Who is the smallest fighter that you think could beat a UFC heavyweight?

[Greg House]

Levels fool.

Yeah, levels, dummy. One is winning ADCC wrestling championships, the other is an MMA fighter. And on top of that the former is 60 pounds heavier than the later

Get Khabib's dick out of your mouth for one second and think what you are saying

 

[HuskySamoan]

Definitely not Chris Barnett is legit. Poter gotta be the worst UFC HW in a while.

I'm not saying Barnett is the worst, I'm saying I'd pick a 200lb Geoff Neal to beat him though.

 

[Jonesisnatural]

Yeah, levels, dummy. One is winning ADCC wrestling championships, the other is an MMA fighter. And on top of that the former is 60 pounds heavier than the later

Get Khabib's dick out of your mouth for one second and think what you are saying lol

I CANNOT STAND KHABIB YET I JUST CAN ACCEPT THE TRUTH
Titles mean dick.
The greatest mma wrestler of all time had zero amateur experience, let alone titles.
You see weight and titles and think it's the answer.
Have you wrestled?
A smaller agile wrestler with higher skill can possess a shit ton of problems no matter how big you are.

 

[welcometohavoc]

I could see a top tier wrestler like Cejudo definitely working over a few HW's if he was able to grab hold of them.

As bad as HW is, I don't think the skill level difference in wrestling is large enough to offset the huge weight advantage.

Even Curtis Blaydes has trouble getting guys down sometimes

 

[Ibm]

Volk and it does not come close. 5ft3 dude and I would give him good chances agaist guys more than a foot taller than him!

 

[RizinSon88]

Depends on what defines a HW...Latifi is a HW now but he's squat with mediocre stamina, let's see him in against a cardio guy like Colby or Holloway.

 

[VinceArch]

I'm used to insufferable drunks so I'll give you a pass this time. I hate you ignorant folk

The kindness you have clearly knows no bounds lol.

 

[VinceArch]

This sport is full of delusional people lol.

Unless they're not actually HW's then he's not working any of them over. He's 5'4, 135lbs. These guys are all literally twice his mass and 10 inches taller than him.

Obviously he wouldn't be 135 lbs

 

[VinceArch]

Wow… you really weren’t kidding

And in doing so you’ve outed yourself as a full blown retard.

I love you too.

 

[dog y]

I'm not saying Barnett is the worst, I'm saying I'd pick a 200lb Geoff Neal to beat him though.

Leave Huggy alone. He's awesome.

 

[Gamer2k4]

it depends tbh. I think that Size matters when both people have the same amount of experience for example if an MMA fighter who's 170lbs fought one that's 250 lbs and they've both been training for 3 years obviously the bigger one would have an advantage. But if a trained MMA fighter who's 170 lbs who's been training for 3 years fought a untrained person who's 250lbs the MMA fighter would destroy the untrained person. It most likely wouldn't even be close.

Oh sure, if you going against some chucklehead on the street, it doesn't really matter how big they are (but I imagine even that goes out the window somewhere above 300 pounds). But if you're going against someone with any degree of athleticism, and they KNOW you're coming after them, then the weight and strength difference matters a whole lot.

As an example, armbars work because two arms are stronger than one. But what happens when they aren't? What happens when all the strength and leverage of your tiny little 125 pound body can't prevent me from just curling my arm up against it? What good is your rear naked choke if your arm is too short to wrap around my neck? And what good is the perfect single leg takedown when the sheer weight of my leg (not to mention my muscle power behind it) makes it impossible to lift?

 

[Psychojoe86]

Best I could think of is Anthony Johnson, who used to cut to welterweight and ultimately fought as high as heavyweight.

currently though, the lowest weight class would likely be middleweight, with Alex pereira having a chance potentially against some heavies.

 

[MarloStanfield]

Conor destroys the HW division

 

[Xoleth]

Where were you guys when I said that Yoel could beat most ranked HWs (well, a few years ago) and Sherdoggers were naysayers?
Now Cejudo beats Ivanov...
Vandera is no longer in UFC, but he was a big guy, probably he can beat WWs.

