Stocky/fat fighter=naturally smaller=BS?

[eNoq]

all 3 in ops post are endomorphs

 

[csx]

Because muscle is helpful in a fight whereas fat isn't helping anyone

have you ever wrestled a fat dude. once they get on your its hard to get them off cuz theres nothing hard to grab onto. its smothering.

 

[Hanoi Rox]

Roy has lost a lot of weight as it is and you can clearly see the difference, but middleweight wouldn't be the right class for him light heavyweight is where he should be.

Agreed. People who think he should be a MW are out of their minds.

 

[AkuraIchiban]

True. And fat still gives you weight which you can use for punching power and leverage in wrestling etc.



You can do cardio for 15 hours a day and still look like a whale, you just have to eat a lot of food.

Quoted for muthafawking truth!!

 

[DrHouse]

all 3 in ops post are endomorphs

Rashad Evans is an endomorph? You must be out yo god damn mind.

 

[Sonnen Says]

John Maguire

 

[Rematch]

What's so natural about dieting?

 

[Sirwastealot]

Because muscle is helpful in a fight whereas fat isn't helping anyone

This, cmon TS get it together

 

[MMAATHLETE]

Nelson's clearly not a 'natural' HW, his frame isn't. Not that I care or think he could have better success at lower weight classes.

holy shit that is a BIG DIFFERENCE

 

[TheHawtness]

I somewhat agree, in that the whole term "natural weightclass" is a stupid term, and there is no such thing as a "natural weight". You wanna find out your natural weight, smoke weed and eat maintenance calories for a couple months. Whatever it is will be nothing like the weight your in shape to fight in.

Fighters can fight in any weight division they can make, their "natural" weightclass is the one they can be most successful at. As an example, after 5 months of training I'm walking around around at 185, up from 160. Now what's my "natural weightclass"? 155? 170? 185? Hell 145? I could make any of them equally as "naturally".

But seriously, I think when most people say "natural weight", what they mean is optimal weight.

 

[Ace70 V2]

Because muscle is helpful in a fight whereas fat isn't helping anyone

I call bullshit. How many body shots have you seen hurt Roy Nelson or Mark Hunt?

 

[thetopdog555]

The OP is right, there are 5'10-5'11" guys with similar heights and reach fighting effectively in every weight class from BW to HW (not too many HWs but there are a few), the only difference is the amount of muscle and fat they carry which is can almost totally be controlled by diet and exercise

 

[7th]

Because muscle is helpful in a fight whereas fat isn't helping anyone

this, derp

 

[DrHouse]

The OP is right, there are 5'10-5'11" guys with similar heights and reach fighting effectively in every weight class from BW to HW (not too many HWs but there are a few), the only difference is the amount of muscle and fat they carry which is can almost totally be controlled by diet and exercise

Yeah, because Cole Miller should just bulk up and fight MW because he's 6'1''.

 

[thetopdog555]

Yeah, because Cole Miller should just bulk up and fight MW because he's 6'1''.

If he's effective at his current weight there is absolutely no reason to put on a large amount of weight to go up to MW but it can't be denied that there are people with the same height and reach fighting effectively at MW

 

[GoodOleWrasslin]

I've noticed there seems to be a double standard among some here constantly calling fighters who are stocky and/or carrying some body fat 'natural' (insert smaller weight class than their current one)'s, while fighters who are noticeably mostly muscle are rarely called out as such. For example things like

Shogun is a natural MW
Rashad is a natural MW
Nelson is a natural MW (!)

But don't people realize that carrying lots of muscle isn't necessarily 'natural' either - not making a generalized steroid accusation here, just that it takes hard work in the gym and EATING A LOT (just like with fat) to maintain a ton of muscle... so how is some body fat less 'natural' than muscle? Yeah maybe if Nelson never ate much as a kid he'd have an MW build... by the same token maybe if Shane Carwin (one of the largest HW's even though he's only 6'1) never ate much or lifted heavy weights, he'd be able to make LHW or MW.

Discuss.

You are missing the point. If a fighter has a solid amount of fat on them at a weight class it means they didn't cut a ton of weight to make the weightclass, so if they lost the fat then they could probably make a weight class below the one they currently compete at.

 

[DrHouse]

If he's effective at his current weight there is absolutely no reason to put on a large amount of weight to go up to MW but it can't be denied that there are people with the same height and reach fighting effectively at MW

Even IF Cole could put on the 40+ pounds he needed to fight at MW, he wouldn't be effective at that weigh class. That's because his body is not designed to be 200+ pounds, unlike someone like Bisping who is the same height. There are big differences between these fighters other than just diet, some guys have frames with which they can carry larger amount of muscle mass. Look at GSP, compare him from 194 to 188. At 188 he looks faster and more fluid whereas at 194 he looked slow and awkward, that goes to show that his frame just is not supposed to carry 194+ pounds.

 

[BEER]

This "natural weight class" shit is almost always bullshit.

Some guys, who are absolutely tiny for their weight class, I can understand saying they belong a weight class down.

Guys like Mighty Mouse and Benavidez were dwarfed at 135. Frankie Edgar looked two weight classes smaller than Maynard.

But, just because you can potentially cut to a lower weight class doesn't mean it's the best place to be.

 

[thetopdog555]

Even IF Cole could put on the 40+ pounds he needed to fight at MW, he wouldn't be effective at that weigh class. That's because his body is not designed to be 200+ pounds, unlike someone like Bisping who is the same height. There are big differences between these fighters other than just diet, some guys have frames with which they can carry larger amount of muscle mass. Look at GSP, compare him from 194 to 188. At 188 he looks faster and more fluid whereas at 194 he looked slow and awkward, that goes to show that his frame just is not supposed to carry 194+ pounds.

I really don't think you can say what weight his body was "designed" because neither of us know what his diet and training looks like. Have you ever seen former college O-Linemen that lose 100+lbs after college since they no longer need to carry around all that weight? You would never guess by looking at them now that they used to be 300+lb men that were obviously effective at that weight since they competed in high-level athletics

I have personally been anywhere from Dominick Cruz-size to Rashad Evans-size in the past 10 years, based on how much I was lifting and eating at the time. Nobody that meets me now (currently 5'10", relatively lean 210lbs) would have ever guessed that I'm a "natural" bantam-weight. There are very few men that "naturally" carry a great deal of muscle without putting in serious worth with their diet and training

 

[zephid]

Not sure he would do better even at HW or against the same opponents, which is what it's really about.

Why wouldn't a Roy Nelson with 20 lbs less fat be at least as successful as he is now? He would have the same physical strength but he would also be faster and have better cardio.