How To Determine The Best Fighting Weight For Your Height

Weight classes are an extremely important aspect of fighting. Getting it wrong can have a very negative impact on your performance since you don’t want to be fighting bigger and stronger opponents.

Within striking sports such as boxing, there have always been weight categories. It is much easier to sanction a safe and fair fight than a one-sided contest. Other fringe sports such as grappling, also have weight categories, but often leave the door open for “absolute” divisions in which people of all shapes and sizes compete against one another. These competitions are a lot safer since nobody is going to be knocked unconscious, although there is still a distinct disadvantage for the smaller fighter.

In the early days of MMA, the PRIDE promotion in particular was known for its mismatches between fan favorite Japanese fighters and bulked-up foreigners. These matches drew a lot of attention and provided spectacular upsets, as well as outrageous knockouts.

Modern-day fighting is a lot more restricted and safer due to weight limits and other safety protocols. However, there is still not too much research showing the absolute “best” weight class for a person’s height.

Some People Weigh Naturally Less Than Others

Whether in the gym or competing in a match, you will have noticed some opponents seem stronger than others – even when they are exactly the same weight.

A prime example of this was the lightweight title fight of Benson Henderson vs Frankie Edgar. Benson Henderson appears to be taller, broader in the shoulders, and have thicker legs than Frankie Edgar. If you were not to know their weight before the fight, you might expect they would be in different weight divisions based on appearance alone.

This could be many factors such as weight cutting, bone density, body fat percentage or other genetic factors we are not aware of. For this reason, you may find that taller and stronger people weigh the same as you. This does not mean you should immediately drop a weight class, but instead means you should compare yourself to a variety of other people – rather than just a single outlier.

Trial And Error

Even professional fighters can sometimes not know their “best” weight category. MMA legends such as Wanderlei Silva have fought at several different weight classes.

As your body ages and changes, so will your own style. This may cause you to drop down, or step up weight classes depending on if you put on muscle, or find the ability to cut weight easier than you first thought. Most fighters will stick to one or two weight classes, but if the opportunity presents itself for a big payday, they may be convinced to go higher or lower, depending on who the opponent is.

Overall, it may take you several amateur fights to find the exact weight for your own height and body structure. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as plugging your height into a calculator and having a computer spit out the correct result.

Cutting Weight

Cutting weight is a staple of almost every combat sport that allows it. From Olympic wrestling and judo to amateur boxing. Being able to cut weight efficiently can be a big advantage over your opponent IF done correctly. Fighters who have access to dieticians are able to cut weight safely and quickly, as well as put it back on. This allows the said fighter to be a weight class above their opponent if they do not cut any weight at all.

With that being said, there are different approaches to cutting weight. Khabib Nurmagomedov is notorious for cutting huge amounts of weight, yet still being able to perform at a relentless pace. On the other hand, Israel Adesanya is well known for not cutting much weight at all and also managing to perform at the highest level.

However, we have also witnessed many tragic deaths of young fighters due to weight cutting complications. Cutting weight can be extremely dangerous and should not be attempted unless professionally advised and supervised.

Boxing & Other Striking Sports Weights

Within boxing, there is not a lot of height difference between the middle weight categories. The average height for a lightweight is 5″9.4, whereas the average height for a light heavyweight (3 weight classes above this) is 6″1. This information shows that your weight is more determined by your body type than your height alone. Of course, you are unlikely to be a heavyweight if you are 5″6, but you may be able to fight in 3 or 4 different weight classes.

The main factor for fighting weight in boxing is your own style and how you use it against the opposition. For example, if you are a boxer who prefers to stay guarded behind a jab on the outside, it will likely be best that you are tall and skinny for your weight. On the other hand, if you like to get inside an opponent and use hooks and uppercuts, it would be best that you are shorter and stockier.

The reasoning for this is that if you manage to get inside, you will require more power than your opponent in order to damage them. It is no use working hard to get inside without having a knockout chance.

Grappling & MMA Weights

Both grappling and MMA have a lot more variation than boxing and kickboxing. Here you will find regular outliers and styles which are based on the style of a grappler’s body.

Smaller grapplers will generally have a more wrestling focussed game with an excellent base. Taller grapplers in the same weight category will generally be very gangly and have dangerous guards – making use of their long legs. This causes common stylistic match-ups in the same weight divisions between grapplers of different heights. In judo, you will generally find that smaller judoka prefer hip throws on taller opponents, which makes sense since their center of gravity is much lower.

A classic style of match-up between two different heights in MMA is displayed in the success of both Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. Both men were extremely dominant in the light-heavyweight division. Cormier is 5″10, whereas Jones is 6″4. Not only this, but their style of fighting is extremely different, with Jones keeping opponents at distance with his long limbs. Cormier on the other hand often managed to get inside position on his opponents and wrestle them to the mat.

This displays that there is not a “perfect” height for MMA and that it can be utilized within a certain range based on a specific style.

Outliers

Perhaps the most well known outlier in fighting history is Mike Tyson. Based on almost all conventional wisdom, Mike Tyson was “too small” to be a heavyweight, yet had dominant success.

At 5″10, Mike Tyson is held in the same regard as Tyson Fury (6″9), Evander Holyfield (6″2), Wladimir Klitschko (6″6), and Muhammad Ali (6″3). There will be constant arguments about which boxer was the best, but no disagreements about the range of different heights.

This data set proves that at the highest level of heavyweight boxing, there is a huge difference in heights. Perhaps Mike Tyson is around the smallest height possible to become a world champion, whereas Tyson Fury is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It does show that if you have enough, muscle, power, and technique, it is possible to be the best within a 5″10 – 6″9 spectrum.

Conclusion

It’s quite clear and obvious that there is a standard of average human height and weight. If you are within a very obvious weight category, it would be unwise to change it.

However, outliers within humans are not common, but not too rare either. It seems that fighters who are described as either “too small” or “too tall” for their weight class can have tremendous success. The reasoning for this is likely that when training in a gym, we are used to sparring regular people who fit a typical build. These people are average weight for their height and do not display anything extraordinary or unusual.

Fighters who operate on the extreme ends of being gigantic or small and stocky are unusual and surprise opponents. There are simply not many people on the planet with the power of Mike Tyson who are 5″10 tall. Coupled with technique and determination, this allows fighters who are on the very edges of a weight category to gain an advantage over their opponents who have never really sparred such a body type. On the other hand, an outlier will have sparred against countless regular body types within their own weight class.