How has the MMA game developed since 2008 in hw?

[Yrat]

Year 2008 Randy Couture had the belt in UFC and hade a fighting weight as 225-230 lbs, today you see Stiepe Miocic at 245-250 lbs.

How will the HW division look lik 2028? Will we see more champions at 260 lbs like Brock Lesnars size?

How come nobody could beat 230 lbs Fedor at that time in 2008 but today everyone can?

 

[binny]

<{CMPALM}>

 

[LouisBolanos]

It hasn't, because elite HW athletes who didn't give a shit about MMA in 2008 still don't give a shit about MMA in 2018 unless if they beat up their GF and got shit canned by the major league sports and have nowhere else to go.

Greg Hardy will make HW great again.

 

[Thaijitsu612]

Doubtful it seems being 240ish is optimal.

Even In fedors day the number 2 and 3 heavyweights, cro cop and nog, both weighed the same or less than fedor.

 

[JDS Klit]

I think it is what it is and will need random crossovers to thrive with the casuals.

Good bigs in the states and overseas make more money in football and boxing and even pro wrestling. Even boxers who are sparring partners for champs make more money than almost all of the ufc heavies.

So at this point and near future the ufc/mma will always get heavyweight athletes that are in the ufc/mma for a reason other than it being the first choice.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

It hasn't developed. It got worse since then.

The current top 10 is filled with old broken down zombies from last decade. The few new guys like Ngannou, Lewis, Tuivasa, Volkov, etc are very raw and undeveloped.

Look at 2008

Fedor
Nog
Cro Cop
Barnett
Sergei
Werdum
Aleksandr
Arlovski
Couture
Sylvia
Mir
Nelson
Rothwell
Rizzo
Velasquez
Dos Santos
Overeem
Brock
Hunt
Herring
Gonzaga
Kongo

Compared to today:

Stipe
Minakov
Pavlovitch
Francis Nogroundgameou
Volkov with no TDD
Curtis Blaydes
40 year old broken Reem
44 year old Hunt
40 year old Arlovski
41 year old Werdum
Past prime JDS
Lewis (very raw)
Tuivasa (very raw)


Only a fool would say the division has evolved

 

[CroGunShoCop]

This is actually an interesting topic to me.
IMO, HW is the only weight class that has much more to evolve.
The lower weight classes, lets face it, they have maxed out.
The new breed HW will be a 6'8 version of Stipe or Jones.

 

[Njmma209]

The next level HW developmental stage just kicked off on June 12th, 2019.

 

[wilKO]

It's gotten worse since 2005. USADA has been a big factor.

 

[leatherneck]

Francis Nogroundgameou

HAHAHAHAHA

yer def 1 of the best posters here.

 

[EVIL WAR GOD]

Better technique and gameplans have pushed most of the smaller HWs down to LHW so its less competitive for the guys that are left.

 

[g*r*b]

The next level HW developmental stage just kicked off on June 12th, 2019.
View attachment 399809 View attachment 399811

The next stage in injuries. Hardy hurt his knee playing effin' arena football almost immediately after that.

 

[chiefwiggum]

It hasn't developed. It got worse since then.

The current top 10 is filled with old broken down zombies from last decade. The few new guys like Ngannou, Lewis, Tuivasa, Volkov, etc are very raw and undeveloped.

Look at 2008

Fedor
Nog
Cro Cop
Barnett
Sergei
Werdum
Aleksandr
Arlovski
Couture
Sylvia
Mir
Nelson
Rothwell
Rizzo
Velasquez
Dos Santos
Overeem
Brock
Hunt
Herring
Gonzaga
Kongo

Compared to today:

Stipe
Minakov
Pavlovitch
Francis Nogroundgameou
Volkov with no TDD
Curtis Blaydes
40 year old broken Reem
44 year old Hunt
40 year old Arlovski
41 year old Werdum
Past prime JDS
Lewis (very raw)
Tuivasa (very raw)


Only a fool would say the division has evolved

You can do that with any division.

The biggest difference is the toughness of the fighters.
That’s the biggest evolution.

Money wasn’t the main reason those guys were fighting back then.

 

[jarj]

It hasn't developed. It got worse since then.

The current top 10 is filled with old broken down zombies from last decade. The few new guys like Ngannou, Lewis, Tuivasa, Volkov, etc are very raw and undeveloped.

Look at 2008

Fedor
Nog
Cro Cop
Barnett
Sergei
Werdum
Aleksandr
Arlovski
Couture
Sylvia
Mir
Nelson
Rothwell
Rizzo
Velasquez
Dos Santos
Overeem
Brock
Hunt
Herring
Gonzaga
Kongo

Compared to today:

Stipe
Minakov
Pavlovitch
Francis Nogroundgameou
Volkov with no TDD
Curtis Blaydes
40 year old broken Reem
44 year old Hunt
40 year old Arlovski
41 year old Werdum
Past prime JDS
Lewis (very raw)
Tuivasa (very raw)


Only a fool would say the division has evolved

I like it, but perhaps even better would be Francis Nogroundgameyo

 

[gono btw]

Year 2008 Randy Couture had the belt in UFC and hade a fighting weight as 225-230 lbs, today you see Stiepe Miocic at 245-250 lbs.

How will the HW division look lik 2028? Will we see more champions at 260 lbs like Brock Lesnars size?

How come nobody could beat 230 lbs Fedor at that time in 2008 but today everyone can?

Technically, Pride saw the evolution from old school "HWs" [who were actually natural LHWs from the Openweight Days] to Modern big HWs.

Important: these LHWs-turned-HWs had a remarkable speed and agility that enabled them to showcase some legit grappling and submission arsenal.

Sadly, the current HW div no longer has the same level of grappling.