Stipe looked terrible against Francis

[Qays Stetkevich]

While to a certain extent it's true, Stipe was still 234 lbs, you can KO pretty much anyone while being this heavy.

Agreed, but not as easily as the guy with 30+ pounds on you can. 235-ish is/was a "Golden Weight" for HWs, because there are a lot of guys with a healthy mix of talent AND size/strength at that size. Unfortunately (in some ways, not in others), ever since Brock we now have a FEW HW's that are athletic and 265+ (who can cut down). This makes it much, much harder for those fit 235ers to compete. In a vacuum, I'd love a 235 class. In reality, I don't think we need another weight class right now.

 

[theTKDguy]

they looked like a couple weight classes apart

 

[Kos Fan]

He just got bullied. He looked physically weak compared to Francis.

 

[HindustaniKush]

He came in too light, and watching the fight, he just didn't throw anything... Was bizarre.

He threw but francis usually hit first. Right before he was KO he hit francis with a good shot

 

[HindustaniKush]

they looked like a couple weight classes apart

Stipe came in at 230lbs which is what large LHWs do like Rampage, Ortiz, Randleman, forrest, cormier etc. Cormier was once 233lbs or 235lbs I recall on fight night for a LHW bout.

Stipe usually was 240lbs to 245lbs I dont see how a 6"4 man benefits going down even lower when he was 245lb self was clearly stronger.