6 UFC Fighters Who Should Change Weight Classes
Sometimes all a person needs is a change. Things aren’t going well for one reason or another, so they change something up and all of a sudden everything clicks.
In MMA, that change is oftentimes centered around weight.
Maybe an athlete is cutting too much weight to compete in a division and they decide to move up and become an unstoppable force—Donald Cerrone comes to mind after his 2016 tear as a welterweight, as does Conor McGregor after he jumped from featherweight to lightweight and became champion there.
Maybe an athlete is too small for the weight class they’ve chosen and need to cut a little more weight to get in there with people their own size—not that long ago, TJ Grant became a world title contender by going from welterweight also-ran to lightweight wrecking ball. Rafael Dos Anjos became a world champion by doing the exact same thing.
Provided it’s motivated by the right factors and frame of mind (and not because you lost three of four and you don’t know what else to do), making a change in the weight class of choice can be the ideal tonic for a fighter with no other obvious path before him or her.
What follows is a look at some such fighters who may benefit from such a change based on their present standing in a division, their struggles within their present class or their pursuit of elite status being clearer if they elected to make a little switch.
Up: Jose Aldo
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For a long time people have considered the idea that Jose Aldo might be better suited as a lightweight. At least as far back as UFC 129, when he had to wander off stage at a public appearance because his weight cut was sucking too much out of him, people have wondered if the best featherweight to ever do it could be heading north to ply his trade.
Fast-forward five years and he’s still a champion (albeit a hotly contested one after the way the past year has shaken out), still in the same weight class and still considering moving up. The only difference now is that he’s talking about it as much to avenge a loss to his greatest nemesis as he is for any issues making the 145-pound limit.
In any event, it seems as good a time as any for Aldo to make the jump. He’s seen as a paper champion in the eyes of many, he’s already a big featherweight and the cut will only be harder as he gets deeper into his 30s. There’s a big-money fight awaiting him at 155 in the form of Conor McGregor. If he never fought a unification bout against Max Holloway, there wouldn’t be many people jumping on him if it gave them the McGregor rematch and the host of other new opponents the move would provide.
All in all there’s a strong case to be made for Aldo to become a lightweight now. People have waited for years and so has he, and the market may never have been more ripe for him than it is as we head into 2017.
Down: TJ Dillashaw
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This may seem a strange one on its face, particularly with TJ Dillashaw fighting at bantamweight at UFC 207 and probably lining up for a title shot if he beats John Lineker there. Since being crowned champion in 2014 and defending the title in impressive fashion a couple of times before losing it in a tight, Fight of the Year candidate against Dominick Cruz in January, Dillashaw has rebounded to beat Raphael Assuncao and keep himself relevant at 135.
Yet the fact remains that, should he earn a second shot at Cruz—by no means a foregone conclusion considering the tough out in front of him by way of Lineker and the considerable challenge Cruz will face from Cody Garbrandt on the same night—and loses, he’ll be in contendership purgatory. He’ll be better than everyone else in the division but not good enough to beat the champion.
A weight-class reinvention would be exactly the jump-start he’d need to remain relevant.
He’s not a big bantamweight by any stretch, eschewing beach muscles for a leaner, quicker approach to combat. Such a build would lend itself to dropping in weight, and given the shallow pool at 125 pounds, he might even get a title shot without having to take a fight beforehand. He’s even hinted at dropping down in the past.
As the 135-pound title picture shakes out in the coming weeks, Dillashaw’s future will be up in the air accordingly. If he wins and Cruz wins, he’ll challenge for gold again. Lose that challenge, though, and he’s going to need to pivot to new adventures.
Adventuring at flyweight makes a lot of sense for him.
Up: Jon Jones
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While Jon Jones has taken up professional grappling in the wake of this concurrent suspensions from the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the Nevada Athletic Commission, there is going to come a day that he’ll be back in the business of face-punching, and that day is not that far off in the distance. He’ll be free to pursue MMA again in July, which means he’ll likely be coming to a cage near you before the end of summer 2017.
And he should do it at heavyweight.
To put it mildly, there’s nothing left for him at light heavyweight. He’s the best 205er to ever live, and probably the best mixed martial artist to ever live, and he’s not yet 30 years old.
Daniel Cormier is out there, but Jones already beat him pretty handily at UFC 182. People are more interested in seeing them fight again because they hate each other, not because the competitive outcome is in any particular doubt.
Anthony Johnson is really the only challenge Jones hasn’t met, missing out on a booking with the knockout artist at UFC 187 due to his considerable legal troubles at the time. While there’s a definite appetite to see that bout, if Jones made the jump up in weight it seems possible that the two could eventually contest a tilt at heavyweight considering Johnson has competed there before and expressed an interest in doing so again.
