Would someone with Ngannou's skill set be any good at lightweight?

[AllSmyles]

I'm not trying to criticize Francis as I am a big fan of his, but after watching how effective he has been with seemingly atrocious technique, it makes me wonder if he would even be ranked if he fought in a skilled division like LW or BW. No offense but HW is terrible in terms of skill, talent pool, and depth.

Would a scaled down version of Francis beat elite strikers like Conor, Poirier, or Gaethje?

 

[OverhandRightKayo]

No.

 

[Greg House]

HW is basically WMMA skill level with super human power and no cardio. Fights are bad, until the KO, which is almost always great

 

[Wizzlebiz]

he'd be a Josh Emmitt caliber and nothing more.

 

[calisoul]

I cant wrap my head around the question,

 

[theleerygoose]

He would basically be Melvin Gallard.

He would still have some physical advantage over the competition but the gap would be tighter. He gets away with his medicore technique because of his physical gifts, but that doesnt fly when that gap in physicallity is smaller.

He would still win fights but he wouldnt be a top 3 LW.

 

[GrayArea]

No, but that’s why manlets can’t be considered GOAT

Ngannou would absolutely destroy guys like khabib, GSP, Aldo, Prime BJ, usman

only men that walk around at 200+ lbs can be considered for GOAT fighter

 

[Volador]

It’s a flawed question. You can’t separate skills from physical build, not entirely, it’s largely part of the same package.

Do you think Cruz would have his footwork if he was 6’4” 260lbs? Would Ngannou be KOing fools into another dimension if he was 135lbs and 64” reach? Maybe he would've trained differently if that was his build, no?

With that said, yeah, HW talent is pretty bad.

 

[Gamer007]

A lightweight with incredible durability and vicious one punch KO power combined with great reflexes and solid timing?

A scaled down version of Francis would be a tough out for anybody, Conor, Dustin, and Gaethje don't like to use offensive grappling so they'd all be in serious danger. Dustin has a questionable chin and we just saw Tony ferguson of all people almost put Gaethje down.....

 

[AllSmyles]

He would basically be Melvin Gallard.

He would still have some physical advantage over the competition but the gap would be tighter. He gets away with his medicore technique because of his physical gifts, but that doesnt fly when that gap in physicallity is smaller.

He would still win fights but he wouldnt be a top 3 LW.

Basically my thoughts

Melvin Guillard with a better chin

 

[Bruce Lee666]

when you can KO 99% of the men in the world with punches, you don't care about skills.

No, but that’s why manlets can’t be considered GOAT

Ngannou would absolutely destroy guys like khabib, GSP, Aldo, Prime BJ, usman

only men that walk around at 200+ lbs can be considered for GOAT fighter

old discussion absolute power x technique.

 

[Stalingrad9]

Someone with a death touch like that is dangerous in any division.

 

[El Fernas]

when you can KO 99% of the men in the world with punches, you don't care about skills.



old discussion absolute power x technique.

Is he an undefeated world champ then? He should care.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Heavyweights in boxing are fucking terrible too

Big athletes playing nfl and other sports, rather than getting beat up for coin

 

[chinarice]

Basically my thoughts

Melvin Guillard with a better chin

Except Ngannou hits way, way harder than Melvin so they aren't comparable.

You have to take the hardest hitting guy at LW you've ever seen and basically double his power in his hands. lol

 

[TripTictonic]

Lol no. Pretty much any heavyweight, If you shrunk them down and translated their exact speed, skill set, etc. would get their ass licked at LW probably.

 

[Kumason]

he'd be a Josh Emmitt caliber and nothing more.

Josh Emmitt is a very good grappler, but I get what you mean. I was thinking Melvin Guillard minus the wrestling.

Lol no. Pretty much any heavyweight, If you shrunk them down and translated their exact speed, skill set, etc. would get their ass licked at LW probably.

Totally, but I would just assume TS means just skill set while being smaller would automatically improve their speed/cardio accordingly, just like he obviously wouldn't keep the same power but still power translated to that size in comparison to others of the weight.

 

[johnmangala]

No, but that’s why manlets can’t be considered GOAT

Ngannou would absolutely destroy guys like khabib, GSP, Aldo, Prime BJ, usman

only men that walk around at 200+ lbs can be considered for GOAT fighter

Guess I'm a GOAT.

 

[King of Fists]

Comparisons like this are dumb, the reason smaller guys look more skilled is they have a lot less energy to expend using technique.

This is a real thing, and is why p4p is somewhat dumb -- smaller things ALWAYS have an advantage in p4p contests, because as things get larger their volume (mass) increases at a greater rate than their surface area (strength). It's why ants the size of a human wouldnt be nearly as strong proportional to their body size anymore

 

[linvillegorge]

John Lineker had good success with a similar skill set at weight classes even lighter than LW.