One of my pet peeves about combat sports is the lack of consistency when it comes to weight classes. Every organization in boxing has different names for their weight classes. And mixed martial arts is lacking enough weight classes.
For example in boxing, a man who weighs 200 pounds is called a Cruiserweight in the WBA, but a Junior Heavyweight in the WBO. In boxing there are 17 weight classes for men.
In Super Bantamweight in the WBA, you weigh 119 to 122 lbs. Weight classes move in 3 pound increments until Lightweight, then move at 4 pound classes until Welterweight at 147.
The boxing weight classes get bigger as the weights move up but even at the second highest weight class in boxing you will never fight a guy more than 6 pound heavier than you. This theoretically makes a much more competitive match.
Contrast this with MMA. If you are a professional mixed martial arts fighter in the UFC, you can fight in a total of 6 weight classes....Lightweight under 155, Welterweight under 170, Middleweight under 185, Light Heavy under 205, Heavyweight under 260, or Super Heavy over 260.
If you are a pro MMA fighter in Japan in Pride Fighting Championships, you have even less with only 5! PrideFC has no MMA Welterweight division, just a humongous Middleweight class.
The bottom line in MMA is you have huge weight divisions with extremely heavy men cutting large amounts of weight to squeak into a lower weight class, then bulking up by fight day. It makes for less exciting matches in my opinion.
Boxing weight classes create more competition. Mixed martial arts will need to follow suit in the years ahead.
Yoshi Kundagawa is a freelance journalist covering the martial arts world. Too much time at his computer eating donuts reduced him to couch potato status. He's on a quest to recapture his youth and fitness. You can read his blog at http://www.martialarts3000.com
Source: www.articlealley.com
