By Robert Rousseau
Recently, the Association of Boxing Commission met to discuss the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. People like former referee "Big" John McCarthy and MMA chairman Dale Kliparchuk were in attendance. In sum, several ideas were proposed and accepted by the committee. One of these involved further defining what constituted an illegal strike to an opponent's head. Kudos to them for this working on and clarifying this. However, when it comes to weight classes the boxing part of the Association of Boxing Commission certainly came out in a large way.
In other words, the feeling around the table was clearly that more MMA weight classes needed to be instituted. You're thinking one or two additions, right?
Wrong.
Actually, the committee decided on 14 different weight classes for men and 10 for women. Of course, the sheer amount of weight divisions in boxing is one of the things that hurt the sport's status in society today; so it's not hard to fathom that a commission with several boxing people on it might come up with such an idea.
That doesn't make it any less of a bad idea, though.
When you see what the proposed weight classes are below, you'll notice two things. First, there are way too many divisions to keep track of. In other words, by using the new weight classes, much like boxing today, you're never going to remember who the champions are of each weight class. Second, there are way too many divisions in the upper weight classes, and none of this was lost on Inside MMA hosts Kenny Rice and legendary former fighter, Bas Rutten.
"Is there enough fighters out there to even fill these positions?" asked Rice. "Or will they become diluted like boxing has, which I think always hurt boxing. You start saying, well who is the best junior lightweight out there? I don't know."
Rutten also had some things to say. "That's a big hole actually from 205 to 265," he said, indicating agreement with one more higher weight class. But then came "There is only a few fighters who hold two titles in two different weight classes in MMA, right? This is going to make sure that you can hold like five titles in different weight classes because it's all so close together. Don't do it. Mixed martial arts is about showing that the small guy can still beat the big guy."
No one disagrees that more weight classes could be good for fighters and the sport. That said, fourteen weight classes are way too many. Adding a weight division or two, on the other hand, may be a good idea.
Promotions will not be required to adopt the new weight divisions. Guess is that many, including the UFC, will not.
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The Proposed Weight Classes for Males
Flyweight (Up to 105 pounds)
Super Flyweight (Over 105.1 to 115 lbs)
Bantamweight (Over 115.1 to 125 lbs)
Super Bantamweight (Over 125.1 to 135 lbs)
Featherweight (Over 135.1 to 145 lbs)
Lightweight (Over 145.1 to 155 lbs)
Super Lightweight (Over 155.1 to 165 lbs)
Welterweight (Over 165.1 to 175 lbs)
Super Welterweight (Over 175.1 to 185 lbs)
Middleweight (Over 185.1 to 195 lbs)
Super Middleweight (Over 195.1 to 205 lbs)
Light Heavyweight (Over 205.1 to 225 lbs)
Heavyweight (Over 225.1 to 265 lbs)
Super Heavyweight (Over 265.1 pounds)
Female Weight Classes
Flyweight (95 lbs. and below)
Bantamweight (95.1-105 lbs.)
Featherweight (105.1-115 lbs.)
Lightweight (115.1-125 lbs.)
Welterweight (125.1-135 lbs.)
Middleweight (135.1-145 lbs.)
Light Heavyweight (145.1-155 lbs.)
Cruiserweight (155.1-165 lbs.)
Heavyweight (165.1-185 lbs.)
Super Heavyweight (185.1 and above)
