Why is the UFC so heavy on small athletes nowadays ?

Good big athletes go to team sports for pay. The big divisions are noticeable lower quality. It's easier to have a better product down the scale.
 
My dad is probably 5'8 155.

I was 184 pounds till 23 years of age.

Now I'm 117 kg.

I wanna lose weight to live longer.

Hearts of heavy people have to work harder to pump blood and so we die earlier.

Not if I lose weight again.
 
sonhow said:
Yeah thats exactly the point. People can talk about naturally big athletes that are in shape but those are very, very rare and now youd need to convince them to start a fighting career for pennies. With a possibility to earn a bit if they get good. And people wonder where the good hws are lol
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True. But there is WW MW also LHW. Well LHW is essentially 220 pounds guys. And barely anyone is interested in being a pro mma fighter in the first place. There are big bodies out there, milions. But who wanna fight.
 
Other sports get the big guys. How many 5’7” guys play basketball or rugby, hell, even waterpolo and handball? The average height of pro tennis players is like 6’2” these days. Smaller guys are just at a huge disadvantage in many other sports.
 
Trabaho said:
True. But there is WW MW also LHW. Well LHW is essentially 220 pounds guys. And barely anyone is interested in being a pro mma fighter in the first place. There are big bodies out there, milions. But who wanna fight.
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Gotta bring that cash into market to get people interested
<VinceCa$h>

Theres so much unused potential in mma its not even funny
 
I was hoping you'd have numbers listed.
But as many have said the UFC schedule is now massive 11-14 fights for like 45 events a year.
They can hire probably 10 flyweights/bw for the price of one Rozenstruck.
They've gotten really far away from the best fighting the best here they don't even have a good top 15 hw to rank anymore.
LHW and MW are also suffering from this.
 
Trabaho said:
Actually right I confused 145 and 135 🤣😅. I do like 135 too. They bang.

It's just too much quantity wise. Or I didn't watch enough UFC cards and the ones I watched happened to be heavy in 125 135 WMMA.

WMMA 135 used to be one of the best divisions. That part of MMA fell of more than any division. Had Ronda, Miesha, Nunes, Valentina, Holm, Cyborg, GDR all in their prime. Now Penington is the champ based on " It's not who is good but who is left".
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This is the part that makes little sense to me. Where have all the large athletic women gone? Why weren't young women inspired to make Ronda money? It's not like men who have many sporting options, they have tennis and golf then the UFC will pay them substantially more. The blueprints there be a elite judoka or kickboxer or wrestler then cross over young.
 
World eater said:
Other sports get the big guys. How many 5’7” guys play basketball or rugby, hell, even waterpolo and handball? The average height of pro tennis players is like 6’2” these days. Smaller guys are just at a huge disadvantage in many other sports.
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True. See small weight classes aren't the best they are the WORST least athletic guys. They are the left overs who can't make it in any other sport.

If a 125er is better than a HW, why can't he defeat him ? Cause he isn't.

Amen good night.
 
Mmmmmmma1234 said:
This is the part that makes little sense to me. Where have all the large athletic women gone? Why weren't young women inspired to make Ronda money? It's not like men who have many sporting options, they have tennis and golf then the UFC will pay them substantially more. The blueprints there be a elite judoka or kickboxer or wrestler then cross over young.
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The thing is fighting MMA gives you brain damage and whole bodily harm. That's why we post on sherdog. Like try out a fight and that will answer your question why there are so little fighters. There are a milion other careers to make money that don't hurt. Why aren't you fighting ?

Most people even think it's anti social and brutish. Fight gyms are full of criminals and tattooed rowdy guys. Who likes to fight as a career. Most people get their excitement elsewhere.
 
Trabaho said:
The thing is fighting MMA gives you brain damage and whole bodily harm. That's why we post on sherdog. Like try out a fight and that will answer your question why there are so little fighters. There are a milion other careers to make money that don't hurt. Why aren't you fighting ?

Most people even think it's anti social and brutish. Fight gyms are full of criminals and tattooed rowdy guys. Who likes to fight as a career. Most people get their excitement elsewhere.
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No offense but that's a stupid answer. Yes there's a large population that will never look at athletic competition because they can excell elsewhere. That was also true 10-15 years ago WHEN women's MMA paid peanuts and there were more athletic women getting into it then. Now it's a proven higher potential earner for a woman of athletic gifts with a larger frame and without the intelligence for business. The population has only increased the number of these types of women has to be more than ever.

And I'm old enough that the UFC wasn't a viable option for me to earn a living in my prime or I might have I won alot of bar fights in my day brah.
 
Light weights fights are way better than heavy weights. Way more dynamic and fast paced with alot of moments of quickness, while heavy weights are slow and the fighters get tired much faster. If you just care about Ko just watch a compilation on the YouTube
 
Araquém said:
Light weights fights are way better than heavy weights. Way more dynamic and fast paced with alot of moments of quickness, while heavy weights are slow and the fighters get tired much faster. If you just care about Ko just watch a compilation on the YouTube
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Why don´t low ranked and unranked LWs move up to HW take over and make more money if they are better ?
 
It's not just MMA

The little dudes basically held boxing up in the 2000s
 
I seem to need to quit sherdog. Just post in the S&C and stand up forum ocassionaly. Only sub forum that has value for me. This is straight up toxic. First thing I get called fat and all HWs get disrespected. I step below my everyday social manners and say they are all small / malnurished. Effectively draged into low class behaviour. That's online forums for you. What did I get out of this thread. Why didn't I call my mom for 2 hours and checked on her. Watched something educational. Sherdog HW forum is toxic. Not starting any thread here again anytime soon.
 
HHJ said:
It's not just MMA

The little dudes basically held boxing up in the 2000s
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I respect it but I don't respect idiots on sherdog calling HWs fat unathletic slow and the worst. Online people are not gonna talk like they would in public.
 
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Mmmmmmma1234 said:
I was hoping you'd have numbers listed.
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As of February 11, 2025, the UFC roster size per division is:
Heavyweight (HW): 30
Light Heavyweight (LHW): 40
Middleweight (MW): 68
Welterweight (WW): 89
Lightweight (LW): 102
Featherweight (FW): 85
Bantamweight (BW): 84
Flyweight (FlW): 50
Women's Bantamweight (WBW): 32
Women's Featherweight (WFW): 2
Women's Flyweight (WFLY): 45
Women's Strawweight (WSW): 49
 
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