The UFC’s heavyweights have never really found their stride.
For a brief time during the Brock Lesnar Administration, the 265-pound division felt fresh and vital. It felt—for lack of a better word—big. But first diverticulitis and then increasingly difficult competition felled Lesnar, and the heavyweight ranks lapsed back into their old, unstable tricks again.
Such was the case for almost all of 2014.
Current champion Cain Velasquez may be the most talented man ever to fight in the UFC’s heaviest weight class, but so far, it has been his penchant for injury that has mostly defined him. It also makes him feel like the perfect symbol for this eternally troubled division.
Velasquez missed the entire year while rehabbing from shoulder surgery and then filming a season of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter reality show, only to injure his knee once it wrapped. As we move into 2015, almost everything in this weight class depends on how, if and when he’ll return.
Yet, late in 2014, the heavyweight division seems to be building a bit of momentum. Sure, it’s still kind of a jumbled mess, but it’s starting to feel like next year might be a fun one at 265 pounds.
Here’s an attempt to make sense of it all…