Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: August 13, 2016 at 10:02 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/alexa-grasso-signs-with-the-ufc-fights-heater-jo-clark-at-tuf-21-finale.69609/
Haraldr said:
115 was supported by a strong japanese front for years, lead by Megumi, when 135 was scraping the bottom, and is the natural women fighting weight. Bantamweight does not have a long list of contenders, they have Valentina and Pena. When McMann and Pennington is ranked, something is very wrong. Esparza is a bad striker, but have a functional wrestling and ground game, McMann is a good wrestler with no striking and a zero activity ground game. She is a more unnatural mma fighter than Giant Silva.
The problem at bantam, is all these fighters with bad functional games, like being a good grappler with no wrestling, or a clinch grinder with no strength. I mean, Holly Holm is a champion boxer who is terrified of striking. At 115, you see girls who have developed games, games that is effective against several styles. Joanna is not good because of her striking, but her scrambling and durability, if she was fighting at 135, she would just be a striker who would get taken down at a wim. If Claudia would be at 135, she would be a jiu jitsu girl with no wrestling, with an undeveloped and weird game like so many at 135. Pena, Valentina, Nunes, these girls are gonna wipe that division because they have better functional games. Baszler, Kaufmann, these just arent that good anymore. I respect the pioneers and all, but we have been waiting forever for that division to develop.
Click to expand...
Megumi Fujii
-- who debuted in 2004? Okay, so what were Marloes (2000), Tara (2002), Roxanne (2003), Shayna (2003), Kedzie (2004), doing back then? Please note: fighters were often compelled to fight outside of their natural weight class, not excluding Atomweight, Megumi.
Valentina
and
Julianna
are just the
most recently
minted Contenders. They just add to list; Miesha, Holly, Ronda, Zingano are all still Contenders.
McMann
(in contrast/comparison with
Esparza
and Giant Silva)... ha, stop. McMann throws with ill intentions. Unlike Esparza, she's at least a competent puncher, and offers a threat in the standup. If anything, a 115-version of Sara McMann (Olympian Wrestler/Slugger) would be better than Esparza. She would squash anyone Esparza beats +.
Valentina Shevchenko
is the most skilled well-rounded fighter in WMMA... and she's a BW.
As I acknowledged before, the lighter fights are generally more technically skilled, and would apply to the women's divisions too. But when so many of the 'top' fighters are fairly young in the game, still coming into their own, so to speak... and are mainly just going up against other young/novice fighters... it can skew perception. Most of these 'top' 115ers have only been Pros for 4 years or less/2012 debuts.