Either way, at this point the game for Jones is far more engaging if he challenges the behemoths of the sport. He’s a big man himself and could easily compete in the 230-pound range, not to be badly outsized by elites such as Stipe Miocic, Cain Velasquez or Junior Dos Santos. That fact, coupled with his almost boundless natural skill in the sport makes moving to heavyweight a thrilling proposition for fans and something he needs to do sooner rather than later.
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Down: Gunnar Nelson
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Gunnar Nelson has expressed a reluctance to move down in weight in the past, claiming that cutting too much weight adversely impacts his performance and is generally something he’s not fond of given that reality as well as the long-term health concerns associated with the process.
Still, if he wants to compete with the absolute top of a weight class, he’s probably going to have to bite the bullet and head to 155 pounds.
The chinks in Nelson’s armor have already been exposed when he’s been placed into positions against bigger, stronger 170-pound opponents. Rick Story beat him, albeit narrowly, by simply being a bigger physical force who was technical enough to not get in trouble on his way to winning the fight. Demian Maia, a former middleweight, totally mauled Nelson using a blend of physical attributes and flawless technical acumen to collect a stunningly one-sided win over the Icelander.
It’s unfortunate because at this stage it’s undeniable that Nelson has the tools to be elite. His striking is as beautiful as it is unorthodox, and his grappling is among the best in the world at any weight. Yet the reality is that sometimes, even when you’re good, other guys who are good but a little bit bigger are going to give you serious trouble.
For that reason, Nelson should look at dropping down. It may be complicated a little at this point by the fact that his good friend and training partner, Conor McGregor, holds the 155-pound title as of today. But by the time Nelson builds up a resume to challenge for gold, McGregor might be back at featherweight, gone to welterweight himself or even off boxing Floyd Mayweather, so it shouldn’t be a priority consideration for Gunni at this point.
Make the move.
Up: Chris Weidman
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The days of Chris Weidman as a middleweight contender are certainly not over after he suffered losses to Yoel Romero and Luke Rockhold—those are two of the three best middleweights alive, and Weidman is probably the other one. However, given his natural bulk and the fact that he has a history of competing in wrestling at 197 pounds during his college days, it could be as good a time as any to abandon the 185-pound class and take on some new challenges as a light heavyweight.
The 205-pound division is presently a ghost town of contenders.
Daniel Cormier is the champion, but he never beat Jon Jones to win that belt, and he’s nearly 38 years old—however one wants to slice it, his reign is not impenetrable and may not go on for that much longer either way.
Jones himself is something of a mystery, suspended until next year and open to moving to heavyweight at some point to test himself in fresh ways.
Anthony Johnson is next in line, and no one in their right mind would be looking for a fight with that guy. But he might be on his way to heavyweight soon too, based on recent statements he’s made.
After those three there isn’t really a challenger that you would definitely pick to beat Weidman. Alexander Gustafsson is a maybe, but he’s been wildly inconsistent in recent years and really only seems to show up at his best when there’s a title on the line. Beyond him, it’s a mishmash of sluggers and wrestlers who seem to interchange rankings positions based on whatever pairing is meeting on that week’s irrelevant Fox Sports 1 card.
Weidman would fit in well as a light heavyweight, and he’d be elite from the minute he arrived in the division.
Down: Frankie Edgar
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For as long as there’s been Frankie Edgar the mixed martial artist, there have been cries for Frankie Edgar the mixed martial artist to move down in weight. Even when he was lightweight champion, he was woefully undersized, seemingly taking years off his life to go to war with relative giants like Gray Maynard and Benson Henderson.
When he lost his lightweight title and got boxed out of the picture following two losses to Henderson (which were both pretty bogus, for the record), he took the advice that so many had been giving for so long and headed to featherweight. He lost his first bout there, a title challenge of Jose Aldo, but proceeded to beat everyone else the UFC gave him at the class.
The reward? Another fight with Aldo and another loss to him.
He just bested Jeremy Stephens at UFC 205, but his coach has said he believes Edgar’s optimal weight may be even further south, at bantamweight. Considering that he was the smaller man in the Aldo fights, the Stephens fight and a couple of other featherweight outings, it’s a compelling argument from one of the men who know him best.
There are also plenty of interesting fights for Edgar at 135: Dominick Cruz or TJ Dillashaw are first to come to mind, but Cody Garbrandt’s power shots could be a challenge, ditto for those of John Lineker. What of the slicks and speed of John Dodson? Or even a 135-pound special attraction against Demetrious Johnson?
At this stage in the game, Edgar’s best move to stay relevant and make some coin in the twilight of his career is probably a move south. Seeing it happen in 2017 would be pretty eye-catching.
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