Yeah, and it could just be an emphasis on speed and just being a byproduct of physics that the smaller divisions are faster. Athletes lose speed first, well before cardio/power etc. It makes sense that higher divisions with lower average speed are less impacted because their opponents relative speed is a smaller difference, where at the lower classes it might be a lot more profound. Speed kills.
Especially in a lighter weight class. Fighters like Couture and Cormier have been able to use their wrestling effectively at LHW and HW until their 40s, but that's very different. And if a 43-year old Couture had to face a 28-year old Cain, he'd have been in a lot of trouble. But there have been so few good young wrestlers at HW since....well, the late 90s when Coleman, Couture, Kerr, Hendo, Randleman, etc. all started.
In my opinion it's a matter of actions per second - smaller fighters have way less inertia so they're changing directions more times per second whether it's a feint, strike, takedown, footwork, etc. A small decline in reaction time or muscle response speed matters a lot more at a lighter weight class where that decline is larger in comparison to the speed at which everything takes place. In contrast, at MW, LHW, and HW, everyone is relatively slow by comparison so a small age-related decline in speed is diluted amongst that general slowness
Joe B*, Henry dominated Sergio.
He has 3 losses
His striking looked bad imo. Timing looked off and didn’t have the dog in him like before.
How do you think Merab would do against Sterling? I'd favor the former
Sterling puts Merab to sleep, RNC. Ricky Simon top 50 bw put Merab to sleep. Imagine what Sterling would do.
The evidence he that he "doesn't have it as a fighter anymore" is losing 8 years ago before he was ever champ?
Such freaky cardio I want science experiments done on Merab.
