A level athletes? Pft

[Rygu]

This point is irrelevant. Jim Hines was a sprinter. THEN he played the in the NFL and had a garbage career because it was a publicity stunt.

What about Tyreek Hill then?

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

Yall should check out the PED testings in place for NFL players and NBA. Its no USADA.

Im sure if some UFC hw went to the NFL they would look really good with "professional help and training"

all pro sports have equal amount of PED use

 

[george14]

Because those other sports rely on sports specific skills way more than athleticism, that's why they're not mentioned.

Having payed hockey and soccer my entire life, I disagree. I can't speak for baseball but I would agree with you there. Hockey is much like football, short bursts of athleticism and explosiveness. A big reason people don't look at hockey players that way is because they are covered in pads. Those guys are jacked af, trust me. Even the soft players like Jagr are super swole.

 

[Fraz]

Yet Ronaldo gets lightly bumped on the field and acts like he's been shot.

Nothing to do with athleticism. It's a form of cheating basically.

 

[george14]

What about Tyreek Hill then?

What is his 100m time?

Also, Ronaldo isn't even the fastest soccer player, just the most notable along with Messi. Theo Walcott was faster. My point is, there are A-level athletes everywhere. Not just the black guys.

 

[Te Huna Matata]

You don't think he had a fuckload of natural ability there in conjunction with good supplements?

 

[Clocop]

They're all just genetic freaks that's what rogan told me

On a semi-related note, isn't funny how everyone's genetics just got worse after USADA?
Crazy coincidence

 

[Jim Gilmore]

Yall should check out the PED testings in place for NFL players and NBA. Its no USADA.

They make take a boatload of PEDs, but that is not why they are considered A-level athletes.

They are put in a pipeline as kids because they show outlier athleticism. Then they are weeded out even more in High School and then College and by the time you get to the NFL/NBA you are in the 99th percentile of human athleticism (excluding offensive linemen).

There is a vast difference between those athletes and the plumbers and tradesmen that make up the UFC roster.

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

A level is a sport where any amount of crazy physical exertion happens. How many fat basketball players are there? In NFL there are positions filled just by giant fat dudes to act as a human wall on the offensive or defensive line. Baseball has fatties as pitchers. Games like basketball, soccer, hockey, swimming, etc. Zero fatties. MMA only has fatties because of Heavyweight and the crack down on peds. Back in Pride most heavyweights weren't fat. They were muscle bound monsters. Even the fat guy Fedor was SOLID. He had cardio. That dela rocha fight was pathetic. It's hard to find good heavyweights these days. But the good ones are usually in shape like Stipe. Negnou is a 1 round fighter. Lol. Then gasses.

 

[Rygu]

What is his 100m time?

Also, Ronaldo isn't even the fastest soccer player, just the most notable along with Messi. Theo Walcott was faster. My point is, there are A-level athletes everywhere. Not just the black guys.

9.98 I believe.

 

[Erratic]

Yes, most of those guys are geared up out of their minds.

But no amount of gear is gonna get someone to run as fast as a Dion Sanders, Bo Jackson or a Randy Moss.

Gareth bale out ran bo jackson, and hes just a soccer player on 0 gear at all, meanwhile bo was on everything under the sun. Gareth bale isnt the fastest at all btw, just saying he outran jackson and no one calls Bale some super athlete.

 

[Erratic]

Basically NFL is a sport for sprinters that can't compete with real sprinters C level sprinters.

Then we have athletic phenoms like this guy whos a top 5 in his role, and is as athletic as a box of potatoes

 

[ramair455]

I'm an American, but I think Americans have this flawed sense of "athleticism". For whatever reason, hockey, baseball, and soccer players are rarely included. It seems as if you have to play in the NFL or NBA to be an "A level athlete". Wayne Gretzky was drafted or signed by the Toronto Blue Jays I believe. Joe Mauer had a full ride to be Nebraska's QB and was all-state in basketball. People just choose the big muscular guys and label them A level. Plenty of those guys have very little stamina, which is a part of athleticism. Cristiano Ronaldo is ripped to shreds and almost beat a Olympic sprinter in a 60m race.

A true A level athlete to me is someone like Lesnar. D1 National Champion wrestler, UFC HW Champ, made the Vikings without having played football for like 10 years. For his size, he has one of the craziest combine numbers you will ever see: 40 yard - 4.7, Vertical - 35 in, Bench - 30 reps....at 285 lbs. That's outrageous.

"cloaked" racist post

 

[Siesta]

Yall should check out the PED testings in place for NFL players and NBA. Its no USADA.

