Was Ken Shamrock MMA's first A-level athlete?

[Typrune Goatley]

If he qualifies I guess so.

Otherwise, It was Mark Coleman or Mark Kerr or Vitor Belfort

 

[Fyreborn]

Jon Jones was the first, and so far only, "A" level athlete in MMA.

Pretty sure Brock was more athletic than Jones.

Randleman I’d suspect was more athletic too, just not nearly as skilled.

 

[hugemmafan22]

All I know is that a lot of his fights in pancrase were as fake as pro wrestling and that he got almost beaten to death by Jerry Sags.

 

[flyingscissorsheelhook]

He was definitely a better athlete than most of the guys in the UFC from 93-96 but I don't know about A level.

Interesting fact about Shamrock is that he broke his neck in a wrestling accident in high school and needed very serious surgery. Would have been interesting to see how far he could have gone as an ameteur wrestler if that didn't happen.

He had a fucked up life. Interesting guy.

 

[Congo66]

He was as likely to be the first a-level athlete in the UFC as he is to ever have been the world's most dangerous man.