Too old to start MMA ?

[Pyreen]

A benefit about training late is that your body has a lot less wear and tear from the inevitable injuires that come with training. I know people who've had multiple back surgeries as a result of training while they were in their 20's.

Yeah but on the other hand the older you get the easier you hurt yourself and the longer you take to heal up. Im getting more and longer lasting injuries in my 30s even though I dont train nearly as hard as when I was younger.

To OP: It depends on your background too. If you have any kind of high level combat sports background, you should still be able to compete on a strong amateur or regional pro level. If MMA is more or less the first athletic activity you plan to take seriously, at 29, you most probably wont get past recreactional/smoker level, maybe get some fights in on the amateur circuit if you're naturally talented and your gym can get you some good matchups.

 

[Fluffernutter]

If Dexter Dunsworth can make his boxing pro debut at 51, you can do it!

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/397496

 

[JohnMandick]

PEDs = instant champion

 

[agibmxmma]

Hi there, my friend is 29 and he wants to start training mma. Do you guys think he is too old to start it ? are there known fighters who started mma around this age ? Or he should totally drop it ?

Thanks

I turned pro in 2013 at the age of 35.. just for shits and giggles, a hobby more or less, after having only 3 am fights and 7 smokers.. plan to fight mma until 40 or so. Elliott from TAM, the behind the scenes guy for Stud Show Radio, is 39 currently and still fights am and wants to fight once more at am before going pro.. he turns 40 next spring, I turn 40 next fall. It's never too late and most on here saying it's too late, have no clue.

 

[Ying Li]

Ahh I remember the late 20s dreams of being a teenager again, bad idea. After a year of roids the dick doesn't work the same.

 

[ticho123]

It's never too late to train, improve, get fit, have fun, but to become a top fighter at 29 with no prior martials training? Not likely. Unless your friend is some serious athlete crossing over from another physical sport he's probably not going anywhere. That doesn't mean he shouldn't train and even compete of course, just try to be realistic and take all the "nothing is impossible"-folks with a grain of salt. It's almost a cultural thing in martial arts to only encourage, because the discouragement comes by itself by getting your ass kicked in training.

 

[mkt]

Is the Silva you're talking about, Anderson? If so, he began training BJJ as a kid.

.

Actually Anderson trained in TKD as a kid. He started BJJ and other cross-training later, probably his late teens or early 20s.

 

[mkt]

What's your friend's goal? MMA as a hobby and maybe a few amateur fights? Maybe get good enough to do some regional fights? If he works hard and is reasonably athletic, that may be possible.

If he wants to get into a major org eventually, the odds are really low unless he already has a really strong background in wrestling, boxing, kickboxing or possibly a TMA.

 

[mkt]

Oh, and OP: if your "friend" is really you, you can go ahead and say that...

 

[Ruslan Gabe]

Nope, my friend is my best friend and he still doesnt have the guts to join the gym because of his age lol

 

[agibmxmma]

What's your friend's goal? MMA as a hobby and maybe a few amateur fights? Maybe get good enough to do some regional fights? If he works hard and is reasonably athletic, that may be possible.

If he wants to get into a major org eventually, the odds are really low unless he already has a really strong background in wrestling, boxing, kickboxing or possibly a TMA.

That's not true at all.. I'm 38, 2-1 and was contacted by Bellator to fight Pico at 183, I wasn't ready to fight at 155, being I fight at 135, but it's really where you train, who your manager is and the reputation and network your trainers have really. I work 50+ hrs a week, went pro at the age of 35, not be a champ or be in the ufc, but for fun. Yet, because of where I have trained and the relationships built, I have received offers from legit orgs, regardless of my age and record, during the past few yrs since going pro in mma. Regional and am cards are easy to get on, regardless of what the future goals are for anyone trying to compete in mma.

 

[agibmxmma]

Nope, my friend is my best friend and he still doesnt have the guts to join the gym because of his age lol

That tells me a lot right there.. fighting is mental, and if your buddy wants to possibly compete but is too scared to even head down to the gym, well he's proving to himself, that this isn't the career path or hobby for him in the end. One has to want to train, want to be the odd man out in the gym, etc.. because when new and telling a trainer you want to compete, he will get tested in many aspects, not just on the mat. Age shouldn't be your buddies deciding factor nor should it be a reason why he won't check out some gyms. Anyone telling you he can't go far, he's too old, him not having experience is no good for him, etc etc.. don't listen to them, as they truly have no clue in saying any of that. It's easy to say one is this and that because they themself can't do it, but there are many on the regional circuits that are succesful to a certain extent, that are his age and much older, that just started with no prior combat or martial arts experience, competing and evolving with the sport.

