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DISCLAIMER: This thread is not about getting rid of weight classes and having all fights be openweight, where anyone can fight anyone, like in the early days.
Click spoiler for full post or see TLDR below:
TLDR: Weight classes are no longer necessary. Weigh fighters randomly multiple times throughout the year instead to develop historical weight records. This would improve matchmaking and remove weight cutting. A new ranking and title system could be implemented despite the lack of divisions. The current system is outdated, and I think this is the way forward. Don't be afraid of change.
Click spoiler for full post or see TLDR below:
This is the simplest and easiest way to get rid of weight cutting. We don't need weight classes anymore. They're an outdated idea. Khabib/Max should have happened last weekend, and it's ridiculous that it didn't. Neither Khabib nor Max shoulda been destroying their bodies in the first place; it's all so unnecessary.
Fighters can just be weighed at random times throughout the year. The UFC has a finite (~600) number of fighters on the roster. That's manageable -- instituting and running the USADA drug testing program was/is exponentially more expensive than simply weighing fighters a few times per year. USADA could even be the ones who weigh the fighters.
These weigh-ins would be used to develop a historical record of fighter weights. These weights, along with height and reach stats, would be used for matchmaking. There'd be some sort of formula used to determine what fights can be made, containing all of these size properties. It'd be in fighters' best interests to stay in shape year-round, to create low weight records. This would be a secondary benefit of the new system.
An obvious core benefit of this new system is that matchmaking will have been freed up tremendously. No more divisions, preventing potentially great fights.
NEW RANKING AND TITLE SYSTEM
Yet another benefit of the new system would be the improvement of the existing "game of rankings" that people obsess over.
Titles would still exist, but they wouldn't be attached to any particular weight or size. If at any point two champions exist close enough in size to fight, then there'd be an option to unify the titles if it's deemed necessary. If at any point NO champions exist around a particular size, while there's a clear world class fighter, then that fighter can fight for a new title. There'd be no more need for "interim champions", as champions aren't attached to any particular division. Everyone is either a champion, or in 99% of fighters' cases, not a champion.
Rankings could be replaced by all fighters being "graded", e.g. "entry level, mid level, contender" or "grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5". This would be far superior to rankings anyway, as it'd prevent fighters from ducking lower ranked opponents. "Mid level" fighters could dominate other "mid level" fighters, and thus earn a "contender" ranking, despite other "contender" fighters refusing to fight them and any other "mid level" fighters. This grading system would have yet another benefit, in that it'd stop certain fans and media members, i.e. Luke Thomas and Jeff Wagenheim, from being so confused about what rankings are for.
In this system, all fighters exist within 1 pool, rather than 8 different pools as they are currently. Within that pool, each fighter would have their grade. So, Overeem would be graded "contender", as would Cejudo. Both would be in the same pool, despite the fact that they can never fight each other. On a website or on TV graphics, the pool could then be filtered by specific criteria, to only display fighters of a certain height, reach, and/or weight, as well as grade. Or it could be filtered by a chosen fighter, showing a result-set containing that fighter alongside all other fighters they're eligible to fight.
Fighters can just be weighed at random times throughout the year. The UFC has a finite (~600) number of fighters on the roster. That's manageable -- instituting and running the USADA drug testing program was/is exponentially more expensive than simply weighing fighters a few times per year. USADA could even be the ones who weigh the fighters.
These weigh-ins would be used to develop a historical record of fighter weights. These weights, along with height and reach stats, would be used for matchmaking. There'd be some sort of formula used to determine what fights can be made, containing all of these size properties. It'd be in fighters' best interests to stay in shape year-round, to create low weight records. This would be a secondary benefit of the new system.
An obvious core benefit of this new system is that matchmaking will have been freed up tremendously. No more divisions, preventing potentially great fights.
NEW RANKING AND TITLE SYSTEM
Yet another benefit of the new system would be the improvement of the existing "game of rankings" that people obsess over.
Titles would still exist, but they wouldn't be attached to any particular weight or size. If at any point two champions exist close enough in size to fight, then there'd be an option to unify the titles if it's deemed necessary. If at any point NO champions exist around a particular size, while there's a clear world class fighter, then that fighter can fight for a new title. There'd be no more need for "interim champions", as champions aren't attached to any particular division. Everyone is either a champion, or in 99% of fighters' cases, not a champion.
Rankings could be replaced by all fighters being "graded", e.g. "entry level, mid level, contender" or "grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5". This would be far superior to rankings anyway, as it'd prevent fighters from ducking lower ranked opponents. "Mid level" fighters could dominate other "mid level" fighters, and thus earn a "contender" ranking, despite other "contender" fighters refusing to fight them and any other "mid level" fighters. This grading system would have yet another benefit, in that it'd stop certain fans and media members, i.e. Luke Thomas and Jeff Wagenheim, from being so confused about what rankings are for.
In this system, all fighters exist within 1 pool, rather than 8 different pools as they are currently. Within that pool, each fighter would have their grade. So, Overeem would be graded "contender", as would Cejudo. Both would be in the same pool, despite the fact that they can never fight each other. On a website or on TV graphics, the pool could then be filtered by specific criteria, to only display fighters of a certain height, reach, and/or weight, as well as grade. Or it could be filtered by a chosen fighter, showing a result-set containing that fighter alongside all other fighters they're eligible to fight.
TLDR: Weight classes are no longer necessary. Weigh fighters randomly multiple times throughout the year instead to develop historical weight records. This would improve matchmaking and remove weight cutting. A new ranking and title system could be implemented despite the lack of divisions. The current system is outdated, and I think this is the way forward. Don't be afraid of change.