What is your ideal body size frame for an elite MMA fighter?

[Daringdeaffighter]

[0112358]

Massive. The talent level is thinnest at heavyweight (true in every sport) so being massive is good if you're also - for your size- fast and skilled.

I suspect you're talking about sub heavyweight though where you're dealing with a weight cap.

I'm not sure that there is a single ideal frame. But your skill mix that optimizes your frame may vary. Longer thin fighters may tend to be better off with a MT/BJJ mix while a more compact shorter limbed fighter might do better with a wrestling/judo heavy approach. compact but longish arms lends itself well to a boxing/wrestling hybrid where you use the jab to force people to move in then shoot as they make their move (GSP did this all the time - forcing people to walk IN to his takedowns via the jab).

[Daringdeaffighter]

Nice, I'm actually talking about myself, I'm trying to place myself in the appropriate weight category, so I am trained properly

[0112358]

The standard rule of thumb for combat sports is to initially let your body 'place itself'. Train hard, spar, work the bags etc, get your conditioning on point and blow off the body fat. That's your -natural- weight class. The weight class your body sits at to function doing the skills of mma. You'd very, very rarely want to try to shed muscle below that, however if you had a past history of bodybuilding... well you might lose some size and i'd let it happen but not go crazy trying to. On the flip side you might look and say 'if I bulked up would I improve'? In most cases the answer is -no-. Generally most people at their natural 'training' weight should worry more about technique than muscle. Guys who are pros move up in weight classes to earn more money, or because they can't stay as thin as they age.

Start with your natural lean weight, then see.

[0112358]

by the way just saw your comment below.

So to give you an idea, I do some amateur boxing... and i'm 6'3" and fight at 165.

3% body fat doesn't sound realistic to me. 230 means you're solidly in HW and not even that close to LHW, and 5'8" is very short for a HW. Your entire fighting style would need to be based around explosive moves to the inside and take downs.

What's your background skillset wise?

[Daringdeaffighter]

I'm currently a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do, my objective is to master 7+ styles of fighting. I openly take suggestions and incorporate what I can

[Daringdeaffighter]

I think I can do pretty good close combat style haven't had much training in that area. Leanest I've ever weighed 160s didn't like my appearance since the muscle tone wasn't there

[Redstang88]

Depends on your training, skillset and natural build. There are damn good fighters in every weight class.

[Daringdeaffighter]

Astute answer and yes I agree there are many amazing fighters in every weight class.

[Redstang88]

Saw your other comments - 5'8 230 at 3% is very unrealistic, and not practical for fighting. You don't see many fighters under maybe 10%, as being that lean will reduce your strength and endurance. You don't need to be that lean, look at guys like Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson.
At that height you really wouldn't want to fight heavyweight, light heavyweight is good though. I trained at 5'8 225 but didn't compete much, I was good but I'd get shit-kicked fighting the guys +6'4 250. I trained with guys around my height at 200-205 that did very well.

[Daringdeaffighter]

Hmm I appreciate your input. So I'll raise the bar to 10 percent for myself.

[Anonymous]

At 5'8" I think the heaviest you should fight at is middleweight. There are featherweights your height, in the higher weight classes they'll have too much of a reach advantage on you.

[Daringdeaffighter]

How would that be? I can reach somewhat close to a person 6' tall

[Opinion Owner]

You can reach them sure, but they can reach you first. Look at the top fighters in each division and look at the height those guys are, there's a reason for that.

[Marshall123]

No, you only can get that after 10 or more years of hard training

[Daringdeaffighter]

10 years? I think can do better than that

[Marshall123]

it's really difficult in the best case scenario 7 years

[Daringdeaffighter]

Hmm rational I suppose

[Iraqveteran666]

Just as I am but fitter and more muscular.

[Daringdeaffighter]

I'm 250lbs, chiseling away fat on my body my goal 230 lbs 3 percent body fat. I'm 5'8 I don't know if 230 would be too heavy?

[Iraqveteran666]

Are you taking enough steroids?

[Daringdeaffighter]

Haha no I'm not taking any at the moment

[Iraqveteran666]

If your getting into the elites section of mma you will need to

[Daringdeaffighter]

I'll take note of that