Class Struggles

Not that anyone seemed too worried, but there must be some relief in hearing UFC UK head Marshall Zelaznik reaffirm that the promotion’s two new weight classes won’t be the start of the epidemic that plagued boxing: fracturing a simple sport into dozens of divisions. To this day, I have no idea how much a “super middleweight” weighs, and have no interest in ever finding out.

There are now seven different world titles in the UFC, from 135 pounds to heavyweight; 125 pounds is inevitable, making eight. (Super-heavyweight and women’s titles are going to remain idle for a long, long time to come.) The premise of eight belts isn’t too suffocating, but it flirts with oversaturation. Assuming champions defend twice a year, that’s a title match for virtually every pay-per-view show.

What about international titles? The UFC has already floated the idea of producing an “Ultimate Fighter” series in several different countries, which would produce a British, Chinese, or Brazilian season winner. If Dana White envisions a massive conglomerate using the UFC brand in different parts of the world -- an idea he’s floated in media -- then those audiences will probably want to see local talent reaching for something. Belts sell tickets.

In the same ESPN piece, White and Zelaznik also addressed the tendency for the lower weight fighters to have more exciting bouts, which would mean that heavier fighters might now have increased difficulty scoring fight-night bonuses.

"The bigger guys are going to be like sh-t, there's another featherweight on the card, we're screwed," White said. But if the idea is to provoke fighters into delivering better fights, they might be demoralized more than motivated by their presence. Why risk your neck for an “exciting” fight when Leonard Garcia just closed his eyes and swung for 15 minutes in a prelim? Better to split fight bonuses to over and under 155 pounds. There aren’t too many divisions, but for the purposes of incentives, there might be too much talent.