Issue 053

August 2009

By Richard Cartey.

The UFC’s attitude toward weight classes is the ire of keyboard warriors and, occasionally, fighters too. During Zuffa’s reign there have been only five weight classes in the UFC, and despite suggestions to include more the sport’s western trend-setter hasn’t done so.  

The reason it agitates people is that between some divisions there is a 20lb disparity. Thus, fighters that want to be more competitive by competing at a lower weight may have to lose 20lb through hard dieting and dehydration. Neither are a pleasant experience. The popular consensus is having weight classes every 10lb, creating something similar to boxing with divisions like super welterweight and cruiserweight, in addition to the UFC’s current five established brackets. In essence, that makes sense. In reality, it’s an idea that will hurt the sport.  

The UFC has been praised for holding the accessibility that boxing craves. The big four boxing organizations have 17 weight classes each, from 105lb to 200lb. That’s a total of 68 belts that the boxing world is asking people to pay to see contested and, if there are no cross-weight holders, 68 champions they’re asking people to follow and care about.  

In contrast, the UFC is easy to track. Five weight classes from lightweight at 155lb to heavyweight at 225lb to 265lb. Five champions to remember. It’s this simple formula that helps people buy into pay-per-view hype so easily. Fans know who they’re getting and what is being fought for. As the past has proven: the more successful the UFC; the more MMA prospers. Creating barriers to people buying pay per views by confusing things with added weight classes won’t aid the sport’s success.  

You might argue having two or three extra belts will mean higher numbers of title fights. That these additional title-fight match-ups will mean more events gain better ratings. While that could be true in the short-term, it could easily reach a point of overkill where every month there’s a title on the line. When that happens, pay per views begin to lose their urgency and impact. Before long the people who complain about not having main events with a title on the line will protest if there’s only one championship bout per show.  

There’s also another negative side effect. Having shorter gaps between divisions means more champions would be willing to move up or down in weight to target a nearby belt. Although that creates a superfight situation, it also brings to a halt that champion’s entire division for at least four months while they train, fight, then recoup. This would result in depriving fighters at that weight of title shots and reducing the very thing supporters of extra weight classes want to see greater numbers of: title fights.  

Seeing a boxer in the ring post-fight with three or four belts draped over him is something everyone has become accustomed to, perhaps even desensitized to. How hard can it be to win those belts if one guy has four of them? There’s a very real possibility that encouraging championship-hopping by adding divisions will actually cheapen the belts these people are fighting for. If titles become seen as almost a rite of passage for a top-level fighter then the impact of a title fight headlining a UFC event will be lessened and the sport will be worse off for it.  

It’s not as if MMA fans are strapped for title fights anyway. Even if there isn’t one on the line in the UFC, then Strikeforce, Dream or Sengoku are likely to have a belt contested at any given event. It’s understandable that people are annoyed when they’re asked to pay money to see an event that doesn’t have any ‘big’ fights. But just because there’s something to win doesn’t guarantee an exciting fight. Whether an event does or doesn’t have a belt should be no acid test or point of contention.  

Although anything that could mean fighters spend less time in the sauna torturing themselves through a large weight cut should be supported, adding more divisions doesn’t mean fighters will stop doing it entirely. There will always be the temptation to drop huge amounts of weight to fight smaller opponents.  

The UFC has no strong reason to include more weight classes. From their point of view, it enables people to gain interest in their product; it’s not hard to remember five champions and, by extension, get excited about their fights. When people get excited about fights they buy them. Having only five means there’s no saturation of championship bouts or watering down of the accomplishment that is holding the belt and the title of world champion.  

There’s no good reason to change anything. In fact it’s one of the few things in this sport that benefits fan and businessman alike.