 

[Ruslan Gabe]

That tells me a lot right there.. fighting is mental, and if your buddy wants to possibly compete but is too scared to even head down to the gym, well he's proving to himself, that this isn't the career path or hobby for him in the end. One has to want to train, want to be the odd man out in the gym, etc.. because when new and telling a trainer you want to compete, he will get tested in many aspects, not just on the mat. Age shouldn't be your buddies deciding factor nor should it be a reason why he won't check out some gyms. Anyone telling you he can't go far, he's too old, him not having experience is no good for him, etc etc.. don't listen to them, as they truly have no clue in saying any of that. It's easy to say one is this and that because they themself can't do it, but there are many on the regional circuits that are succesful to a certain extent, that are his age and much older, that just started with no prior combat or martial arts experience, competing and evolving with the sport.

That`s exaclty what I told him !!!!!!!!!!

 

[agibmxmma]

That`s exaclty what I told him !!!!!!!!!!

Tell him to try it or he will live with the "whatifs" and wonder "what couldve been", had he simply tried it and either failed or succeeded. I had lost my last am fight to Chris Nolasco, I decided to turn pro at 35yrs old, ended up losing my my pro debut, but found a hobby and passion in doing so.. won my last two and if I can get my vacation from work I put in for, probably fighting in Nov on the Dragon House Cage Series Card in San Francisco next.

 

[Idonotbelieveit]

Many fighters his age have started at same age

But have martial arts background

 

[Idonotbelieveit]

Nope, my friend is my best friend and he still doesnt have the guts to join the gym because of his age lol

29?

Prime

 

[eseseses681]

Hi there, my friend is 29 and he wants to start training mma. Do you guys think he is too old to start it ? are there known fighters who started mma around this age ? Or he should totally drop it ?

Thanks

Go to the training sections. It's way better to ask people who actually train questions about anything related to training than a bunch of people who parrot things they've heard in passing watching MMA events and reading news articles.
The fact that so many people have put so much importance on "you'll never be a top-15 fighter unless it's a shitty division, but go ahead" is a testament to how little these people know. Yeah, that's what being a man is about... not following your dream and accepting a mediocre version of it if you do do it. Along with stuff like "if they come from an amateur wrestling background, then yeah", which's just such bullshit I'm not even gonna go into it. You don't have to have a six pack all your life to be able to do something athletic at a high level; it's just moronic to think otherwise.
Most people defeat themselves before they're ever defeated by anyone else, and that's the kind of mentality that a lot of these people have.

Nobita Naito didn't even start training until he was 23 (no martial arts background, no Kendo, no lifting weights, nothing), and he didn't make his pro debut until he was 28, and he's currently the top strawweight in the world (and, contrary to popular belief associated with the ignorance surrounding the smaller divisions, strawweight is a deceptively deep weight class and the talent at the top of the division is extremely legit and on par with many other divisions.)
Lyle Beerbohm didn't start training until he was 25 (he was a degenerate gangster before that, not really an athletic lifestyle like people preach about, with the exception of maybe being on the freshmen football team before dropping out of high school) and didn't make his pro debut until he was 27, and he got to be a top-20 lightweight, fought Shinya Aoki and Pat Healy, and beat fighters legends of this sport like Duane Ludwig, Vitor Shaolin and Marcus Aurelio.
Casey Suire didn't start training until he was in his 30s, and he didn't make his debut until he was 34. And before he died, he complied a respectable 6-2 record (and I think he had some boxing matches outside of his 1-0 Boxrec profile), and he was still improving even at 40. He might've wrestled before that in his youth, but he wasn't so physically active in the time between his wrestling and his shootfighting training that that really was the key factor.
Wasn't there a Crossfit champion that was an out-of-shape, non-athletic-lifestyle guy in his late-20's/early-30's before he started Crossfitting?
There're people who go from a Jiu-Jitsu white belt to a black belt in, like, 5 years just because they train so much and are so dedicated to learning. You can have that quality regardless of your age, and if you're a good grappler you have a GREAT chance at having success in this sport.

