Does 10lb weight advantage make a significant difference in a fight ?

[Fedora Millionankles]

title

Fucking white belt threads..

 

[Elvis.]

Yes
And the smaller they were to begin with the bigger the advantage, the difference between 125 & 135 is a lot because it represents such a large % of their total weight .
It’s not as big of a deal amongst enormous 250-260 pound people because that have meals that big

 

[John makfresshi]

Jan vs Izzy.. It mattered.

Cyborg vs Amanda.. It didn’t.

That’s 20lbs tho for Izzy

 

[Fluffernutter]

 

[Prince Nephilim]

Very circumstantial…it 100% boils down to skill.

Marcelo Garcia out maneuvered and beat Ricco in grappling with a well over 50 pound weight differential.

Fedor KO’d the less skilled Zulu with sheer fucking speed and tapped out HMC with ease once on the ground.

 

[Frank Kain]

Yea, BUT, depends on skill between 2 fighters and the weight class. Once you get past MW, no. But a 210# MW has a big advantage over a 200# MW. Beyond that, na, then the more skilled will OFTEN win. Emphasis on often…

 

[flektarn]

A good grappler with a +10 lb advantage is big imo. Bigger than a 10 lb difference would cause between two strikers.

 

[BB in Crazy!!!!]

Depends on the weight class too.
Flyweight, yes easily.
HW no.
LHW not much, but more than HW obviously. Lower you go, the more it makes.

 

[HuskySamoan]

A lot of dumb responses in here. Is it the only factor? No but 10lbs of functional mass is hugely relevant, it means you can cut more weight easier, you're stronger, bigger, heavier etc. Be it frame or musculature. There's exceptions but...there's a reason in every combat sport that weights are gapped by 7lbs to 20lbs, because 10lbs at a high level of functional mass is usually, USALLY, HUGELY fucking relevant. And yes the bigger you are, the smaller a % 10lbs is, but even at 205lbs it's relevant. It's half the size of the gap between 185 and 205...it's fucking relevant.

 

[RonDante]

If volk weighs 170 and islam weighs 180, that’s a 6 percent difference. Now I don’t know if islam weighs that much cause generally the biggest lightweights are just under 180, although dober was recorded at 182 in california once

does weight matter? Yes, obviously, otherwise weight classes wouldn’t exist. But I don’t know if 6 percent is significant enough

now if someone weighed 225 fighting a guy who’s 205, that’s 10 percent, that’s significant

 

[Paolo Delutis]

It matters...but 10lbs is inaccurate..

For the one reason fighters cut weight..

So 10lbs is like the minimum difference ...between lets say 145 and 155 ..

But in reality you have a guy 175lbs plus cutting to 155 and a guy putting on weight ( likely fat) to get up to the 170 range to cut back to 155lbs if there gunna cut at all ..if moving up ..145ers are usually under 170lbs before cutting weight to make 145lbs..

Not all pounds are created equally..

10-15 pounds of muscle makes a huge difference in a fight ... Vs 10 -15 pounds of fat...this is why lard ass HWs who cut to 265 get smashed by leaner 235-245 pounds HW who are carrying more muscle and less fat...

Skills can mitigate the size difference to a degree but in fighting the number one equalizer is POWER/strength..

 

[HHJ]

now if someone weighed 225 fighting a guy who’s 205, that’s 10 percent, that’s significant

It matters less at the higher weights,since the fighters there are used to fighting at weight deficits of 30 - 40 lbs at times.

At the lower weights,it makes a big difference.

 

[HHJ]

Forrest Griffin said he walked around at 245,but he really wasnt noticably stronger than most LHWs

Although he did say after awhile he would stay disciplined and keep his weight to 220 all yr round because the cuts became too hard.

 

[RonDante]

It matters less at the higher weights,since the fighters there are used to fighting at weight deficits of 30 - 40 lbs at times.

At the lower weights,it makes a big difference.

If the percentage is bigger I don’t think it matters what the weight class is. Example werdum fought Browne and werdum was 233 to 246 for Browne. That’s 13 pounds, but as a percentage increase its 5.5%, so it’s not as significant

 

[sdpdude9]

The bigger the skill gap, the bigger the weight difference needs to be to make a difference. The smaller the skill gap, the smaller the weight difference needs to be to make a difference. So when you have two championship level fighters skill wise, only a small weight difference can be significant.

 

[Tito Tapped]

Why would there be divisions with 10 lbs apart if it didn't?

does weight matter? Yes, obviously, otherwise weight classes wouldn’t exist.

Weight classes only exist in MMA because the UFC wanted to cherry pick the potential champions without relying on them winning a tournament. They tried having "superfight" championships which were bouts outside of the tournament format but it didn't mean anything other than a 1-off. The first weight distinction came at UFC 12 when they decided to have 2 smaller tournaments but eventually they scraped those all together.

It had nothing to do with competitive parity.

 

[Iroh]

street fight 1v1 to the death

Who are fighting?

 

[Iroh]

A lot of dumb responses in here. Is it the only factor? No but 10lbs of functional mass is hugely relevant, it means you can cut more weight easier, you're stronger, bigger, heavier etc. Be it frame or musculature. There's exceptions but...there's a reason in every combat sport that weights are gapped by 7lbs to 20lbs, because 10lbs at a high level of functional mass is usually, USALLY, HUGELY fucking relevant. And yes the bigger you are, the smaller a % 10lbs is, but even at 205lbs it's relevant. It's half the size of the gap between 185 and 205...it's fucking relevant.

Yeah, but TS is talking about street death matches, so I am not sure he has strictly combat sports athletes in mind with his question.

 

[Wreckless]

Weight classes only exist in MMA because the UFC wanted to cherry pick the potential champions without relying on them winning a tournament. They tried having "superfight" championships which were bouts outside of the tournament format but it didn't mean anything other than a 1-off. The first weight distinction came at UFC 12 when they decided to have 2 smaller tournaments but eventually they scraped those all together.

It had nothing to do with competitive parity.

What an idiotic take.

Weight classes exist in every legitimate fighting organization and competitive parity is one of the major reasons they exist.