Robert Whittaker wins GQ Sportsman of the Year

I said it’s harder to make it to the top in football vs. MMA. Not that football is harder on the body.

How many little boys grow up trying to be Messi? How many boys grow up trying to be Withaker?

It’s not even close.
Cricket is more popular than soccer, so I guess it's also hardest to compete, because around 5% of world population plays soccer, and cricket is played by around 7%.
It doesn't work like that. Soccer players earn biggest money because it's most popular sport, you can say same about nfl, nba, they are popular, they make more money, it's very simple and it has nothing to do with numbers of players or how hard is sport.
 
Both Ronaldo and Messi have very underwhelming career in their national football teams. Ronaldo won European Championship once and that's it. Messi did nothing his whole career.
CR didn't even get to play in that final bro. Messi saved Argentina's ass from humlilation by getting them to the last world cup. They didn't do anything for him in return. Another stupid decision yet again by the Argentine Football Association by appointing a useless has-been in Sampaoli - old players, 15 different lineups in 15 games, Meza over Dybala/Pavon. I think we should give both of them a break.
 
CR didn't even get to play in that final bro. Messi saved Argentina's ass from humlilation by getting them to the last world cup. They didn't do anything for him in return. Another stupid decision yet again by the Argentine Football Association by appointing a useless has-been in Sampaoli - old players, 15 different lineups in 15 games, Meza over Dybala/Pavon. I think we should give both of them a break.
Well It's not attack on them, I was just comparing stars from old days to new era like Ronaldo or Messi, and you could see main reason old ones were stars it was because of World Cup, watched by whole world. These days whole world can watch every league, everyday, in every place on earth, that's why Messio and Ronaldo who were not sucessfull with national teams ( Ronaldo had one sucess) can be big stars these days.
There is comparison to boxing etc. because way media were working 30 years ago was reason why like I said Tyson was able to be bigger star than Jordan.
These days no american boxer will be bigger than Lebron.
 
Good! Whittaker deserves it 100%. Such a great guy. Go, Whittaker!
 
It is GQ Australia so maybe there's a bit of home bias, he wouldn't get anywhere near the GQ US or GQ UK sportsman of the year.

Good for Whittaker though that the Aussies recognise him, Jeff Horn won in in 2017.
 
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Bobby class act
 
Cool vid congrats to the Reaper.

I am confused about this event did more mma fighters get awards?
 
Sorry Dutchy but a sport that anyone can play doesn't make it hard.

But getting to the very top is much harder as you're competing against a lot more people.

Being the best MMA fighter in the UFC is a bit like being the best footballer in London in terms or participation levels (this may not be factually correct but you should be able to see the point there are 11 full time clubs so say a squad of 30 at each and that's 330 players, including the women that's another 90, how many fighters are signed to the UFC? More or less than 420?). There are 10's of thousands of full time professional footballers in the world but there probably aren't even 1k full time MMA pros in the world.

Just in the UK you have 110 full time pro football clubs so that's something like 3.5k players (and another 300 women) and there are even more semi-pro's who get paid to play in addition to having a job.
 
Your inability to keep up with us is too obvious. You tried calling me out and you got your shit pushed in. Go kick a ball, its easy.
"Got your shit pushed in". Then why did you not counter any of my arguments? Only you and your little boyfriend think you actually "won" something here.
 
Statistics, you can't see difference between harder competition and harder sport.
What will be more devastating for body: years of playing soccer or years of grinding, fighting. Where is more risk for health etc.
Ultramaraton is harder than maraton, and it's harder sport, but marathon has greater and harder competition, what exactly is hard here to understand?
I don't disagree with you there, but you're still not countering my argument. Simply because that was not what I claimed. I claimed that to MAKE it to the top of football is harder than to make it to the top of MMA. I never said anything about how good or bad it is for your body.

And yes, to make it to the top of marathon competition IS harder if way more people are competing in that than in ultra-marathons. It's just harder to to be better at football than 99% of the population, than it is to be better at MMA than 99% of the population. Why is that? Because most people have never even done any martial arts, but many people have at least some skills in football. Level of competition = everything. That's why Ronda being the best didn't mean as much as a Ronaldo or Messi being the best. Obviously for male MMA it's closer, but the gap is still very much there.
 
Cricket is more popular than soccer, so I guess it's also hardest to compete, because around 5% of world population plays soccer, and cricket is played by around 7%.
It doesn't work like that. Soccer players earn biggest money because it's most popular sport, you can say same about nfl, nba, they are popular, they make more money, it's very simple and it has nothing to do with numbers of players or how hard is sport.
If your stats are correct than being in the top 1% of cricket players is harder than being in the top 1% of football players. To be 'superb' at something, you have to be better than others, there's no way to judge performance without competition. It's always relative.

As an extreme example, if only 1 person competes in a sport, then he's the best. It doesn't mean much though. Now imagine coming first in a sport in which 100.000 people compete. Surely that's harder to do, regardless of which sports you take.
 
I said it’s harder to make it to the top in football vs. MMA. Not that football is harder on the body.

How many little boys grow up trying to be Messi? How many boys grow up trying to be Withaker?

It’s not even close.
you're making a different argument than he was making. and arguing it hard.
 
If your stats are correct than being in the top 1% of cricket players is harder than being in the top 1% of football players. To be 'superb' at something, you have to be better than others, there's no way to judge performance without competition. It's always relative.

