The statistic I’ve read is that the top 90% of men are stronger than the bottom 90% of women. The inverse of that is that only the bottom 10% of men are weaker than the top 10% of women.
Obviously this is a matter of strength only, and isn’t a direct measure of skills, but in most sports does have an impact on skill. I feel like martial arts is a sport where strength is such a significant factor that weight classes are so strictly measured in such small increments.
Beyond that, I can’t speak in regards to what effect being cis/trans, or other hormonal situations, have on competition.
Yeah weight classes help for women (since it counteracts the fact that men are generally just bigger), but even pound for pound, looking at weightlifting records on Wikipedia men are about 25% stronger. For comparison that is a bigger strength difference than the difference between weightlifting weight classes. Obviously MMA is much more than a strength competition but that would be really hard to overcome. Also, men are quicker with hand and foot speed.
The statistic I’ve read is that the top 90% of men are stronger than the bottom 90% of women. The inverse of that is that only the bottom 10% of men are weaker than the top 10% of women.
Obviously this is a matter of strength only, and isn’t a direct measure of skills, but in most sports does have an impact on skill. I feel like martial arts is a sport where strength is such a significant factor that weight classes are so strictly measured in such small increments.
Beyond that, I can’t speak in regards to what effect being cis/trans, or other hormonal situations, have on competition.
Yeah weight classes help for women (since it counteracts the fact that men are generally just bigger), but even pound for pound, looking at weightlifting records on Wikipedia men are about 25% stronger. For comparison that is a bigger strength difference than the difference between weightlifting weight classes. Obviously MMA is much more than a strength competition but that would be really hard to overcome. Also, men are quicker with hand and foot speed.