catch weight bouts

With the Robbie Lawler/Jake Shields bout last weekend being at a catch-weight, and this weekend Rich Franklin/Wanderlei Silva being at a catch weight, there has been a ton of debate lately over the purpose of catchweight bouts and if they have a place in the sport. Surprizingly, a lot of people really seem to be against these fights and I for the life of me can not understand why.

I want to see great fights. I do not care what weight they are at, if it gives me the chance to see two top 10 guys fighting each other, than I am all for it. I do not care if it happens at 185, 180, or 178.75 pounds. Just putting two guys in the ring or cage together that are close in weight and I am happy. Weight classes are just a number that a number of years ago a handful of people decided would be the cutoff weights. Today, a different set of people would create different weight classes and as a result, different weight classes. Take Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn's fight from this past January. That fight was fought at the welterweight limit of 170 pounds. Now if the fight had been a catchweight bout at 168 pounds, would it have been any different of a fight? Of course not, those two pounds would make no difference in the fight. And yet people would be bitching every which way about it being a catchweight fight and not being a welterweight fight. I got news for you people. If a fight happens at a catchweight and you don't want to call it that, then call it what it is. A fight that is contracted at 182 still falls in the Middleweight division. Call it that. I really see no logical reason why catchweight fights are such a big deal. As long as the title fights happen at the specific weight, I don't care what weight the other ones are fought at. Hell, make the Light Heavyweight cut off be 208.3854 pounds. I could really care less. It's just a number.