Moving up weight classes.

It used to be held as a truth that as fighters move up in weight they lose alot of their punching power.

But we seem to be seeing tons of guys who go up in weight and not only retain their power but actually looked to be more explosive, Manny and Spider appear as perfect examples in each sport.

It still is not universal, some guys do not move up well, but I'm guessing that the ability of some of these guys can be attributed to better understanding of nutrition and weight training in addition to their genetics.

in a lot of cases of big fighters cutting a lot of weight for fights .. I kinda think it makes them weaker .. moving up to a more comfortable weight and maybe even putting on muscle

Some guys lose their power when they cut. Vera has lost pop in his hands since he went down, so has Diego Sanchez.

Wolfy is absolutely right sorry. But very few of the guys cutting hard look like they have the snap or even raw power that they should have. MMA has changed so much, unlike a few years ago, now most of these guys live a lifestyle that is almost nothing but MMA, so cutting weight become a week long progress instead of 2 day purge. Very few of these guys who do the brutal cuts look good. As for the guys gaining? I think that is dead on, especially when you consider that some like A. Silva have to cut nearly forty pounds to maintain in their weight division. I thought he looked a might bit slower against Forrest, but he didn't lose his pop and his power was extremely scary.