As an extreme example, if only 1 person competes in a sport, then he's the best. It doesn't mean much though. Now imagine coming first in a sport in which 100.000 people compete. Surely that's harder to do, regardless of which sports you take.

yeah but you can't compare sports like that, you need basicly only ball to train soccer (and ofc some coaching), because it's not complicated sport;

you can't learn martial arts by yourself, you need good trainers or coaches, so it's not only about numbers of people who train some sport.

what will be harder? being top soccer player or polo player? acces to one discipline is basicly unlimited, 2nd is sport of elites because you need horse and a lot of money to train it;

same with mma and soccer; how many coaches do you need to properly train mma? few at least;

there's reason why american are not succesfull soccer players, its middle sport class in USA, and you need money to train soccer, when in other countries it's cheap and for ghetto people;

so in my opinion it's very hard to say where competiotion is really tougher, I would say mma is officially trained by 5000 people who are offcially fighters, and we got like 500 mln people doing soccer, so what? being world champion in soccer will be 100.000 harder than being champion in mma? numbers are not everything ...process of forming elite fighters is way more complicated than making elite soccer player and even elite soccer players are often technically very flawed (Aubameyang my favourite example) and often relies on speed than some technique, and when speed is gone they often are not that good anymore (Owen, Rooney), same will happen to Mbappe.

At the end of the day how many people are gifted enough physically to be HW champion of the world (boxing or mma)? Not many, so it's not even about numbers, at start you can eliminate 99% of people from HW talent pool,so how exactly it's easy for avarge Joe to be HW champion - it's f..ing almost impossible.
Soccer is game where you can be 5'6'' and still very succesfull, because rules will protect you. 5'6'' can be only be succesfull in fighting because they invented weight classes, that's why they brainwash people with p4p rnakings - HW champion is best p4p.
At start - ancient greece - there was only one weigthclass - open. So for most of history combat sports were limited to biggest and baddest and able to fight. and talent of pool is very limited for that, doesn't mean it's very easy to be champ in combat sports.
 
He was star before, French League, and it's not like his talent exploded during World Cup. But see he already is World Cup winner and ask kids who is biggest star Messi or Mbappe? :)
He was a star yes but he shined at the best possible time and imo is much bigger than before the world cup.
But getting to the very top is much harder as you're competing against a lot more people.

Being the best MMA fighter in the UFC is a bit like being the best footballer in London in terms or participation levels (this may not be factually correct but you should be able to see the point there are 11 full time clubs so say a squad of 30 at each and that's 330 players, including the women that's another 90, how many fighters are signed to the UFC? More or less than 420?). There are 10's of thousands of full time professional footballers in the world but there probably aren't even 1k full time MMA pros in the world.

Just in the UK you have 110 full time pro football clubs so that's something like 3.5k players (and another 300 women) and there are even more semi-pro's who get paid to play in addition to having a job.
Combat sports are harder than normal sports. If we are playing the numbers game then what you are saying proves the point. If most people can play soccer then its an easier sport. It will be an unpopular truth because most of the world plays it but fact is MMA takes more than just skill and you know that.
"Got your shit pushed in". Then why did you not counter any of my arguments? Only you and your little boyfriend think you actually "won" something here.
You're like a battered girl that keeps going back to the abusive ex. You have been dissected like the rat you are and proven wrong by Kuka and I.
you're making a different argument than he was making. and arguing it hard.
That motherfucker keeps trying to ice skate uphill.
yeah but you can't compare sports like that, you need basicly only ball to train soccer (and ofc some coaching), because it's not complicated sport;

you can't learn martial arts by yourself, you need good trainers or coaches, so it's not only about numbers of people who train some sport.

what will be harder? being top soccer player or polo player? acces to one discipline is basicly unlimited, 2nd is sport of elites because you need horse and a lot of money to train it;

same with mma and soccer; how many coaches do you need to properly train mma? few at least;

there's reason why american are not succesfull soccer players, its middle sport class in USA, and you need money to train soccer, when in other countries it's cheap and for ghetto people;

so in my opinion it's very hard to say where competiotion is really tougher, I would say mma is officially trained by 5000 people who are offcially fighters, and we got like 500 mln people doing soccer, so what? being world champion in soccer will be 100.000 harder than being champion in mma? numbers are not everything ...process of forming elite fighters is way more complicated than making elite soccer player and even elite soccer players are often technically very flawed (Aubameyang my favourite example) and often relies on speed than some technique, and when speed is gone they often are not that good anymore (Owen, Rooney), same will happen to Mbappe.

At the end of the day how many people are gifted enough physically to be HW champion of the world (boxing or mma)? Not many, so it's not even about numbers, at start you can eliminate 99% of people from HW talent pool,so how exactly it's easy for avarge Joe to be HW champion - it's f..ing almost impossible.
Soccer is game where you can be 5'6'' and still very succesfull, because rules will protect you. 5'6'' can be only be succesfull in fighting because they invented weight classes, that's why they brainwash people with p4p rnakings - HW champion is best p4p.
At start - ancient greece - there was only one weigthclass - open. So for most of history combat sports were limited to biggest and baddest and able to fight. and talent of pool is very limited for that, doesn't mean it's very easy to be champ in combat sports.
Another good post. People shit on HW because no one seems to stay champ for very long. Thats not the skill set of fighters its the fact that one punch with their little gloves can put you out. You dont see soccer players talking like retards in 20 years time, in combat sports you do. Dealing with constant brain trauma while trying to maintain composure and inflict damage while not gassing is much much harder than running and kicking and picking your passes. I dont think some of the people in this thread have ever been rocked, sparred hard or even been in a fight before.
 
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