Fighter Weight Class Changes You Would Like to See

I would like to get your thoughts on fighters you would like to see move up or down in weight class.

Some I would like to see:

Karo Parisyan: I would like to see Karo move down to 155. There are times he looks kind of flabby at 170 and I think the move down would give his cardio a boost (which has been a problem in the past). The move down would also give him a size and strength advantage over smaller fighters.

Matt Hughes: I would like to see Hughes move up to middle weight. It is obvious he has lost a step at 170 where the speed of the fighters is too much for him to deal with. I think by moving up to 185 he may actually improve his speed against bigger fighters and not having to cut weight to 170 may be easier on his aging body. I know he would suffer in size but I think his core strength could compensate for that.

Tito Ortiz: With Tito fighting outside of the UFC I think the best move for him is to move up to heavy weight. I really believe there is more interesting matchups at HW especially if he is considering signing with Affliction. I would love to see a Tito vs Ben Rothwell or a Overeem matchup. He was always a huge light heavy weight and I really think the size advantage would not affect him that much.

Rashad Evans: Rashad is a small LHW and I can't imagine how devastating he would be as a middle weight. I believe his frame could handle the cut. If he did go down to 185 he would be instantly the #1 contender setting up another UFC super fight with Anderson Silva.

Anderson Silva: Who is left for him to face at MW? Okami?

Nate Diaz: This guy is just too thin at light weight. He really needs to add alot of muscle mass. He gets pushed around at 155 as seen in the Guida and Neer fights. With the added mass I see 170 as the better fit for him. His punches seem very slow against LW's and this may improve at the bigger weight class.

Corey Hill: He needs to move up to 170 or 185. He needs to add more mass to he frame. I think the injury he sustained possibly could of been prevented if he had more muscle mass on his legs. Plus he would still be huge at 170 or 185 at six foot four.

What do you guys think?

Good topic dude. You made a lot of good points with the fighters you mentioned, let's see if I can add some more ideas:


Randy Couture: He's still a stud at HW... but I think if he finished his career at LHW there would not only be more interesting fights but he wouldn't be fighting against huge guys like he would at HW. I say he should fight one last time at HW against Nog and then move down and start fighting the 205'ers.

Manny Gamburyan: Dude's a tank but he's way too small for 155 in my opinion. A move down to 145 would be great for his career. Honestly Manny could be one of the top contenders at 145 in the WEC, maybe even win the title someday.


Travis Lutter: I have no idea where he has been since his UFC release... but if he fought at LHW I think he would be very dangerous. He's had problems in the past making 185, and as you saw in the Franklin fight he was doing well up until he gassed out. If he just fought at his natural weight, I think he would perform much better. People need to remember this guy came very close to beating Anderson Silva... or at least gave Silva his hardest challenge in the Octagon so far. I want Lutter back in the UFC as a LHW.

Josh Koscheck: He doesn't need to as he is currently a stud at WW... but imagine how powerful he would be at 155?

Wanderlei Silva: I want to see him drop down to 185.

Matt Serra: This won't ever happen again as the cut is too much for him... but Serra at 155 would be a freaking beast! He wouldn't beat guys like Penn or Sherk but he would be a good fight for the other lightweights in my opinion.

Fedor Emelianenko: After the Barnett fight, I'd love to see Fedor drop down and start taking on the top guys at 205.

a lot of people don't get how this works. i'll take the koscheck example. kos is already physically as muscular and as lean as he can possibly be at his weight, dropping down would not give him an advantage. guys who are higher in bodyfat could use the cut, like karo and guys who aren't muscular could make the jump, like nate diaz and corey hill. i'm not singling you out mitch, but i just hear everyone say "_____ will be way too big for ______ now that he's dropping down in weight class" and it just is ignorant (not you). i mean, BOTH guys cut weight, BOTH weigh in at the same weight, so there shouldn't be a big size difference no matter how big a guy used to be.

a lot of guys could cut from HW to LHW. anyone under 235 really. werdum stands out especially.

this is a good topic. but as far as what i'd like to see in response to the original names, the only thing i'd like to see karo cut is his contract. HATE HIM SO MUCH.

interested in seeing another guy i hate, diego, fighting at LW, says he is super shredded. i bet he will be MUCH better at his new weight. he just might be a title contender/holder.

oh, and BTW, good topic.


also, i remember when karo was on TLOS and my question about the possibility of cutting weight came up and they misread it as "would you ever consider moving UP in weight?" i got a great laugh out of that one! mike from white hall must have been as blind as ray charles WITH black glasses.

DFDmike wrote:a lot of people don't get how this works. i'll take the koscheck example. kos is already physically as muscular and as lean as he can possibly be at his weight, dropping down would not give him an advantage. guys who are higher in bodyfat could use the cut, like karo and guys who aren't muscular could make the jump, like nate diaz and corey hill. i'm not singling you out mitch, but i just hear everyone say "_____ will be way too big for ______ now that he's dropping down in weight class" and it just is ignorant (not you). i mean, BOTH guys cut weight, BOTH weigh in at the same weight, so there shouldn't be a big size difference no matter how big a guy used to be.

a lot of guys could cut from HW to LHW. anyone under 235 really. werdum stands out especially.

this is a good topic. but as far as what i'd like to see in response to the original names, the only thing i'd like to see karo cut is his contract. HATE HIM SO MUCH.

interested in seeing another guy i hate, diego, fighting at LW, says he is super shredded. i bet he will be MUCH better at his new weight. he just might be a title contender/holder.

Ah I see, I never really thought about it like that.

I just figured since he'd be dropping down, he'd have a significant strength and power advantage over the rest of the Lightweights.

But I obviously don't know enough about cutting weight and shit lol.

I still have a lot to learn as far as weight cutting goes in MMA.

Rashad shouldn't move from his weight class, he's doing grea at LHW.. remember, he started at The Ultimate Fighter 2 show at heavyweight.

Mortis wrote:Rashad shouldn't move from his weight class, he's doing grea at LHW.. remember, he started at The Ultimate Fighter 2 show at heavyweight.

actually i agree. he is a LITTLE soft and small. if reach wasn't an issue he would've smashed forrest way earlier. he isn't that big and doesn't seem too hard. however, he is doing just fine at LHW too.

Mortis wrote:Rashad shouldn't move from his weight class, he's doing grea at LHW.. remember, he started at The Ultimate Fighter 2 show at heavyweight.

Rashad is definately doing just fine at LHW. But compared to guys like chuck and Forrest he is small for LHW and I was mostly thinking of the super fight aspect that the UFC is going with lately. I think he could possibly be a guy who could hold titles in 2 weight classes.

Some fighters find being a smaller guy in a weight class an advantage. Smaller can give an advantage of speed and stamina (though, not always).

Mortis wrote:Some fighters find being a smaller guy in a weight class an advantage. Smaller can give an advantage of speed and stamina (though, not always).

yeah, that's why BJ is so good at WW.

.. I said some, not all.