A simple, yet interesting statistic for the readers today.
We’ve started compiling “listed heights” from Sherdog. Below, is a table which contains the average LISTED height per division for ranked male fighters and also the average listed height for the Top 50 in each division, as well as the difference. We don’t have every height just yet, but do have a fairly large data set to go on. Also, just added, the tallest ranked fighter in each division.
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| Division | Height | Top 50 | Diff | Tallest/Shortest |
| Heavyweight+ | 6’1.9″ | 6’2.8″ | +0.9″ | 6’11.5″ – [#12] Stefan Struve 5’9″ – 6 Tied (Monson, Komkin, Brents, Inoue, Leniu, O. Sanchez) |
| Light Heavyweight | 6’1.0″ | 6’1.5″ | +0.5″ | 6’7″ – [#220] Malik Merad 5’11” – [#72] John Howard |
| Middleweight | 6’0.0″ | 6’0.6″ | +0.6″ | 6’6″ – [#35] Kendall Grove, [#248] Luke Barnatt 5’7″ – [#206] Terry Martin, [#353] Antonio Graceffo |
| Welterweight | 5’10.7″ | 5’10.9″ | +0.2″ | 6’4″ – 4 Tied (Beecroft, T. Dixon, C. Hill, B. Scott) 5’5″ – 3 Tied (Saadulaev, Crane, Chlewicki) |
| Lightweight | 5’9.4″ | 5’9.3″ | -0.1″ | 6’3″ – [#197] Jose Figueora 5’5″ – [#110] Jared Downing |
| Featherweight | 5’8.2″ | 5’7.8″ | -0.4″ | 6’4″ – [#210] Will Chope 5’3″ – 3 Tied (Quach, Reis, Y. Nakamura) |
| Bantamweight | 5’6.73″ | 5’6.66″ | -0.06″ | 6’1″ – [#231] Daniel Aguirre 5’1″ – [#133] Nate Williams |
| Flyweight | 5’5.1″ | 5’5.0″ | -0.1″ | 5’9″ – 4 Tied (Calatayud, Campuzano, Sato, C. Wright) 5’2″ – [#13] Kiyotaka Shimizu, [#18] Rambaa Somdet |
It’s interesting that top fighters have, on average, a height advantage in the heavier divisions, but a disadvantage in the lower divisions. Is this due to the increased east Asian influence on the lower divisions and/or that overall size can be a disadvantage in the lower divisions?
