A-Level Athlete Anders.

[djason1988]

There have been some fighters with little athletic ability to speak of (at elite levels), but their grit and will carried them. I think in this profession athleticism is only going to carry you so far.

This.

"Athleticism" is a part of MMA, but just one part of many. Toughness, creativity, fight IQ, and the multitude of skills required are all just as important.

 

[djason1988]

Anders should have finished that fight in the first round. It was there for him. He showed too much respect, and fought himself into a split decision loss.

However, according to Wikipedia, Anders had his first pro-fight in 2015, and in less than three years, he was good enough to step up to a former UFC champion with significantly more experience, and make it a split decision fight.

It is so obvious that the current MMA fighters are not the best athletes mother Earth has to offer. Machida should have made Anders look like he had a long way to go.

How can a guy who has his first pro-fight in August 2015, be good enough for a former champion with years of fight experience at the highest level?

The so called GOATs of today are simply not that good. They are good for our times, but if the sport continues to improve, their achievements will be dwarfed by the future GOATs.

Anders started his ammy career in 2012 and had 22 fights to his credit in that. That's way longer than most guys spend as an amateur. And machida has been on a downslide for years and lost 3 straight brutally. And current GOAT contenders not being athletic? Jones' brothers are both NFL linemen and Cormier was an Olympic wrestler. It doesn't get much more "athletic" than that

 

[cherryzero]

Anders should have finished that fight in the first round. It was there for him. He showed too much respect, and fought himself into a split decision loss.

However, according to Wikipedia, Anders had his first pro-fight in 2015, and in less than three years, he was good enough to step up to a former UFC champion with significantly more experience, and make it a split decision fight.

It is so obvious that the current MMA fighters are not the best athletes mother Earth has to offer. Machida should have made Anders look like he had a long way to go.

How can a guy who has his first pro-fight in August 2015, be good enough for a former champion with years of fight experience at the highest level?

The so called GOATs of today are simply not that good. They are good for our times, but if the sport continues to improve, their achievements will be dwarfed by the future GOATs.

Dude... Machida is older, he’s clearly lost a step, and him calling out Bisping is tantamount to admitting his career is almost over.

I doubt Anders would have made it though the first with prime Machida.

Point being there is a weird tendency around here to call out older fighters as never being that good in the first place. Aging is a real thing. It diminishes your physical skills.

 

[Franc Mittelo]

Anders started his ammy career in 2012 and had 22 fights to his credit in that. That's way longer than most guys spend as an amateur. And machida has been on a downslide for years and lost 3 straight brutally. And current GOAT contenders not being athletic? Jones' brothers are both NFL linemen and Cormier was an Olympic wrestler. It doesn't get much more "athletic" than that

I am just going with what was posted on Wikipedia. That is why I mentioned "according to Wikipedia." I am very deliberate with the words I use (most times).

However, using the argument of "he had many amateur fights" is moving the goal post. I remember a thread were a poster questioned why the UFC was promoting Cody Garbrandt as "10-0 and undefeated" when there was footage of Cody get KO'd stiff. LOL

Many hardcore MMA fans made the argument that "Cody's amateur record doesn't count. So, that stiff arm KO never really happened." LOL

The thread was probably Wastelanded by a triggered and cringed Beta Nerd Moderator. So, I will give Anders the same benefit of the doubt all those hardcore MMA fans afforded to Cody Garbrandt. LOL

Being consistent is important.

 

[ThEiCeMaN6791]

Anders should have finished that fight in the first round. It was there for him. He showed too much respect, and fought himself into a split decision loss.

However, according to Wikipedia, Anders had his first pro-fight in 2015, and in less than three years, he was good enough to step up to a former UFC champion with significantly more experience, and make it a split decision fight.

It is so obvious that the current MMA fighters are not the best athletes mother Earth has to offer. Machida should have made Anders look like he had a long way to go.

How can a guy who has his first pro-fight in August 2015, be good enough for a former champion with years of fight experience at the highest level?

The so called GOATs of today are simply not that good. They are good for our times, but if the sport continues to improve, their achievements will be dwarfed by the future GOATs.

He’s 39. I’m his prime he would have destroyed him.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Dude couldn't even get to the level of Schaub or Mitrione in football. Let that sink in.

 

[ThEiCeMaN6791]

Dude couldn't even get to the level of Schaub or Mitrione in football. Let that sink in.

Probably because of skill, not athleticism. That’s probably why those two didn’t make it either. Football is about much more than just being athletic.

 

[ThEiCeMaN6791]

He started training at 24. Too old to pick up so many different skills.

