Does Anthony Smith's run show how much better MW is than LHW

[zxyss25]

Outside of DC/GUS, Anthony Smith could be the next best fighter...and he wasnt even ranked at MW

Rashad was a champion at LHW, but got beat by unranked MWs numerous times

Dan Hendo was a title challenger at LHW but got smoked by top 10 MWs

Heck even Chael beat a top 5 LHW at the time and got at title shot

Former MW Gate keeper Sam Alvey also has a ranked win while moving up

Romero & Rockhold, and even Uriah Hall should be jumping at the chance to avoid weight cutting and move up to face easier ranked opponents

Even Vitor could probably become a top 10 LHW at this current stage

 

[yekmurat]

No it shows Shogun is finished

 

[Sapp]

What run? He's beating up shot fighters.

 

[Stan]

So Smith basically beat 2 washed up former champions. Shogun is half the man he used to be in Pride and Rashad well enough said.

 

[RustyShacleford]

Probably just shows that lhw is the right weight for him. Koscheck beat Rumble at ww, but that doesn't mean he could have been a top 5 lhw.

But the mw division is much better than lhw.

 

[Stixx]

Anthony Smith is looking good, but it has already been said - he's beating up shot fighters. It tells us nothing about the MW division compared to LHW.

 

[zxyss25]

Shogun was ranked #8 and Glover was ranked #3 and both would get dominated by Smith

That shows what the LWH division looks like compared to Smith being unranked at MW

 

[Flboycanscrap2]

The weight class with a much larger population to pull from will always have more talented athletes than the weight class with a smaller population. As you near either ends of the weight class spectrum this becomes more apparent, and the talent gap can be large enough to overcome the size gap easily.

 

[Miiiiiiighty]

Feed him to Volkan and let's see what happens

 

[linvillegorge]

Calm down. I like Lionheart, but Rashad and Shogun were badly faded fighters when he put the nail in their coffins. I look forward to seeing what he can do when he faces a top contender still in his prime.

 

[beefcake180]

Rankings aren't always the end all be all. He fought young guys on upward trajectories at mw and he's fought guys on the opposite end of the spectrum at lhw. Often these guys don't exit the rankings until the end of their careers cause of name value.

You could make the argument if he was fighting the Rountree's, Antigulov's, and Dominick Reyes' of the division.

 

[DuncanFan819]

I don't think you need to hold Anthony Smith's victories up as an example. Simply look at the caliber of fighters ranked in the top 15 of each class and it's evident. After DC, there's a large step down to Gus, who has been inactive, and from there, it's another noticeable decline until you start looking at Volkan, Latifi, Anthony Smith, OSP, Corey Anderson (ugh), Manuwa, and Blachowicz.

Unless Reyes, Antigulov, or Anthony Smith infuse some much needed change into an otherwise stagnant and boring division, LHW will continue to be just as lowly regarded as FW and the Women's divisions. Heck, at this point, I think I'd take Women's strawweight over LHW.

 

[rjmbrd]

Middleweight had a bit of a renaissance the last few years considering Whittaker's historic run and guys like Rockhold, Romero, Jacare, Weidman, Moose and Kelvin.

It's a legitimate top 10 with regards to depth.

Both light heavyweight and heavyweight are cartoonishly thin once you get past the top 3. All around skill and athleticism is low and the depth is a joke, just look at the volume of guys under contract by division.

 

[Workaholic]

Reyes Ko's him in one round lol

Smith isn't good he just fought a guy who is completely shot and a guy who shouldn't even have been sanctioned to compete

 

[Summoning]

Outside of DC/GUS, Anthony Smith could be the next best fighter...and he wasnt even ranked at MW

Rashad was a champion at LHW, but got beat by unranked MWs numerous times

Dan Hendo was a title challenger at LHW but got smoked by top 10 MWs

Heck even Chael beat a top 5 LHW at the time and got at title shot

Former MW Gate keeper Sam Alvey also has a ranked win while moving up

Romero & Rockhold, and even Uriah Hall should be jumping at the chance to avoid weight cutting and move up to face easier ranked opponents

Even Vitor could probably become a top 10 LHW at this current stage

Yoel Romero was smoked by top 15 LHW Feijao and now Romero is a top 3 MW.

 

[Pumphrey94]

Yoel Romero was smoked by top 15 LHW Feijao and now Romero is a top 3 MW.

[/QUOT danm I somehow have never seen the fight , took a lot to put Romero down.

 

[Shcooby Dooby Doo]

No, it simply shows how much better a fighter is if he mans up and fights at his proper weight class. Less weight cutting means more stamina on fight night. Most of the fighters who are showing the balls to do this are reaping the rewards.
Rob Whittaker, Colby, DC and Frankie Edgar in his prime, to name a few.

 

[zxyss25]

Yoel Romero was smoked by top 15 LHW Feijao and now Romero is a top 3 MW.

But that was in Strikeforce land

Doesnt count hehehehehhe