The Bottom Line: Giant Thrillers

[JayPettryMMA]

BY TODD MARTIN
JUL 2, 2019

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

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It has become in vogue to knock MMA’s larger weight classes in recent years and for a variety of reasons. For a long time, smaller fighters were underappreciated in mixed martial arts. It was hard not to champion their cause when the Ultimate Fighting Championship couldn’t even be bothered to maintain a lightweight division. World Extreme Cagefighting’s thrilling shows are still well remembered. As the volume of shows has whittled away the more casual base of MMA fans, the remaining avid observers are quick to extol the virtues of smaller, quicker fighters with greater stamina.

Bigger fighters, by contrast, are often easier to hate on. When a heavyweight fight goes the full 15 minutes or 25 minutes, the combatants are much more likely to become visibly fatigued because of the extra weight they are carrying. Regardless of which divisions tend to produce the most exciting fights on balance, it’s hard to dispute that the very worst UFC fights over the years have disproportionately come from the heavyweight division.

While the larger weight classes may not always have the most passionate cheerleaders, they retain a definite potency. That was evident again on Saturday at UFC on ESPN 3. As major MMA organizations have broadened their focus to a wider array of weight classes, heavyweights and light heavyweights take up a smaller percentage of cards. The event in Minneapolis featured five bouts at either light heavyweight or heavyweight. That doesn’t sound like all that much, but it’s actually quite a rarity. The last time that number was topped was 130 UFC shows ago at an event in Croatia in 2016.

Those five fights all ended via knockout, and four of them ended in the first round. Thanks in large part to that, UFC on ESPN 3 produced seven total knockouts. That number hasn’t been surpassed since UFC 218 in 2017. Meanwhile, the five first-round knockouts were the most since UFC 198 in 2016. The larger fighters were showcased more than they had been in years, and the card produced more explosive finishes than had been seen in years. That correlation is no coincidence. The extra power that larger fighters possess has always been the selling point for those divisions, from Joe Louis and Mike Tyson to Deontay Wilder. It is the major attribute in their favor when compared to the fluidity of movement you see in smaller competitors. UFC heavyweight fights are over twice as likely to end via knockout as male bantamweight or flyweight fights. With so many fights each week, sudden and impactful finishes stand out more than ever.


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