Lightweights Spencer Fisher and Sam Stout waged a bloody three-round war in the main event against each other earlier this week at UFC’s Fight Night 10 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.
Fisher took this battle by unanimous decision, avenging a split-decision loss to Stout at UFC 58 in 2006. Fisher took the first fight on two days notice, and showed visible signs of fatigue after dropping 20-plus pounds to make the weight.
This fight headlined a card that was not a highly touted. Looking at these fights on paper, the casual MMA might have not watched this event. The card was lined with smaller fighters, with no matchups above middleweight.
Aside from the main event being an instant classic, it could be the sign of a power shift in the UFC.
What the thousands in attendance and millions watching on television saw, was how deep the talent pools are in smaller divisions.
These fighters may lack in size and notoriety, but they are showing superb speed, skill and heart compared to their larger brethren.
Don’t get me wrong, many of the worlds most exciting and talented fighters are 200-plus pounds. As of late however, the 185-pounders and under are stealing the shows.
LITTLE GIANTS
At UFC’s Fight Night 10 alone, multiple fighters stood out as possible lightweight title contenders and the main event is already being talked about as the potential fight of the year. Lightweights Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau, and Fisher all made cases for themselves to take on current lightweight champion Sean Sherk, who will be defending his title against Hermes Franca at UFC 73 in July. And they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to small talent.
The talent of lightweights is not relegated to just the UFC. The WEC’s (World Extreme Cagefighting, a company owned by the UFC) is home to one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world in Urijah Faber. The now in-limbo Pride Fighting Championships (Purchased by the UFC) cast of lightweights including Takanori Gomi, Joachim Hansen and Gilbert Melendez, who are all consistently ranked in the top ten.
Heck, even in our own community we have a lightweight title contender. New Smyrna Beach graduate Rich Crunkilton was set to fight Rob McCullough for the WEC’s lightweight title recently before McCullough pulled out with an injury.
So when you want to quench your MMA thirst, don’t overlook the little guys. These fighters are capable of the same highlight-reel knockouts and submissions as the big boys, but at a much faster pace.
Old sayings such as “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and “Good things come in small packages” are quite true when it comes to the world of MMA
The Spencer Fisher/Sam Stout fight was awesome! Non-stop action for 3 rounds...they both took some hard hits and just kept coming back for more. I'm glad the UFC brought the LW's back...their division is a very competitive and exciting one.
I was impressed with Sam Stout's heart. I was not a big fan of his before this fight, but he's changing people's minds.Welters,Lights,Featherweights are fast and explosive so they are very exciting to watch and now WEC is showcasing their talent on Versus channel.Bodog Fight take notice, its not just for big boys anymore! Richard Crunkilton training out of the Armory of Daytona Beach has what it takes to take that WEC title.BJ Penn vs. Pulver, I can't wait!! Another great article!
Look at boxing for a prime example of the same thing. Sugar Ray Leonard, the now famous "Hands of Stone Man" who fought Leonard, many other lightweights, featherweights, and welterweights, are probably extremely fast, much more so than the middle and heavyweights. They fight with more heart, and the speed with which they hit is amazing. They punch with three times as many punches as the best heavyweghts. I go back now many years to Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, who is now neighbor of mine. His left foot clocked at an amazing speed of over 100 MPH and who was the PKA Middleweight Champ for ten years straight back in the 1970's. He fought5 on the lightest side of the middleweight poundage, sometimes barley making the minimum and beating all whom he fought. Very humble but still acvtive and hard as a rock; also now in his sixties Bill is a great person who does much to promote Martial Arts and is a great neighbor.