by: Jack Bratcher
As Randy Couture stepped into the Octagon tonight at UFC 91 and stood toe to toe with Brock Lesnar at the stare down I actually became afraid for the Champ.
It was only then that I finally realized just how enormous Brock Lesnar really is.
The size difference was so great one must wonder, how is this even fair? This got me to thinking, why in the world is the weight category for heavyweight so large?
Featherweight to lightweight is ten pounds; lightweight to welterweight is fifteen; welterweight to middleweight is fifteen and then middleweight to light heavyweight is twenty. But there is a range of SIXTY POUNDS within the heavyweight division.
Does this not seem dangerous?
The UFC most likely uses such a large weight category for heavyweight because there are already so few high quality heavyweights as it is.
If you separated the heavyweight division into at least two divisions yes there would probably be fewer contenders in each class at first but for the fighters’ safety isn’t it worth it?
Remember the new weight classes that were proposed a while back by the Association of Boxing Commissions?
Here’s what the heavier weight classes look like under their new proposal:
Light heavyweight (over 205.1 to 225 lbs)
Heavyweight (over 225.1 to 265 lbs)
Super heavyweight (over 265.1 lbs)
For no other reason than fighter safety this is starting to make a lot of sense in the heavy divisions because there is such a discrepancy.
If MMA is a sport and we want it to be considered as such and maybe even see it in the Olympics one day, then changes such as this will have to take place.
No way would they allow a weight difference like that in an Olympic match.
I felt sorry for Couture tonight. He’s had a long year and with all of the build-up going into this fight and he’s so humble and such a great representative of the sport it was hard to watch him lose.
I have nothing against Brock. I actually like the guy. But it was hard to be happy for him. It makes you wonder how much of his victory was due to actual skill and how much was because he was a behemoth who outweighed his opponent by fifty pounds.