It's almost like people think we're watching the best.........

[PalmStrike]

 

[wompuscatwilly]

LOL, TS you didn't mention Decathlon? The average athlete competing in decathlons is far more athletic than your average athlete competing in the big 4 you mentioned. If the most athletic guys only go where the biggest paydays are, well......

Also, love how people shit on Roy because he doesn't have a six pack lol. He's probably much more athletic than your average fighter. Look at the way he can move, his endurance and cardio!!! All with that big belly..........abs does not = athleticism.

 

[Bartinho]

No one's watching MMA for athleticism ya goof. Baseball and football players can't fight.

 

[chubbman]

how you be here 7 years and miss all the a-level athlete threads????

 

[in the liver]

I hate to break it to you, but the best athletes aren't wasting their time getting the shit beat out of them 3 times a year. They are busy winning in professional baseball, football, hockey......Do you not think Aaron Judge would not snap every heavyweights neck with a flick of his wrists if he got paid to do it?????? You guys actually think Roy Nelson is an elite athlete????? Time ti wake up. Jon Jones's brothers are the smart ones obviously

What has being an elite athlete got to do with being able to take a beating

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I hate to break it to you, but the best athletes aren't wasting their time getting the shit beat out of them 3 times a year. They are busy winning in professional baseball, football, hockey......Do you not think Aaron Judge would not snap every heavyweights neck with a flick of his wrists if he got paid to do it?????? You guys actually think Roy Nelson is an elite athlete????? Time ti wake up. Jon Jones's brothers are the smart ones obviously

I have to ask, why does this come up all the time in MMA forums? I spend time in hockey, football, basketball, baseball, and even some soccer forums, and you never see people worrying about whether their sport has the best athletes in the world or not.

I tend to agree that the best athletes go to the higher paying, lower risk sports. Unfortunately by that criteria golf has by far the best athletes in the world; not only are the top golfers among the best paid guys in the world (and often the number one paid athlete in the world is in fact a golfer), but they've got one of the lowest risk sports in the world, which they can be competitive in long after most contact sport (or ball sports) athletes have retired.

Even more so, top players in other sports (Gretzky and Jordan immediately come to mind) play a lot of golf, and never come anywhere close to professional level - clearly the level of play in pro-golf is high enough that even extremely gifted people (see Gretzky and Jordan above) find it hard to emulate.

The conclusion is clear: golfer must have the best athletes in the world. But even more importantly, who cares? I find golf boring to watch (and frustrating to play), so I don't care if it has better athletes than the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, I'm not watching it. However, millions of people do watch golf - because everyone finds different things interesting and different things boring. Does it matter?

 

[snootylol]

Lol guys like Bisping might not be the best athlete but it takes a special type of human to stick with it and keep in the fight when taking a beating

Same with boxing

 

[Lawrence]

I hate to break it to you, but the best athletes aren't wasting their time getting the shit beat out of them 3 times a year. They are busy winning in professional baseball, football, hockey......Do you not think Aaron Judge would not snap every heavyweights neck with a flick of his wrists if he got paid to do it?????? You guys actually think Roy Nelson is an elite athlete????? Time ti wake up. Jon Jones's brothers are the smart ones obviously

Here you go.

Probowl lineman and future UFC hall of famer

Refrigerator Perry

 

[tehMoose]

Really?

 

[beastman]

MMA won't have better athletes until they get paid more.

It's so much more lucrative for a large fringe NFL player to attempt to stick around on an NFL practice squad then try to go to MMA.

 

[tasticles]

Who says they are the best athletes? I just appreciate they are willing to get their ads beat 3 times a year. There aren't that many volunteers

 

[erhnamdjinn]

He's kinda right though, the "best" athletes are spending their time getting multiple concussions and wrecking their joints.

you mean like NFL guys, I kinda get the A level athlete, but I respect what MMA fighters do, takes balls to get punched in the face for a living.

 

[ICEibuPROfen]

I hate to break it to you, but the best athletes aren't wasting their time getting the shit beat out of them 3 times a year. They are busy winning in professional baseball, football, hockey......Do you not think Aaron Judge would not snap every heavyweights neck with a flick of his wrists if he got paid to do it?????? You guys actually think Roy Nelson is an elite athlete????? Time ti wake up. Jon Jones's brothers are the smart ones obviously

But what about the fact that Roy Nelson can snap Aaron Judge's neck with the flick of his wrist...

 

[elbowsandwiches]

Really?

this