How many fighters for each weight class?

[GDE71]

I'm wondering how many fighters and of what quality I need for each weight class to have a healthy weight class?

 

For example:

 

3-4 Title contenders

3-4 Guys to be groomed as title contenders

3-4 Guys who can lose to the top 6-8 but make good fights

3-4 Guys who are early in career

 

 

Also can you basically rotate the 3-4 guys who lose to the top 6-8 fighters by signing new guys every 6 months or so?

 

I'm just trying to get an idea of how to always have guys who can main & co-main in good fights while having new guys to replace them if they get signed away or they start to lose fights unexpectedly.

[gottabekb]

Yeah that sounds about right. I try to have atleast 5 people in each division that are in Title Contention. I usually have 20-24 fighters in each division. Most of them being Cans that I can Feed to people when I need to.

[Mr T Jobs To Me]

Yeah, your plan looks solid. You might want to adjust it based on how often you have events and how many fights you have per card, to make sure you aren't having contracts with guaranteed fights still on them expire or on the flip side, nobody available.

[Comradebot]

Depends on how many divisions I have. With WMMA2, I only had three weight classes, so I had 20 guys in each division: 10 in the rankings and then another ten trying to break into the top ten.

 

Right now, though, with SIGMA, I have 15 guys in each division. 20 would just be a LOT of guys.

[Pampero Firpo]

I tend to look at it from a different direction. I start with how often I expect guys to fight and how many fights I want to have and then work backward to determine how many fighters I need.

 

For example, as GAMMA I go with the following:

 

1. I expect guys to fight roughly 3-4 times per year.

2. I put on 2 events per month -- one pay-per-view and one TV show.

3. I want 10 fights at each event.

 

Given these assumptions I am putting on 20 fights per month or 240 per year. To put on those fights, I would need between 120 guys (if they each fought four times) and 160 guys (if they each fought three times). Since there are 5 divisions in GAMMA, I need between 24 and 32 fighters per division.

 

If I was a smaller promotion with 3 weight classes (like XCC), I might only plan to do 12 shows with 6 fights each. Under this scenario I would only need 12-16 fighters in each weight class (again assuming each person fought 3-4 times per year).

 

Of course all of this is subject to change. If I find I don't have enough guys available to fight, I might cut back on the number of fights I'm having or look to hire some more talent. Similarly, if guys aren't getting enough work or there are a lot of guys I want to hire, I might tack on additional fights at each event (assuming I can afford it).

[Tag01]

That depends entirely on how many shows you want to run and how big your org is. The UFC had over 200 fighters on their roster before the WEC merger, and that will add another 70 or so. But, they will do multiple events a month, year round so their needs are high. If you're planning one show a month what you have in mind is plenty.

[samuricex]

Don't aim for a set number IMO.

 

If fighters are good enough to be top contenders, then let them be.

 

If fighters are good prospects, then let them be.

 

Grooming is too much of a chore and you'll feel like pulling your hair out when things don't work out. And with the fog of war, I think this is a much better strategy in WMMA3.

[Tag01]

Don't aim for a set number IMO.

 

If fighters are good enough to be top contenders, then let them be.

 

If fighters are good prospects, then let them be.

 

Grooming is too much of a chore and you'll feel like pulling your hair out when things don't work out. And with the fog of war, I think this is a much better strategy in WMMA3.

 

I agree. Go with the flow. If you have a hard time filling events with active fighters, hire more. If you've got a bunch of guys in the bottom of the division waiting months without a fight, your roster is too big.