Heavy Potential in Albany
The heavyweight division in combat sports is one of the most exciting no matter what sport it is a part of.
There is no difference in MMA where the heavyweights are the fighters that tend to finish things a lot more regularly.
These fighters go out to end things quickly but they despite their exciting fights they get their share of criticism.
In a sport where there are so many options and so much that goes into creating a great fighter heavyweights can sometimes be limited in their skills.
They are known for their power on the feet but more often than not that is all they have.
To some, they are not truly mixed martial artists because they don’t mix anything up they are one-dimensional.
The best MMA fighters are those that can do everything well as someone who can strike and wrestle and successfully work towards submissions.
Many heavyweights can’t do that as they are simply big strikers with little to no ground game making them somewhat on the fringe of the MMA world.
The heavyweight division is full of guys who hit hard and love to go out and throw bombs until they end a fight.
That is a strategy that helps them in more than one way though as it not only plays to their strengths but it also prevents them from moving beyond the first round.
That is where the best heavyweights are separated from the average heavyweights as the best find that balance between having the power and being able to fight for five rounds.
Bigger guys simply aren’t going to be able to last for a full 25-minutes in the octagon and once again that leads to many believing they are not the true expression of mixed martial artists
The problem with this thought is that it doesn’t express every fighter in the heavyweight division but it does show a divide.
The best in the world can do everything and fight for far longer than one round which is why they are the best in the world.
There are countless amounts of heavyweights that can end fights in the first round with a big shot but most of them eventually fall to that same thing.
Heavyweights that live by the big shot usually fall to the big shot and their rise through the rankings doesn’t last long.
Four fighters entered the octagon at UFC Fight Night 102 looking to prove that they are more than just the usual heavyweights.
They were all looking to show that they can do more than just knock people out quickly and that they deserve to be among the best in the division.
The first up to try to show this was Francis N’Gannou and Anthony Hamilton who fought in the co-main event.
N’Gannou was one of the most promising prospects in the division while Hamilton was looking to take some of his shine after inconsistency in his UFC career.
The fight was a quick one but it served the purpose of showing that one of these fighters is a top tier contender.
It went to the ground fast in the first round with N’Gannou sitting on top of Hamilton and before anyone knew it he had a kimura locked in on the top.
N’Gannou twisted and used his strength to turn the joint and Hamilton was forced to tap out giving N’Gannou the win.
It was his first ever submission win in the UFC after three straight knockout wins to begin his time with the promotion.
The finish showed that N’Gannou is not just a knockout artist and that he is beginning to learn a lot more about the fight game.
That could be dangerous for everyone in the division as he still looks like the best prospect at heavyweight and if he continues to get better he could become a contender sometime in 2017.
The next up was Derrick Lewis and Shamil Abdurahimov who were looking to take a page out of N’Gannou’s book and show that they were more than typical heavyweights.
They both did that although the fight was still not nearly as exciting as many were used to seeing from either fighter.
Instead of going all out to try to finish a fight earlier both fighters paced themselves and spent much of the fight on the mat.
Eventually, Lewis came out on top getting the TKO win in the fourth round and although it wasn’t the most impressive performance it was interesting to see.
Lewis was not that rough in the fourth round showing that he had the ability to last more than one round.
He will move up but with the unimpressive performance, he might still need a few more fights to truly be a contender.
The heavyweights were on display in Albany and they came out to prove that they belong among the best in the world with two displaying just what it might take for them to be a champion.
The Sport Addiction 