Fighting isn't Football or Hockey. It's not something you have to be involved in in a segmented hierarchy from the time you're 10 and work your way up through the educational leagues all your life for a chance to get well-known enough for a big team to contract you. You can do it any time you want, and if your heart's in it, you have as good a chance to take it to a high level as anyone else. If your heart's really in it, you can take anything way further than any of your detractors would've ever thought you could.
If you're, like, 50 that's another story, but being that old is the exception to anything, and 29 isn't.
Shit, you can still join the army and learn to kill people at 35 if you lived an obese sedentary lifestyle for the previous 34 years. You can learn to be a high-level killer, but learning to fight is out of the question...
The greatest talent anyone can have is a never-say-die attitude. Even Duane Ludwig-- remember, TJ Dillashaw's trainer?-- has said that that is more important than anything vague like "athleticism" or "fighting talent", and that quality is what separated TJ from the rest of the TAM guys. Miguel Torres has said the same thing.

 

[Rea_ctor]

I tried again at 29 a couple of years ago, was fine for a while then completely burnt out and I went from a crossfit background and was fit on paper, it's hard on the body, I was using muscles in my hips I didn't know I had, finished up with a shoulder issue and called it quits.
Good luck if you do it though it's fun.

 

[Ronin13]

Unless he's planning on making a career out of it, he'll no. If nothing else, he's learning great skills, meeting some pretty cool people, and getting a great workout. Maybe he'll wins some amateur fights if nothing else. You only live once. I trained at Ivan Salaverry's gym in Seattle when I turned 37 and had a blast. Yeah your not as fast and recover slower than the younger guys, but fuck it.

 

[agibmxmma]

Go to the training sections. It's way better to ask people who actually train questions about anything related to training than a bunch of people who parrot things they've heard in passing watching MMA events and reading news articles.
The fact that so many people have put so much importance on "you'll never be a top-15 fighter unless it's a shitty division, but go ahead" is a testament to how little these people know. Yeah, that's what being a man is about... not following your dream and accepting a mediocre version of it if you do do it. Along with stuff like "if they come from an amateur wrestling background, then yeah", which's just such bullshit I'm not even gonna go into it. You don't have to have a six pack all your life to be able to do something athletic at a high level; it's just moronic to think otherwise.
Most people defeat themselves before they're ever defeated by anyone else, and that's the kind of mentality that a lot of these people have.

Nobita Naito didn't even start training until he was 23 (no martial arts background, no Kendo, no lifting weights, nothing), and he didn't make his pro debut until he was 28, and he's currently the top strawweight in the world (and, contrary to popular belief associated with the ignorance surrounding the smaller divisions, strawweight is a deceptively deep weight class and the talent at the top of the division is extremely legit and on par with many other divisions.)
Lyle Beerbohm didn't start training until he was 25 (he was a degenerate gangster before that, not really an athletic lifestyle like people preach about, with the exception of maybe being on the freshmen football team before dropping out of high school) and didn't make his pro debut until he was 27, and he got to be a top-20 lightweight, fought Shinya Aoki and Pat Healy, and beat fighters legends of this sport like Duane Ludwig, Vitor Shaolin and Marcus Aurelio.
Casey Suire didn't start training until he was in his 30s, and he didn't make his debut until he was 34. And before he died, he complied a respectable 6-2 record (and I think he had some boxing matches outside of his 1-0 Boxrec profile), and he was still improving even at 40. He might've wrestled before that in his youth, but he wasn't so physically active in the time between his wrestling and his shootfighting training that that really was the key factor.
Wasn't there a Crossfit champion that was an out-of-shape, non-athletic-lifestyle guy in his late-20's/early-30's before he started Crossfitting?
There're people who go from a Jiu-Jitsu white belt to a black belt in, like, 5 years just because they train so much and are so dedicated to learning. You can have that quality regardless of your age, and if you're a good grappler you have a GREAT chance at having success in this sport.

Fighting isn't Football or Hockey. It's not something you have to be involved in in a segmented hierarchy from the time you're 10 and work your way up through the educational leagues all your life for a chance to get well-known enough for a big team to contract you. You can do it any time you want, and if your heart's in it, you have as good a chance to take it to a high level as anyone else. If your heart's really in it, you can take anything way further than any of your detractors would've ever thought you could.
If you're, like, 50 that's another story, but being that old is the exception to anything, and 29 isn't.
Shit, you can still join the army and learn to kill people at 35 if you lived an obese sedentary lifestyle for the previous 34 years. You can learn to be a high-level killer, but learning to fight is out of the question...
The greatest talent anyone can have is a never-say-die attitude. Even Duane Ludwig-- remember, TJ Dillashaw's trainer?-- has said that that is more important than anything vague like "athleticism" or "fighting talent", and that quality is what separated TJ from the rest of the TAM guys. Miguel Torres has said the same thing.

While I agree with most you said.. that "never say die attitude", def did not separate TJ from the rest at UF. That character trait is in abundance within that gym. Can't generalize based off what someone said in an interview that was biased to begin with.