Oldest champ to hold the Lightweight title is only 33

[FlyingDeathKick]

That's not winning the title but holding it... Nobody over 33 has held the title.. Is it safe to say Oliveira was an old man when Islam beat him? lol. Volk would have been the oldest champ in UFC lightweight history and is the oldest champ in Featherweight history right now. Not only that but I think he is the oldest champ in the history of the lighter divisions aside from Figgy who was 35. Every other champ from 125 up to 155 has been 33 or younger when they lost, retired or left.

UFC 294 will be shortly after Oliveira's birthday (just like their previous fight was) so this time he will be 34 and like Volk he will have a shot at becoming the oldest UFC Lightweight champ ever.

Edit: here is the age of all the Lightweight champs when they last held the belt

Edgar: 30
BJ Penn: 31
Benson: 29
Pettis: 28
RDA: 31
Eddie: 32
Conor was 29 when he was stripped of the belt and 28 when he beat Eddie
Khabib retired at 32
Oliveira just turned 33 a few days before losing the belt
Pulver was 28 last time he defended
Sherk was 33

 

[Luthien]

The lower division the more reliance on speed Speed is a young man's game

 

[MCDojoMMA]

Khabib was on his decline confirmed. Stopped at his peak.

 

[Bojka]

To some extent I think that has just been caused by subsequent generations getting better.

It's particularly relevant in MMA since it's a young sport. The same thing used to happen in tennis with subsequent generations having better athletes and racquet/string technology improving, which would push the older players out before they were really past it. It created the illusion that tennis is inherently a young man's sport. Now that talent and technology improvements have plateau'd, we see that's not the case.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

Lighter weight classes advance more then larger weight classes power being the ultimate equalizer after all, so it makes sense we dont see the long title Reigns we see in heavier weight classes. .. but also the talent pool size is largest at 155 as well ..seeing as larger athletes tend to play other higher paying sports where as theres not alot of big team sports for guys around 155lbs ...

So its more about the organic nature of the division then anything else...

 

[Thawing Mammoth]

Sounds good.

Young guys should sport
Old guys should old

 

[Sasha]

And in Oliveira's case, he also has a lot of pro fights.
Generally in high level sports, you can see that early bloomers often retire sooner, whereas late bloomers often stay competitive a few more years than most people.
It's not a breakthrough discovery, but your body can endure only so much efforts, hits, injuries...
Of course there always have been outliers, and always will. Charles is still very competitive, and the only reason he's not champ is because there's that one other LW that is absurdly good at MMA (although I'd have been very interested to see how Alex would have fared against him)

 

[TheTickG]

Makes sense, most jacked sherdoggers weighed that much in junior high. No reason to stay a manlet until old age.

 

[Dr Fong]

It seems MMA fans either completely ignore age or exaggerate stats like these.

There have been 39-year-old champs in boxing even at minimumweight (105) and flyweight. You may have heard of a guy called Manny Pacquaio who was 147 champ at age 40.

Boxing is obviously more specialized and has a much deeper talent pool than MMA. Speed and general athleticism are even more important because in MMA you can adjust fighting style more.

If you can still get 37+ year-olds doing well in boxing lower weight classes, it will happen in MMA too. 40 us definitely a hard cut-off at lower weight classes but some elite guys will still be capable in their late 30s.

 

[Lawrence]

Khabib was on his decline confirmed. Stopped at his peak.

Well what is it ????

Did he stop at his peak? Or was Khabib in decline?

It can't be both you idiot.

 

[MCDojoMMA]

Well what is it ????

Did he stop at his peak? Or was Khabib in decline?

It can't be both you idiot.

Did I hurt your feelings? I am sorry

 

[Carrotman23]

It seems MMA fans either completely ignore age or exaggerate stats like these.

There have been 39-year-old champs in boxing even at minimumweight (105) and flyweight. You may have heard of a guy called Manny Pacquaio who was 147 champ at age 40.

Boxing is obviously more specialized and has a much deeper talent pool than MMA. Speed and general athleticism are even more important because in MMA you can adjust fighting style more.

If you can still get 37+ year-olds doing well in boxing lower weight classes, it will happen in MMA too. 40 us definitely a hard cut-off at lower weight classes but some elite guys will still be capable in their late 30s.

I somehow doubt that.

I mean I'm sure it'll happen eventually but just not nearly as often as boxing.
MMA wrestling an grappling take a toll on joints to the extreme especially knees, which of course is horrible for an aging fighter at lower weight classes where speed and variety is more intense then the upper weight classes.
Combine that with the variety of strikes and I don't think MMA will be the same as boxing in the regard .

 

[Johnnny]

That's not winning the title but holding it... Nobody over 33 has held the title.. Is it safe to say Oliveira was an old man when Islam beat him? lol.

Lightweight? Oliveira went up and fought Islam at abudhabiweight.

