How much does size matter?

Even though this betrays all confidence I have in my short frame, size definitely matters; especially at the higher level of competition. When you have a world class lightweight going against a heavyweight with no credentials what-so-ever, then if the HW gets beaten it proves that the smaller man was a better fighter. However, if you have a World Class LW against a World Class HW or LHW, then size definitely plays a factor.

Let's put it this way: In his 3rd ever MMA fight Bob Sapp was pitted against the (then) Pride HW Champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nogueira is no small man at 230lbs, but being pitted against the 350lbs monster that Bob Sapp is he had more than his hands full. Nogueira pulled the win on a gassed Sapp with a beautifully executed arm bar, but he was rushed to the hospital right after the fight. In this example, all Sapp had going for him was a huge weight/size advantage. What if Sapp had a much larger skill set or better cardio?

I'll touch on the dropping weight, jumping weight classes things in a sec. Work beckons!

IronMan said:

The question is "What if sapp had a better skill set or better cardio?" and the answer is no. Sapp had a "good" skill set and nog is a pride heavy weight, which means that he had the BEST skill set. Nog and Gracie are both great fighters and the fact that he was rushed to the hospital after the fight shows a level of commitment that missing now in alot of MMA formats.

... I want to see the dominant fighters like Hughes and Franklin fight the top heavyweights like sylvia and arlovski. Maybe they get killed and maybe not, but it'd be fun to watch.

That's my pitch.

Click to expand...

As much as I like watching any Bob Sapp train wreck, I'd have to state at that time he had NO skill set at all. The original post asks if Size matters, with my example I'm pointing out that it does. The only thing that Sapp has going for him as a fighter is his Size and Strength. The fact that Nog got rushed to the hospital attests to the fact that he was getting mauled, and ended up literally fighting for his life. If Bob Sapp was the same size as Nog, I doubt he'd be able to: 1) Stop a takedown by up-ending the fighter and dropping him on his head. 2) Stop a Triangle/armbar by lifting muscling him up and slamming him(this is Nog's bread 'n' butter sub combo). 3) Stuff a kneebar by simply dropping all his weight down on him. The fact that Nog won is definitely a testament to his skill. The fact that Sapp was able to hurt him so badly is a testament to his physical size.

I'd like to see what the World Class/Champs of lighter weight classes could do against those in the HW and LHW classes out of curiosity. But just from sheer concern for these fighters well-being, I'd rather not. Just imagine the type of record Randy Couture would have if he was always fighting at 195, or Kazushi Sakuraba if he wasn't fighting opponents who were 25lbs larger than him on average.

Food for thought isn't it?

On the subject of cutting weight, I believe it's part of the game now. With that in mind, cutting too much weight can be really bad. When guys have to go back to hospital lobbies to IV up and re-hydrate after the weigh-in, something is wrong. Stripping your body of that much water is just damaging by itself. Jumping between weight classes is also real risky for a lot of MMA fighters. The reason being is that they will usually jump between weight classes (up or down) within a matter of months in order to make fights. Most boxers will do so gradually over time.

I think that once a fighter is able to find a comfortable weight for them to fight at, they should stick to it as long as they can. Once they start having trouble making weight, then they can start moving up. But doing the elevator rise/drop in weight doesn't end up paying off for fighters. See Joe Riggs, or BJ Penn as examples.

WOW lots of excelelnt posts and comments here I need to throw in my two cents...

Weight and size do and do not matter. yea I know that is a very canceling statment and as previously stated I think alot of it comes down to skill.

To borrow a scene from a bruce lee movie, Game of Death, Bruce and Kareem have similiar body types just Kareem was like 3 feet taller then bruce and I mean they have strong lean muscle. At first Kareems height was an advantage, but after bruces character learns to overcome the height difference he can use it against him ( hope I do not have to explain that) in this case the fighters were about equally skilled.
now lets say same two fighters except now Kareem has about say 150 pounds more. being the fighter he is portraying with that skill level were talking a monster here. If the fight were to start the same way Bruces character more then likely would not have lasted long enough to figure out how to use the height of his opponent against him.

So we can see here two fighters with near equal skills, size and strength can be what tips the scales into favor of one. Now when the fihters have a huge difference in skill level the smaller fighter if the more skilled can more easily over come the weight/height advantage. look at the previous fights in the same movie ( and yes I knows its a movie but it had some world class martial artists in it and is just being used as a reference) they have more equally sized fighters but you can see how skill is the ultimate deciding factor.

and for the record you can see some of bruce's grappling skills in that fight with Kareem ( not much but a taste)

Ok so that was more like a $1.25 not 2 cents but I think It made sense.

:thumbsup: