How tall are MMA fighters? UFC Height Analysis by Division - The MMA Guru (2023)

Let's be honest:Height advantage is real in martial arts.Height may not be the most obvious indicator of strength, but it has a big impact on strength.how fighters get involvedmutual. It is also closely related to range and monkey index, two important indexes that can affect the outcome of MMA fights. These reasons explain why many MMA fans and observers consider height to be important.

As we all know, they hardly consider size when dividing MMA fighters into different classes. Weight is the final criteria for separating fighters to ensure fair play. Therefore, mixed martial arts weight classes ensure that people of the same weight class are pitted against each other.

Ultimate Fighting Championship and its weight classes

In the past, weight classes were not required to host mixed martial arts fights. This was before state sanction and the involvement of sports commissions. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) introduced weight classes at UFC 12 and divided fighters into groupsHeavyweight(fighters over 200 lbs) andLicht(combatants under 200 pounds).

Over the years, weight classes have changed several times. Ideally, promotions could autonomously decide on their weight classes. In the meantime, nearly all state and funding committees have accepted thisMixed martial arts uniform rules. There are fourteen weight categories, but it's not mandatory to have fighters in all divisions. Fighters can also agree to aweight fightthat occurs between weight classes.

Relationship between weight class and height

Returning to our main topic:Why do we care about the average height of UFC fighters?Well, we've already said that size plays a role in how fighters compete. The actual effect may be negligible, but we must recognize that altitude can affect a fighter's techniques. We also have to admit that during a fight, height can be a limitation and give the opponent some advantages.

It is also important to talk about the relationship between height and weight. There is a direct relationship between the two, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a taller person weighs more than a shorter person. This may be the case in many cases, but there are always exceptions.

There are differences in the height of fighters in UFC weight classes. There may not be much difference between fighters in the same weight class, but there are differences. Even with fighters of the same weight, noticeable differences in height can occur. Will this affect the outcome of your games? The most unlikely, but one must always take into account the differences.

The average height of UFC fighter

It would be a mistake to talk about the average height of all UFC fighters without talking about their respective weight classes. This will misrepresent most fighters and defeat the purpose of this post. Instead, we discuss the average height of UFC fighters based on different weight classes.

Strawweight females: 115 pounds (52.2 kg) or less

The average height of fighters in this category is 5'4". The current UFC Strawweight Champion is Weili Zhang, and her height is exactly 5'4".

Fly weight: 52.2 kg to 56.7 kg

The average height of UFC flyweight fighters is 5'5". The current champion in this category is Deiveson Figueiredo, who is exactly 1.55m tall.

Female Rooster Weight: 126 lb (57 kg) to 132 lb (60 kg)

The average height of fighters in this division is 5'6". The current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion is Amanda Nunes, and she is 5'8″ tall. She is taller than the average fighter in the weight division.

Rooster weight: 57 kg to 61.2 kg

The average height of UFC fighters in this class is 5'7". The UFC Bantamweight Champion is Petr Yan at 5'7". He is the same height as the average fighter in the class.

Featherweight: 135 pounds (61.2 kg) to 145 pounds (65.8 kg)

The average height of UFC fighters in this category is 5'9". The current UFC Featherweight Champion is Alexander Volkanovski. His height is 5'6″, which means that he is noticeably smaller than the average fighter of his class.

Light weight: 145 pounds (65.8 kg) to 155 pounds (70.3 kg)

The average height of UFC fighters in this weight class is 5'10". The current UFC Lightweight Champion is Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is 5'9". He is slightly smaller than the average fighter in this category, but he has proven to be the best with 28 wins, 0 losses and 0 draws.

Welterweight: 155 pounds (70.3 kg) to 170 pounds (77.1 kg)

The average height of UFC fighters in this category is 5'11.5". The current champion in this category is Kamaru Usman, who is 1.80 m tall. He is half an inch taller than the average UFC fighter in this weight category .

Average weight: 170 pounds (77.1 kg) to 185 pounds (83.9 kg)

The average height of middleweight fighters in the UFC is 1.80m. The current UFC Middleweight Champion is Israel Adesanya who is 6'4″ tall. He is much taller than the average fighter in this category. While Israel's dominance in this weight class is largely credited to its flexibility and adaptability to different styles (the ultimate style tamer), there's no doubt that its size and reach advantages have contributed to some extent. That doesn't detract from his spectacular career.

Light Heavyweight: 83.9 kg to 93.0 kg

The average height of fighters in this category is 6'2". The current UFC light heavyweight champion is Jan Blachowicz, who is 1.80 m tall. He is as tall as the average fighter in the class.

Heavyweight: 205 pounds (93.0 kg) to 265 pounds (120.2 kg)

The average height of heavyweight fighters in the UFC is 6'3". The current UFC Heavyweight Champion is Stipe Miocic who is 6'4″ tall. average fighter in this category.

What can we learn from the average height of MMA fighters?

From the average height of UFC fighters, as shown above, it is evident that height is related to weight in many cases. We can also deduce from the information that there are exceptions to this natural pattern.

It's also easy to see that the size of an MMA fighter doesn't determine success or failure. While many champions are as tall as the average fighter in their weight class, some are taller and some are shorter. While Paige VanZant (one of thebest mma fightersjhottest boxersof all time) has had a career of ups and downs, there's no denying he's scored some spectacular wins despite his diminutive 5'4″ stature.

Watching Russian featherweight Alexander Volkanovski's exploits, one can't help but marvel at the way he intimidates and defeats visibly larger fighters. He consolidated himself as the king of the category, winning 28 fights, without losing and without drawing any.

Another spectacular example is Israel Adesanya. The Nigerian-born New Zealander is taller than most fighters in his division. Appearing to be skinny, he was teased by Derek Johnson for his height in the early days. He dominated the category, won 19 fights, lost none and drew none. You can be taller and less muscular than your split and still kick ass.

final result

Size is not a reliable attribute to consider when predicting an MMA fight. Then the organizers use the weight to sort the fighters into the appropriate divisions. But height is related to weight as we can see in the previous information.

Although altitude provides a range advantage in many cases, it does not necessarily determine or significantly affect the outcome of a fight. If you've ever wondered how good MMA fighters are, the stats above clearly show that fighters of different sizes can succeed at the "highest" levels (ha).