Cain's Victory a Watershed Moment for MMA Heavyweight Divison

The heavyweight division in MMA has long produced some of the sport's biggest stars. Few names draw as much attention and debate like Fedor Emelianenko, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture, and Josh Barnett. While the star-producing power of the heavyweight division is undeniable, it also has long been considered one of the shallowest divisions in MMA.

Every heavyweight that fought in the early- to mid-2000s has their fair share of softballs on their record and the division didn't seem to be getting the same level of athletes as the other divisions, or the same level of well-rounded fighters as other divisions.

At UFC 110, we saw a literal passing of the tourch between Nogueira, a stand out of the old generation, and a stadard bearer for a new generation of more athletic, more well-rounded heavyweights, Cain Velasquez.

Past heavyweights, while dominating the competition of their day, were all excellent but flawed fighters. Nog, Couture, and Barnett all struggled with striking for many years, while fighters like Cro Cop and Alistair Overeem struggled on the ground. Most evolved as the sport did—Nog developed a jab, Couture mastered dirty boxing, and Fedor has become an effective counter striker.

But they are far from being well rounded fighters. Fedor's punches, while effective, make striking coaches everywhere throw up in their mouths. Couture was knocked out twice by Liddell and Nog's recent KO losses shine a very bright light on his striking deficiencies.

Now, with a new age of more athletic heavyweights, they have been taking the weight class to a new level. Fighters like Velasquez, Shane Carwin, Brock Lesnar, and Junior dos Santos represent a different level of athlete and they have taken to all aspects of the sport very quickly.

Its not a shot at past heavyweights; sports evolve. Look at a sport like football. Johnny Unitas is considered one of the all-time great quarterbacks, but drop him in a modern NFL game and he would be overwhelmed by modern defenses. It does nothing to diminish his greatness because he was great in his era.

The UFC 110 fight was a perfect example of that. Velasquez flowed around Nog, his footwork was smooth, and his punches were sharp and chained together. By contrast Nog was stiff, slow, and his head was rigidly upright.

While they dominated their era, this new crop of heavyweights promise to be the best yet. The Cain Velasquez saw at UFC 110 would have beaten a 2004 Nog, not quite as easily, but its clear that Velasquez is just a superior athlete who has taken to the fight game very quickly.

As the old guard of heavyweights fade, these new heavyweights are rising at a meteoric pace. Nog himself has predicted that in a year's time that it would Dos Santos, not himself, as the UFC Champion, even before UFC 110. A new era of heavyweights is arriving even as we speak and they promise to be a higher level of fighter than the previous era.