We already have a slew of top guys at 175 who, for one reason or another in recent years, haven't faced one another. Add in an UNNECESSARY weight class at 187, you get even fewer top dogs squaring off at 175, you potentially lose out on something like the quality of the cruiserweight tournament, and then you have more top guys in the new and unnecessary 187 point class where the top guys aren't eager to face one another. No thanks.
Yes. I think going from weight jumps of 5s, 6s, 7s and 8s to a whopping 25 lbs leaves an awful lot of men in a kind of limbo. Those that walk around in decent shape at about 200lbs (myself included, were I a professional) face a less than enviable choice of either a huge and potentially dangerous cut back down to 175 or having to put on ~15lbs of lean mass to match the size of more natural cruisers that actually cut weight to make 200lbs. Either way it forces a decent amount of men, and probably a particularly high demographic from Eastern Europe, to drastically stray from their natural frame and thus affect peak performance by either adding or taking away too much muscle mass. To three S.Fs: 105 to 108 is a 2.86% increase. 108 to 112 is a 3.70% increase. 112 to 115 is a 2.68% increase. 115 to 118 is a 2.61% increase. 118 to 122 is a 3.39% increase. 122 to 126 is a 3.28% increase. 126 to 130 is a 3.17% increase. 130 to 135 is a 3.85% increase. 135 to 140 is a 3.70% increase. 140 to 147 is a 5% increase. 147 to 154 is a 4.75% increase. 154 to 160 is a 3.89% increase. 160 to 168 is another 5%. 168 to 175 is 4.17% 175 going on 200 is a 14.14% increase, pretty much three times as large as any other difference in weight class. That speaks for itself, IMO. If you're complaining about there being too many divisions, you should be directing your attention to the ludicrous amount of smaller divisions. The first seven divisions cover the same weight as that between LHW and CW.
Points taken. I ask you though where would a fighter who walks around at a lean 195 fight? He would be too small for the current CW division. And the cut to 175 would kill him. Where is the place for a fighter like that.
Totally agree. Just because we have too many unnecessary divisions doesnt mean we should freeze out the 195 pound guys. Seriously like you said what if you are in shape at 200 pounds or 195. The guys at CW cut to 200 pounds. They're naturally much larger.
Why would he be too small for the current CW division? Sounds exactly like Adamek after the Dawson fight.
So what? You act as if no one ever went up from 175 to 200 and succeeded before. I reiterate the Adamek example. He was killing himself making 175, and he was naturally too small for cruiserweight. And yet he was known as the best cruiserweight in the world by the time he finished campaigning there, and then he moved up to heavyweight where he was known as a top 10 guy for a number of years.
To be perfectly honest, I don't even like the UFC anymore either. Nothing will ever come close to equalling let alone surpassing seeing Sugar Money Mac score the biggest event win in sporting history, where prior to his gas tanks running dry this 0-0-0 rank novice in boxing totally out slicked, out-thought, outfought and to be perfectly frank humiliated the so called ''TBE'' of boxing for 4 rounds. It's all been downhill since then and I'm not expecting it to take an upward turn anytime soon, hence why I'm officially done with both sports.
I disagree. A fit guy that walks around at 190 can use his being lighter to his advantage. Also, a skilled smaller guy that develops his skillset can find ways to win. Plenty of fighters have done it before. Unlike the lower weight classes that have an endless supply of talent at 175 and higher there just aren't enough fighters to start splitting up the talent even more. Once fighters get over 180 lbs skill trumps size all day long anyway. Its just that a lot of smaller guys at heavyweight and cruiserweight come in out of shape and don't master their skillset. Archie Moore was walked around at between 190-200 lbs. for heavyweight he would fight at his walking around weight, but since he was also the reigning 175 champ he would have to cut down in between heavyweight fights to defend his belt. Archie Moore 5'11" 180 lbs vs. Nino Valdez 6'3" 209 lbs This content is protected Jimmy Ellie 6'1" 191 lbs vs. George Chuvalo 6'0" 218 This content is protected Marvis frazier 6'0" 198 lbs vs. James Broad 6'4" 228 lbs This content is protected Jersey Joe Walcott 6'0" 201 lbs vs. Ten Hoff 6'3" 219 lbs This content is protected The Spinks brothers also didn't have any problem giving up height and weight. Leon could mix it up with the best of them before destroying himself with drugs. I also think Michael could've made an excellent heavyweight despite being very light, but even going into the first Holmes fight he has bad knees and by the time of the Tyson fight both his knees were completely shot.
That's cool and yes some guys can move up in weight and be successful. Evander Holyfield comes to mind. Who as you know is pretty much the only CW to make a drastic impact in the HW division. That's different because the HW is no weight limit. But 175 to 200 is too far a gap. Wilfredo Gomez couldn't even hack it at 126. Imagine if we took away his beloved 122? And he had to cut too hard to make 118 or bulk to 126. The dude couldn't even handle the 4 little pounds. And we have a 25 percent bodyweight jump from LHW to CW.
In theory, but that's not how it can work. Name one fighter minimumweight fighter who could beat a 118lber? Name one lightweight who could beat a JMW? It just wouldn't be fair. I agree there could be less, but dropping that many is silly.
Man Wilfredo Gomez couldn't even cope with 4 pounds. But 25 pounds is no big deal for the higher weight classes? Nah. We can all agree that there are too many weight classes. They should be restructured.