Do you believe that fighters with a height advantage put the shorter fighter at a massive disadvantage? I believe this to be the case for when DC fought Jon Jones. Had they both been equal height and reach DC beats Jones at least 5 out of 10 times. Tonight that prick won’t have the height advantage and he’s gonna get slept.
So DC who is 5’10" and 220+ lbs should face 155 pound Dustin Poirier? Max Holloway at 6’ should fight Shogun Rua?
It’s interesting to balance this idea with the fact that most commissions won’t book a fight unless they believe it’s a fair fight. So this eliminates fights between guys who are 40-0 and newcomers to the sport. If memory serves me, there was a lot of commission push back against Ken Shamrock vs Tito 2 and 3. Nevada wasn’t going to book Dana vs Tito AT ALL, even though both were newcomers to boxing.
So it’s not really height or weight that are definitively interesting.
Height makes a huge difference. Not only in fights, but in daily life and society.
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Triple C says FUCK YOU!
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People in the same weight class have to trade off power for height. While height can be a huge advantage it certainly isn’t as big an advantage to have 2 of the same height fighters with 30 pounds between them
Holloway would destroy Shogun now, lol!
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Someone else introduced the notion of “height classes” instead of weight classes but they were just trolling. I think OP is serious, unfortunately.
Mighty Mouse is shorter than the average FLW and he is the FLW GOAT.
Cejudo is shorter than the average BW and so is Dillashaw and they are two of the best at BW.
Aldo was short for a FW, so is Volk and so was Mendes. All did ok, just maybe.
Chandler and others are short vs average LW’s.
Serra was short for WW and he beat that one guy that was OK and Woodley was short too.
There are FLW’s who are taller than the MW Yoel Romero.
LHW has had lots of successful fighters who were shorter than average LHW’s.
Fedor is only 6’0 and was a true LHW and is the GOAT HW fighter. DC is 5’11 and was a LHW and HW champ. Vovchanchyn is 5’8 and was a true LHW and the #1 HW in the world for a while. Hunt is only 5’10.
Maybe OP can articulate how 5’3 Demitrius Johnson had such a disadvantage compared to all those taller fighters he defended his FLW title against in the UFC.
FLW Paddy Holohan has an inch of height on HW Igor Vovchanchyn. They are around the same height though so OP considers it pretty much a fair fight.
My God we have returned to the retarded concept of height classes thanks to the return of Jon Jones apparently.
5’9 Paddy vs 5’8 Igor, a fair fight in OP’s mind since they are around the same height. If Paddy was two inches taller it would be completely unfair to Igor and he would have no path to victory.
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Volkanovski and DC have completely nullified this idea. Height doesn’t matter much at the highest level.
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You must be able to use your negative height to your advantage. Some coaches are utterly useless in this regard and much potential is squandered.
Things to learn when you’re short:
- AGGRESSION!
- mobility, especially with the left hook
- wrestling
- variety
- explosivity, especially on counters
Height does matter to a point in MMA. Watch how Jones uses his range or he he leaned on DC in the clinch. Watch Semmy Schilt finish guys with a front kick and a jab. Obviously there has to be some skill there since Struve showed you how pointless height could be.
I’m 6’2”, but whenever I have to clinch with a taller guy in class, it’s tiring and fucking sucks. When I clinch with a shorter guy, I can make them drag my weight around.
(not arguing whatsoever)
Semmy Schilt is the gold standard for using his height/reach advantage. There should be a martial art called “Being Semmy Schilt”. The guy is fucking amazing. I think he might be the highest IQ fighter to ever do it.
And Stefan Struve is the opposite of that. Man… what a contrast, lol.
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Struve was so frustrating to watch.
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Yeah. I wonder if there was a single person watching him who wasn’t thinking “why doesn’t he just do what Semmy does”
And the most moronic post of the year award goes to…… God of Blunder
Height is an asset but there’s a lot more to it. Reach maybe more important in a standup battle. The bigger factor is weight. Top weight cutters come in 20 or more pounds over weight at fight time. Managing that cut, maintaining strength and cardio is probably more important than height. Jones probably had the biggest size advantage of anyone especially in his earlier fights. Him standing next to guys like Shogun, Machida and Vitor looks like he’s 3 weight classes up.
How are you suposed to punch someone in the face if you’re significantly shorter?
And don’t say footwork. Cos your legs will be kicked unlike in boxercise.
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If you are significantly shorter you don’t need to punch the face, you just punch the knees until they can’t remain on the feet and then you finish the fight via a choke or an armbar. Go back and look at Mighty Mouses fights, at 5’3 you will see he rarely punched the face, always attacked the knees and then got the fight on the ground.
Vovchanchyn won the same way, knee punches.
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I’m convinced a 78” reach at 6’ is longer than the same reach at 5’7”.
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Utter retardation. Being shorter has its own advantages.
Height is only an advantage to the fighter who can use there height to there advantage