 

[tonystpierre]

Oh sure, if you going against some chucklehead on the street, it doesn't really matter how big they are (but I imagine even that goes out the window somewhere above 300 pounds). But if you're going against someone with any degree of athleticism, and they KNOW you're coming after them, then the weight and strength difference matters a whole lot.

As an example, armbars work because two arms are stronger than one. But what happens when they aren't? What happens when all the strength and leverage of your tiny little 125 pound body can't prevent me from just curling my arm up against it? What good is your rear naked choke if your arm is too short to wrap around my neck? And what good is the perfect single leg takedown when the sheer weight of my leg (not to mention my muscle power behind it) makes it impossible to lift?

that's true bro fair point

 

[pankrat]

We've seen plenty of WWs fighting HWs.
From Joe Riggs or Rumble Johnson to my countryman Dani Tabera who got robbed vs Gilbert Yvel and Roman Zentsov, among countless other examples in promotions across the world.

My guess is that LWs who can get to 200+lbs in decent shape stand a legit chance vs the worst HWs in UFC, who some of them are rather unskilled MWs with ton of fat.
I guess you can include FWs given that a guy as Dustin Poirier is a former FW but that's stretching it.
Lighter than that, I really don't see it unless we are talking about untrained HWs, not anybody who make it to the UFC.

In any case, Blagoi Ivanov is definitely not the guy to prove your case.
One of the best chins and trips from the clinch in the heavyweight division, with very solid punching power of his own even by HW standards, who has given all he could handle to several ranked HWs.

Former MW and LHW WSOF champ David Branch got asked about making history challenging Blagoi for his HW belt and this was his answer:

Christ on a cross lol. I never said Cejudo could be HW champion but to think an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling can't beat someone like Blagoy Ivanov?.

You are up to 30K posts in a mma forum WTF is wrong with you, friend?

I suggest you all try to wrestle if you can.

 

[cheesus]

Christ on a cross lol. I never said Cejudo could be HW champion but to think an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling can't beat someone like Blagoy Ivanov? I suggest you all try to wrestle if you can.

Henry Cejudo isn't doing fuck all to Ivanov who has at least 100 pounds on him and is a black belt in judo and has extensive experiences in Sambo competition at a international level. Ivanov isn't even that bad of a fighter, you could've chosen a better example.

 

[cheesus]

There was some guy on here a while ago who was adamant Cejudo could beat Tuivasa in MMA, I wonder if that opinion still stands.

 

[The Last King]

There are a lot of top LHWs who would beat some HWs.

There are some MWs who hit as hard as a HW. Poatan, prime Hendo, prime Anderson, prime Wand, prime Manhoef who could knock out anyone, even a HW. When you hit that hard it doesn't matter how big the other guy is. This is how something as small as a bullet can kill someone.

I bet there are WWs who could KO anyone too.

With that said these results wouldn't come often. The reality is if skilled big guys fought skilled small guys for long enough it would become obvious why there are weight classes.

 

[Iron Wolf]

The worst HW on the roster is probably Jared Vanderaa or maybe Chase Sherman.

I think Khamzat and Usman could beat these guys. Arguably they could beat them even if they had to weigh in at 170 and those guys got to weigh in at HW. If he was allowed to weigh in at his walk around weight then I think Khamzat could probably get a 1st rd sub on them.

If you let the little guy fight at his walk around weight though, then I actually think Max (who supposedly walks around at 190-200) could probably decision Sherman although the reach might be a problem for him.

Anyone else think any other out of camp FW or maybe even a BW could take a bad HW?

We’ve seen Manhoeff, Mousasi, Hendo, and a handful of others do it. Weighing in at or below 185 gets seriously problematic, however. The smaller fighter either needs to have atomic bombs in his hands, or a positively sublime grappling and submission game.