Is Adesanya about to change the UFC with a win this weekend?

[FIghtxIQ]

It will show that if you're really good and you're undefeated, and your style isn't based on KO power, then weight isn't as important.

So Izzy moving up and winning, and/or Jones moving up and winning, will show that unbeaten, skilled fighters don't need to be the heaviest.

But normal fighters below the elite level will still take any advantage they can get.

Actually having KO power benefits fighters that move between weight classes. It's the ones that don't have KO/TKO power that are at disadvantage, because the power will be lacking vs stronger/bigger/heavier fighters. They will be forced to use speed, movement, and cardio/volume instead and hope to win a decision without getting clipped and/or overpowered in clinch/grappling/striking exchanges.

Adesanya has pop in his striking. He is capable of KO/TKO and he has shown that he can KO/TKO bigger/heavier fighters.

At the end it's always the skills that's the deciding factor. A skilled smaller fighter can beat a bigger/stronger/heavier fighter using his skills, of course it'll be harder to do because of the disadvantages but it is possible. Most won't put themselves at such a disadvantage. So even if Adesanya is successful, it won't mean a lot of fighters will follow in his footsteps.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

It is already demonstrated to quite an extend already. Just look at the guys that moved up in the last 5 years like Dustin, Masvidal, Whittaker, Oliveira, Hooker, Burns, Gastelum, even Chiesa. They've all beaten big guys in their devision despite moving up. Weight will always matter to some extend, but these guys have shown that you don't need to be huge in your weightclass to be at the top.

A lot of those guys are just cutting less weight. They are still cutting a lot of weight, just not as much as before. Adesanya is below the limit for the weight class, so he doesn't have to cut weight or is under weight. That is a big difference compared to fighters that cut any amount of weight.