I though with six months of training any A level athlete would be UFC champion?

 

[josh345]

Been a Machida fan since day 1 but how can he NOT look fresh when he didn’t do anything the whole fight?

He should’ve retired like 4 years ago. The speed, instincts, reflexes, timing, chin. It’s all gone. Prime time ended a long time ago.

As for Ya boi... he can’t be taken seriously as a MW prospect. I hated the idea of Anders making a name off of Machida which he easily should’ve been able to do yet somehow he looked just as bad if not worse than a guy that’s about to turn 40 in a few months.

I agree that he's past his prime. No doubt. But I'm still pumped he got a win. He had some good moments last night.

 

[rjmbrd]

Did it ever cross your mind that the difference between guys who make it in the NFL is skill, not athleticism.

No, because we have an enormous amount of data that shows this isn't the case for many positions.

Anders was a linebacker.

You can use something as simple as the 40 yard dash to predict your likelihood to be drafted. The speediest guys have a 100% placement rate. Now consider a multi multi billion dollar industry completely predicated on objective success in the game, with decades of development and enormous scouting budgets, has still determined that the fastest guys literally all get drafted.

I suppose you could cast aspersions on everyone in the scouting and coaching system as dummies, but you are just a jabroni on the internet.

All elite athletes have a higher probability of making it into the NFL, although not all are skilled enough or cut out to be there.

Anders appears to be a skilled football player who reached his potential in college football. Something in the course of 1.5% of college players get drafted.

He was not among those elite. Now he's in MMA, where the starting pay is 15k/15k.

That is why we don't get elite athletes for guys the size of 185/205/265.

Both of Jon Jones brothers are multi-year starting players in the NFL. They are just guys though, not stars of the league.

When one guy of that athletic caliber trips and falls into MMA, we literally call him the greatest of all time. Other professional sports are quite entirely populated with Jon Jones'.

@Squintz

 

[ThEiCeMaN6791]

No, because we have an enormous amount of data that shows this isn't the case for many positions.

Anders was a linebacker.

You can use something as simple as the 40 yard dash to predict your likelihood to be drafted. The speediest guys have a 100% placement rate. Now consider a multi multi billion dollar industry completely predicated on objective success in the game, with decades of development and enormous scouting budgets, has still determined that the fastest guys literally all get drafted.

I suppose you could cast aspersions on everyone in the scouting and coaching system as dummies, but you are just a jabroni on the internet.

All elite athletes have a higher probability of making it into the NFL, although not all are skilled enough or cut out to be there.

Anders appears to be a skilled football player who reached his potential in college football. Something in the course of 1.5% of college players get drafted.

He was not among those elite. Now he's in MMA, where the starting pay is 15k/15k.

That is why we don't get elite athletes for guys the size of 185/205/265.

Both of Jon Jones brothers are multi-year starting players in the NFL. They are just guys though, not stars of the league.

When one guy of that athletic caliber trips and falls into MMA, we literally call him the greatest of all time. Other professional sports are quite entirely populated with Jon Jones'.

@Squintz

I never saw him play but it’s entirely possible that he was a shitty tackler, or couldn’t read blocks well, or had some other skill deficiencies.

People use Jones as an example of a decent athlete dominating MMA completely ignoring his wrestling background. Same with Brock.

Speaking of Brock, he put up great combine numbers, but he didn’t have the skill to make it in the NFL.

 

[Wormwood]

Fight was super close, i think that in the USA Anders could have won it

And Brunson could have won in Brazil...

 

[grimballer]

Did it ever cross your mind that the difference between guys who make it in the NFL is skill, not athleticism.

Did it ever cross your mind that if he was truly an elite athlete he would have been approach by many teams before draft, be invited to the nfl combine, post crazy numbers n been drafted on athleticism alone?

 

[fightfan70]

Anders should have finished that fight in the first round. It was there for him. He showed too much respect, and fought himself into a split decision loss.

However, according to Wikipedia, Anders had his first pro-fight in 2015, and in less than three years, he was good enough to step up to a former UFC champion with significantly more experience, and make it a split decision fight.

It is so obvious that the current MMA fighters are not the best athletes mother Earth has to offer. Machida should have made Anders look like he had a long way to go.

How can a guy who has his first pro-fight in August 2015, be good enough for a former champion with years of fight experience at the highest level?

The so called GOATs of today are simply not that good. They are good for our times, but if the sport continues to improve, their achievements will be dwarfed by the future GOATs.

this is a great example in the difference between mma and wmma. according to experience machida should have beat him down like the bullet did in her fight

 

[NationWideNinja]

You Americans are obsessed with your own definition of athleticism, which is football/basketball players. Theres more to sports than just being very big and explosive.