Here is what Islam looks like when he actually had to step on the scale weighing 155 lbs.

Contrast that with what he looks like smirking on an Abu Dhabi scale weighing Allah knows what.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Lightweight? Oliveira went up and fought Islam at abudhabiweight.

Here is what Islam looks like when he actually had to step on the scale weighing 155 lbs.

Contrast that with what he looks like smirking on an Abu Dhabi scale weighing Allah knows what.

Don't make me go full conspiracy mode buddy, you wouldn't like me in conspiracy mode.

Edit: fuck it, I'm gonna do it anyways....

Ok first we have Oliveira vs Chandler. Chandler is the guy with all the promotion behind him, the dude the UFC obviously wanted to win, marketable dude and they gave him a title shot after 1 fight. Oliveira beats him.

Then we have Poirier, a guy some people claimed was the uncrowned champ and again the one the UFC wanted to win.

Next was Gaethje... Oliveira's 2nd title defense, Oliveira is the guy on the huge win streak and who is breaking all these records but where does the fight take place? Arizona (Gaethje's hometown). Not only that but some fuckery happens with the fighter scale causing multiple Brazillian fighters to think they are lighter than they actually are. Funny enough the scale is back to normal by the time Gaethje needed to use it. They take Oliveira's belt because of bullshit that was not his fault. Oliveira wins anyways and it should have been his 2nd title defense.

Now on to the Makhachev fight. Oliveira should still be the champ, defended against Poirier and should have been a defense against Gaethje but what does he get next? A fight with Islam in Abu Dhabi where Islam is the favorite and like you said didn't really have to make weight.

After losing that fight what does he get? A fight with Dariush in Canada where his record was 0-4. After winning that he gets a rematch with Islam but it's in Abu Dhabi again. Either Oliveira is extremely unlucky or the UFC is consistently trying to set him up for failure.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

Well what is it ????

Did he stop at his peak? Or was Khabib in decline?

It can't be both you idiot.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

The smaller the weightclass, the more a fighter will rely on reflexes and speed.

 

[Johnnny]

Don't make me go full conspiracy mode buddy, you wouldn't like me in conspiracy mode.

Edit: fuck it, I'm gonna do it anyways....

Ok first we have Oliveira vs Chandler. Chandler is the guy with all the promotion behind him, the dude the UFC obviously wanted to win, marketable dude and they gave him a title shot after 1 fight.

Ever since ESPN started paying the UFC a fixed amount per card (the equivalent of 500,000 buys regardless of how many people actually buy it), the UFC has pulled back on marketing fighters and made keeping fighter salaries low their top priority.

ESPN is the one who would benefit financially from marketing the events/fighters, not the UFC. But ESPN hasn't figured out how to do that, and they're in a difficult position because the UFC isn't really acting in good faith to help them. Instead, the UFC is focusing most of their marketing efforts on things outside of the ESPN deal like PowerSlap.

The powers that be in Abu Dhabi pay the UFC substantial sums to host events there. The UFC obviously wants to keep them happy.

 

[Dr Fong]

I somehow doubt that.

I mean I'm sure it'll happen eventually but just not nearly as often as boxing.
MMA wrestling an grappling take a toll on joints to the extreme especially knees, which of course is horrible for an aging fighter at lower weight classes where speed and variety is more intense then the upper weight classes.
Combine that with the variety of strikes and I don't think MMA will be the same as boxing in the regard .

The increased training injuries in MMA is certainly a factor, and does help explain why so far the lower weight classes have trended towards younger fighters.

But again, boxing simply requires a higher general standard of athleticism. You start to slow down in MMA a little, you have way more options to compensate. For most boxers (yes, there are exceptions), a significant decline in speed means they are f*cked.

If you can have old champs in boxing, I guarantee we will see it MMA too.

 

[Carrotman23]

The increased training injuries in MMA is certainly a factor, and does help explain why so far the lower weight classes have trended towards younger fighters.

But again, boxing simply requires a higher general standard of athleticism. You start to slow down in MMA a little, you have way more options to compensate. For most boxers (yes, there are exceptions), a significant decline in speed means they are f*cked.

If you can have old champs in boxing, I guarantee we will see it MMA too.

More or less agree, I mean there's already been older champs before and it will indeed happen more often as the talent pool grows.

Just think that it will never be on the level of boxing with the tole MMA (especially wrestling) takes on the the knees and other joints, it's just a terrible deterioration to have for an aging fighter, and explosiveness can more easily outway strategy as compared to the chess match of boxing where defense is also aided in a big way by the gloves and ruleset.

 

[HP_Nut]

In addition to that, someone posted a stat that at title fights for WW & below, only twice has someone 35 or older won. Both times it was Woodley but some context, 1 fight he was fighting an even older guy, Maia. The other fight he was fighting Till, whom as it turns out had a dramatic decline after the fight & that win hasn't aged well at all