The idea for this thread came to me during the Nelson/Santiago fight this weekend. I hope you like it.
I thought Nelson looked tiny in there against Jorge so I thought "What if he was actually Nelson's size?". Nelson is not the only "small" guy out there. There are some in every division. Some of them are/were doing great, some even became champions. I'm thinking of guys like Frankie Edgar at LW, Gunnar Nelson at WW, Demian Maia at MW, Rashad and Machida at LHW and many more.
All across the divisions fighters cut weight, sometimes immense amounts. What would happen to the weight-cutters if weight-cutting were made illegal? Who would be the champions in each division? GSP walks around at roughly 194lbs. Would he be a champion if he had to fight at LHW - in a weight class he would share with Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans? Would LW champ Benson Henderson take GSP's spot at WW or would FW champ Jose Aldo, who said he walks around at 170lbs, be the WW kingpin? Or maybe even Dominick Cruz who cuts more than 30 pounds to make BW? How would Anderson Silva do against heavyweights? There's lots of speculation here. :thumb02:
To make things a little easier, guys who walk around just a bit over the limit can still fight in the lighter division (for example, Pettis supposedly walks around at 172, so he could still be a WW). Here's my personal opinion on who would be the top guys:
If anyone can think of a guy that weighs less than 135, please comment.
FW: Mighty Mouse
LW: Frankie Edgar
WW: epic trilogy between Pettis and Aldo
MW: Maia or Nick Diaz
LHW: Lyoto Machida or GSP, can't really decide here
HW: Chael Sonnen
No, seriously, still Cain Velasquez.
I thought Nelson looked tiny in there against Jorge so I thought "What if he was actually Nelson's size?". Nelson is not the only "small" guy out there. There are some in every division. Some of them are/were doing great, some even became champions. I'm thinking of guys like Frankie Edgar at LW, Gunnar Nelson at WW, Demian Maia at MW, Rashad and Machida at LHW and many more.
All across the divisions fighters cut weight, sometimes immense amounts. What would happen to the weight-cutters if weight-cutting were made illegal? Who would be the champions in each division? GSP walks around at roughly 194lbs. Would he be a champion if he had to fight at LHW - in a weight class he would share with Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans? Would LW champ Benson Henderson take GSP's spot at WW or would FW champ Jose Aldo, who said he walks around at 170lbs, be the WW kingpin? Or maybe even Dominick Cruz who cuts more than 30 pounds to make BW? How would Anderson Silva do against heavyweights? There's lots of speculation here. :thumb02:
To make things a little easier, guys who walk around just a bit over the limit can still fight in the lighter division (for example, Pettis supposedly walks around at 172, so he could still be a WW). Here's my personal opinion on who would be the top guys:
If anyone can think of a guy that weighs less than 135, please comment.
FW: Mighty Mouse
LW: Frankie Edgar
WW: epic trilogy between Pettis and Aldo
MW: Maia or Nick Diaz
LHW: Lyoto Machida or GSP, can't really decide here
HW: Chael Sonnen
No, seriously, still Cain Velasquez.