Weight Jumping in MMA

It seems that lately there are a lot of fighters jumping weight classes. It brings up some questions, like, is it a good or bad thing? Who should and who shouldn't? And should there be rules involved?

Let's start with some names; BJ Penn seems to fight at every weight, Anderson Silva (although he has said it will only be for "dream matchups"), Rich Franklin moved up to 205. There's talk of GSP moving up to fight Silva, Vera dropped to 205, and Dan Henderson uses two classes. There are plenty more but those are some of the recent big names to do it.

Well is it a good or bad thing? I think in some cases it's a good thing, like for instance with Anderson Silva, who basically has no one left to fight at middleweight (possibly Bisping in the near future and of course Okami). However, I don't think either of them has a real shot. So for Anderson moving up a weight class, it is a matter of competition.

At the same time, Rich Franklin is moving up in probably because he doesn't want to go through another slaughtering at the hands of Silva. So, isn't that kind of like chickening out? I fully understand why guys like BJ or Vera move down in weight since they were too small for the division they were in.

As for who should and who shouldn't. I think BJ should stay at lightweight and not move up to face GSP. As good as BJ is, that's a stupid move. Same goes for Franklin; I don't see him doing too well in the LHW division. Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva should both fight at middleweight. More so Hendo, but I think at this point in his career Wandy would be better suited at the smaller weight.

Anderson should move up and after a few title defenses. I also think GSP could do very well at middleweight. Vera is much better off at LHW if he gets a handle on weight cutting and conditioning.

Finally, there is the case of if there should be stipulations against moving classes. I'm not so sure that a guy should be able to switch classes and be in title contention. I'm a huge GSP fan but if he were to move up I don't think it should be for a title. He should earn it like the rest of the division has to. At the same time, he shouldn't have to fight the bottom tier either.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject and I'd like to hear what others think or opinions are.