By Bryan Levick (BryanLevick@mmaratings.net)
The subject of fighters moving up and down between weight classes has always been an interesting topic.
Fighter A could prosper by cutting down a weight class or Fighter B should make the jump because of issues meeting the requirements of the division he is in now.
The topic has really gained a lot of steam in the past year or so. Especially when the UFC has three champions who are dominating the other fighters in their weight class.
BJ Penn wants to move back up to welterweight, the fans want Georges St. Pierre to move up to middleweight to challenge Anderson Silva.
Silva should move up to light heavyweight based on his past performances fighting in that division and because there aren’t many more contenders in the 185lb weight class who haven’t been caught in the Spider’s web.
Anthony Johnson and Paul Daley are two up and coming welterweights who have both had issues making the 170lb limit.
Now MMA Weekly has posted a story about Diego Sanchez, fresh off a vicious beating at the hands of Penn, is looking to move back up to welterweight.
St. Pierre also came out over the weekend and said that if he does make the move to middleweight it will be a permanent one.
Many fans have been clamoring for St. Pierre to bulk up and battle Silva for the right to be called the pound-for-pound king.
How many of you are really happy with the fact that Dan Hardy is the UFC’s No.1 contender in the welterweight division?
Even some fighters in the UFC have come out in defiance over Vitor Belfort getting the next opportunity to fight for Silva’s middleweight crown.
Up or down, which way do we go now? It can all get very confusing! In the end, we the fan just want to see the most competitive fight available.
As far as Penn is concerned, he left the lightweight division in limbo for over a year while he took on GSP for a second time.
We all know how that turned out and yet here we are again a mere twelve months later talking about Penn’s desire for revenge on “Rush”
Rich Franklin is a man without a true home. He has done all he can as a middleweight, in fact he is too dangerous for the UFC to put their top contenders against because he can beat them.
Yet, no one in their right state of mind wants to see “Ace” crunched up against the octagon fence again beaten to a pulp by Silva.
So when Franklin announces his plan to move back up to the light heavyweight division, the UFC pulls at him in all directions.
In what made absolutely no sense the UFC had Franklin fight Dan Henderson at 205lbs for the right to eventually meet Michael Bisping at 185lbs!
Then they use Franklin as a test dummy to see how Wanderlei Silva would react to a weight cut for the first time as they had the two meet at a catch-weight of 195lbs.
They did the same for Belfort’s return the organization as well.
When I spoke to Matt Serra last week he told me that even though he was always going to be the smaller man in any welterweight bout he was involved in, the cut to 155lbs was just too much for him to bear.
So what do we do about the fighters who can’t make weight? Fining them 20% of their purse is just not enough, maybe a two strike rule and you’re out?
What about guys like Serra who are in between weight classes? Making more weight classes could get confusing and dilute the talent available.
Or would fans just be happier watching more fighters compete in catch-weight bouts?
There really is no right or wrong answer here, as I stated above, as long as the fights are competitive the fans will be satisfied.
In the cases of GSP vs. Silva or GSP vs. Penn, the bigger guy is always going to have the advantage.
So when the topic of one fighter moving up in weight to meet a bigger fighter or vice- versa, ask yourself will we see more instances of Penn-GSP II or more classics like Franklin-Silva.
