2024 looks to be an interesting year across the globe for mixed martial arts (MMA).
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will continue trucking onward as the sport’s giant and premier promotion for as far as the immediate future can see. Meanwhile, other notable organizations, Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Bellator, have joined forces with the latter acquired by the former in late 2023.
Despite UFC title fights delivering big upsets and surprise moments this past year, there has been some loud criticism of the talent overall on the roster. UFC 297, the first pay-per-view (PPV) event of the year, saw two champions crowned in fights that received mixed reactions. One-time UFC Welterweight title challenger and commentator, Dan Hardy, believes there could be multiple reasons why a decline may be evident.
“I feel like mixed martial arts is potentially suffering from a lull at the moment,” Hardy said on his YouTube channel. “A bit of a dip in technical ability across the board. There are some fighters certainly that stand out as being excellent still. I don’t know whether it’s fighter pay having a knock-on effect. I don’t know whether the coaching is just not being passed down from one generation to another. I don’t know whether the actual money going into — there are a lot of fighters that try to raise money for their training camps and stuff. I don’t know whether that’s a part of it, but for me, where mixed martial arts should be right now and the growth of mixed martial arts and the growth of the money coming in, we should now be starting to see some far more elite level athletes that come in with elite level conditioning ready to perform in an elite way.”
Hardy, 41, has teased a return to action numerous times over the years since his last fight against Amir Sadollah in September 2012. “The Outlaw’s” famous title challenge came against the all-time great, Georges St-Pierre, at UFC 111 when he lost a unanimous decision in March 2010.
When scanning the divisions in 2024, bringing the greatest of all-time debate into things provided some more clarity, said Hardy.
“Is there a division right now that has the best-ever champion in it?” Hardy asked. “Potentially [Lightweight]. Generally, I would say the lighter divisions are very competitive compared to the heavier divisions. I feel like they have sporadic contenders in the heavier divisions whereas in the lighter divisions, I think because there’s more fighters in them generally across the world, the filtration process to get to the top of those divisions is much greater.
“Lightweight, you could fight five Lightweights in Europe or five Lightweights in Japan and five Lightweights in Australia, and you’re gonna find a killer in every single one of those groups,” he continued. “You might not be able to say the same thing about women’s Bantamweight, for example. Or men’s Middleweight, which for whatever reason is another thin weight class.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