Im sure if some UFC hw went to the NFL they would look really good with "professional help and training"

If they could’ve made the NFL, they wouldn’t have started MMA.

 

[560ti]

A level for sure. If they aren’t nobody is. The only thing people get confused is they think other athletes aren’t. Dudes like gsp woodley Overeem koschek stipe ect are definitely high level athletes. Athletics go beyond just speed and strength.

This.

Demian Maia deadlifts almost 3x his bodyweight, runs a sub 5 minute mile, has ungodly flexibility, and trains a high contact sport 25 to 30 hours a week (hes literally stronger, faster, tougher and more flexible then 99.9% of the population in all of those categories).

Yet people on sherdog act like he's a weekend warrior dad who gets on the elliptical at the local ymca...........

 

[GBJohn]

It has always seemed to me that some here on Sherdog equate physique with athleticism. Discounting the athleticism of NFL linemen because they are fat is a mistake. Warren Sapp was a freakish athlete with the physique of the Pillsbury Doughboy. The same goes for Sumo wrestlers. They are generally hugely fat, yet are capable of incredible feats of explosiveness and flexibility for their size.
Conversely, there are tons of people out there who have great physiques but are not great athletes. I had a roommate in the service who was thin but shredded, while I was flirting with my max allowable weight. I could roll off the couch and run him into the ground over any kind of distance.

As for athleticism in MMA, I read an article by some physiologist who postulated that MMA requires the most complete athleticism of any sport. To be the best requires strength, speed, cardio, flexibility, and anaerobic endurance. Most sports require a combination of some of those attributes, very few require all of them. One of the things that intriques me about MMA is seeing fighters find ways to maximize the areas where they excel and minimize those where they are weak.

 

[CastletonSnob]

Track and field has the best athletes.

 

[superpunch]

I'm an American, but I think Americans have this flawed sense of "athleticism". For whatever reason, hockey, baseball, and soccer players are rarely included. It seems as if you have to play in the NFL or NBA to be an "A level athlete". Wayne Gretzky was drafted or signed by the Toronto Blue Jays I believe. Joe Mauer had a full ride to be Nebraska's QB and was all-state in basketball. People just choose the big muscular guys and label them A level. Plenty of those guys have very little stamina, which is a part of athleticism. Cristiano Ronaldo is ripped to shreds and almost beat a Olympic sprinter in a 60m race.

A true A level athlete to me is someone like Lesnar. D1 National Champion wrestler, UFC HW Champ, made the Vikings without having played football for like 10 years. For his size, he has one of the craziest combine numbers you will ever see: 40 yard - 4.7, Vertical - 35 in, Bench - 30 reps....at 285 lbs. That's outrageous.

Take any NFL or baksetball player and have him play soccer from a young age -- he's going to be a world class player.

 

[Lilly Hannah]

I'm an American, but I think Americans have this flawed sense of "athleticism". For whatever reason, hockey, baseball, and soccer players are rarely included. It seems as if you have to play in the NFL or NBA to be an "A level athlete". Wayne Gretzky was drafted or signed by the Toronto Blue Jays I believe. Joe Mauer had a full ride to be Nebraska's QB and was all-state in basketball. People just choose the big muscular guys and label them A level. Plenty of those guys have very little stamina, which is a part of athleticism. Cristiano Ronaldo is ripped to shreds and almost beat a Olympic sprinter in a 60m race.

A true A level athlete to me is someone like Lesnar. D1 National Champion wrestler, UFC HW Champ, made the Vikings without having played football for like 10 years. For his size, he has one of the craziest combine numbers you will ever see: 40 yard - 4.7, Vertical - 35 in, Bench - 30 reps....at 285 lbs. That's outrageous.

Gimme a break, It's mostly because US soccer players are rejects that either washed out of mainstream sports, or were not allowed to play them because too many 'city kids' were on the teams. Far as hockey, anyone with a brain knows many of them are elite. Seems like you are reaching to discredit players of certain sports, which reeks of agenda.

 

[xentreos]

They make take a boatload of PEDs, but that is not why they are considered A-level athletes.

They are put in a pipeline as kids because they show outlier athleticism. Then they are weeded out even more in High School and then College and by the time you get to the NFL/NBA you are in the 99th percentile of human athleticism (excluding offensive linemen).

There is a vast difference between those athletes and the plumbers and tradesmen that make up the UFC roster.

For people calling linemen in the nfl unathletic you’re nuts. I had a buddy who played football for ndsu (D1) and he showed me a video of there 315pound 6’7 tackle do a standing backflip and ran a 4.9 forty lazer time and could dribble a basketball with a post game to go with it and could dunk with ease. He washed out of the nfl.