For example, Melvin Guillard is one of the most explosive LWs ever, didnt matter when he lacked in so many other departments such as fighting IQ, timing, distance control, etc.

 

[grimballer]

You Americans are obsessed with your own definition of athleticism, which is football/basketball players. Theres more to sports than just being very big and explosive.

For example, Melvin Guillard is one of the most explosive LWs ever, didnt matter when he lacked in so many other departments such as fighting IQ, timing, distance control, etc.

He’s explosive, but not expositive enough for nfl/Nba

 

[grimballer]

No, because we have an enormous amount of data that shows this isn't the case for many positions.

Anders was a linebacker.

You can use something as simple as the 40 yard dash to predict your likelihood to be drafted. The speediest guys have a 100% placement rate. Now consider a multi multi billion dollar industry completely predicated on objective success in the game, with decades of development and enormous scouting budgets, has still determined that the fastest guys literally all get drafted.

I suppose you could cast aspersions on everyone in the scouting and coaching system as dummies, but you are just a jabroni on the internet.

All elite athletes have a higher probability of making it into the NFL, although not all are skilled enough or cut out to be there.

Anders appears to be a skilled football player who reached his potential in college football. Something in the course of 1.5% of college players get drafted.

He was not among those elite. Now he's in MMA, where the starting pay is 15k/15k.

That is why we don't get elite athletes for guys the size of 185/205/265.

Both of Jon Jones brothers are multi-year starting players in the NFL. They are just guys though, not stars of the league.

When one guy of that athletic caliber trips and falls into MMA, we literally call him the greatest of all time. Other professional sports are quite entirely populated with Jon Jones'.

@Squintz

Yup

Usually those that are good college players, but can’t cut it in the pros tend to understand the game well, but simply don’t have athleticism for the next level

He also played lb in college, but is fighting at 185?

That’s corner/safety size.

He was simply undersized/not athletic nuff for nfl

 

[emax]

Anders was a starter in a major Div 1 football team, the difference between that and guys who make it to the NFL is often a difference in skills specific for football, and every position has its own unique skills it requires, and relatively small differences in the specific types of athleticism the NFL needs. Often there isn't a massive athleticism gap between NCAA Div 1 starters in college football and the ones who make the NFL cut. So this was a former Div 1 starter who wasn't able to make it past a near 40 year old Machida whose best fighting years are way behind him. That suggests that the difference between Anders and a guy who could make the NFL cut, which would be a difference in skills and athleticism unique to football, would not by itself be sufficient to make an incoming MMA fighter go on a complete UFC tear.

That said, without any doubt there is a set of NFL guys who could enter the UFC and go on as big a tear or an even bigger one than Jon Jones. It would not necessarily be the current biggest stars in the NFL. It could be a set of starters or even backups who have had extensive amateur wrestling and or boxing or kickboxing experience since their middle school years and who also have Jon Jone's natural fight IQ. With Jon Jones, his intelligence when fighting, and his willingness to see himself as a perpetual student of fighting who always had more to learn, was as important as his unique athletic gifts.

 

[Slatersan]

Ufc fighters are c-d level athletes. Look what happened when b level athlete jon jones came in. He mopped the floor with every one and he barely trained ufc. Yoel Romero could be considered an a level athlete in his youth and is still dominate as a senior citizen.

 

[rjmbrd]

I never saw him play but it’s entirely possible that he was a shitty tackler, or couldn’t read blocks well, or had some other skill deficiencies.

People use Jones as an example of a decent athlete dominating MMA completely ignoring his wrestling background. Same with Brock.

Speaking of Brock, he put up great combine numbers, but he didn’t have the skill to make it in the NFL.

Brock underlines the point how low average athleticism is in heavyweight MMA.

He tried to make the NFL, with the Vikings, but wasn't worth the effort to develop into a player. Had he started younger, he likely had NFL athletic qualities.

He entered MMA with zero experience and became a world champion a few fights later. Lets really stop and unpack that for a moment - a guy with even LESS experience in MMA (zero) then he had in football (youth level), in the NFL he wasn't even worth keeping on a practice squad.

In MMA he casually walked into the sport and won the heavyweight championship.

Regarding Jones, we know from his siblings, he has elite genetics. It isn't random chance you have 3 brothers who are all elite athletes. We rarely get guys of that caliber in MMA, with such an easy case study to read, and Jones is one of the greatest of all time.

He entered MMA and simply ran roughshod over everyone. In other professional sports, Jon Jones is the standard, not the greatest ever.