred percent. If my IQ is above.. Like 90.. Ill take 60K a year over the 15 year career the UFC has to offer with their CTE retirement plan.
 
HW - era of 2004 to 2007 Pride/UFC and era of 2008 to 2012 would perform better at HW
LHW - era of 2004 to 2007 Pride/UFC and era of 2008 to 2015 UFC would perform better at LHW
MW - era 2004 to 2007 would not do well, 2008 to 2012 would be even, 2013 to 2017 would do better
WW - anything prior to 2008 era would not do well today, 2009 to 2013 would be competitive, same with anything after.
LW - anything prior to 2011 would get beaten badly, 2012 to 2016 would be competitive, 2017 onward is pretty much current
FW - prior to 2015 gets beaten by todays era aside Aldo and Conor. 2017 is on the level of today.
BW - WEC era gets beaten by today, anything prior to 2015, once you get into TJ and UFC Dom era they would do better.
 
I think the top guys (top 5, maybe 10 in some divisions) of the old eras would be good enough today.
But the average fighter of nowadays I think is more well prepared.

But it doesn't matter much since the average guy is treated like shit by the UFC so no one cares about them, they're all expendable. I feel like the old fights between top 10 guys were more relevant, or had more story, don't know. It's just they seemed to have more value.
 
JKS said:
HW - era of 2004 to 2007 Pride/UFC and era of 2008 to 2012 would perform better at HW
LHW - era of 2004 to 2007 Pride/UFC and era of 2008 to 2015 UFC would perform better at LHW
MW - era 2004 to 2007 would not do well, 2008 to 2012 would be even, 2013 to 2017 would do better
WW - anything prior to 2008 era would not do well today, 2009 to 2013 would be competitive, same with anything after.
LW - anything prior to 2011 would get beaten badly, 2012 to 2016 would be competitive, 2017 onward is pretty much current
FW - prior to 2015 gets beaten by todays era aside Aldo and Conor. 2017 is on the level of today.
BW - WEC era gets beaten by today, anything prior to 2015, once you get into TJ and UFC Dom era they would do better.
Click to expand...
You can't even really compare those older eras because of the size difference.

With modern weight cutting, its also size above everything else.

Flyweight and Bantam are super small

And then Featherweight is basically average size. 10% bodyfat 165.... Throw 40 pounds of fat and you have your average American man

Lightweights are your average dude IF he spent 5-10 years in the gym.

And then from that point on.. Its just huge motherfuckers sneaking into divisions they weren't meant for
 
joy2day said:
The average fighter now is better.

The average elite fighter is NOT better now.

There also are a similar number of elite fighters now since there are more at lower weights and less at heavier weights.
Click to expand...
Probably cause the talent pool at higher weights is smaller then it's supposed to be

Half your divisions now are fighters who walk around 200+

Big athletes are not trying to do UFC. So what do you do? Maybe add a 10 pound rehydration clause or some shit..
 
Guys at the bottom of the divisions are more complete fighters as far as 170 and down go, even low level fighters have decent TDD and clinch abilities as well as being better at getting up.

Guys at the top of the divisions seem to have gotten much worse as opposed to 10-20 years ago especially at heavier weights. No fucking way are you convincing me outside Jon Jones any of these HW/LHWs are competing with the pride era guys or the HWs from 15 years ago like Brock Reem JDS and Cain.
 
And if you're going to have 205 be guys who walk around at 240.. Why even have a 265 weight limit? Lol make it make sense.

You ain't paying heavyweights shit and yet you make them cut. Let them dudes eat.
 
It's shit, the UFC is overflowing with mediocracy these days due to several reasons.
 
BroScienceTalkatWork said:
What I said in the title
Click to expand...

In general the fighters below the top 10 are better and more well rounded than the ones in previous eras.

The top 10 in general are better for BW and FW.

LW & WW the top 10 in general are better but the top 3 were better in previous eras.


JKS said:
HW - era of 2004 to 2007 Pride/UFC and era of 2008 to 2012 would perform better at HW
LHW - era of 2004 to 2007 Pride/UFC and era of 2008 to 2015 UFC would perform better at LHW
MW - era 2004 to 2007 would not do well, 2008 to 2012 would be even, 2013 to 2017 would do better
WW - anything prior to 2008 era would not do well today, 2009 to 2013 would be competitive, same with anything after.
LW - anything prior to 2011 would get beaten badly, 2012 to 2016 would be competitive, 2017 onward is pretty much current
FW - prior to 2015 gets beaten by todays era aside Aldo and Conor. 2017 is on the level of today.
BW - WEC era gets beaten by today, anything prior to 2015, once you get into TJ and UFC Dom era they would do better.
Click to expand...


I agree with almost everything. Very spot on brother.

My only disagreement is some of the LW assessment
 
BroScienceTalkatWork said:
Probably cause the talent pool at higher weights is smaller then it's supposed to be

Half your divisions now are fighters who walk around 200+

Big athletes are not trying to do UFC. So what do you do? Maybe add a 10 pound rehydration clause or some shit..
Click to expand...

How would the talent pool be smaller now than before when there was less money in it before?

I think it comes down to a change in martial arts/ fight culture at the bigger weight classes and what UFC is willing to do/pay in those classes to develop them
 
BowserJr said:
How would the talent pool be smaller now than before when there was less money in it before?
Click to expand...
The talent pool is large enough to lead to better low-medium level fighters, but not large enough to increase the sheer number of elite fighters.
 
joy2day said:
The talent pool is large enough to lead to better low-medium level fighters, but not large enough to increase the sheer number of elite fighters.
Click to expand...
The talent pool would have been smaller from 200-2017 when mma was not as mainstream. Yet that's when the best HW ever competed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,264,550
Messages
57,292,274
Members
175,625
Latest member
just_peed

Share this page

Back
Top