A Staggering Statistic about Age in MMA.

It depends on the context. I don't often see people say a fighter is young, when 30, if they are talking about his physical age. But I have seen it been said when a fighter does something stupid and refer to the immaturity of it, in which case 30 is still young looking at the average life span.
 
Interesting statistic, but not mind-blowing. MMA prime is between 28 and 32 depending on wear and tear.
 
ILove4MinutesHyuna said:
Khabib beat the game. He got out at 32, which is 3 years earlier then the magic number, but remember he was fighting since he was kid, and had multiple knee surgeries. His millage and wear and tear was probably more of that of a 35 year old.

It sucks he had that knee injury after he beat Dos Anjos that basically set him back from fighting for a title for 3 years.
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It also help that the first 15 guys he fought were literally bums. So he didn't lose much physically against them lol
 
I don't damage is a better prescuser in Combat Sports than Age.
 
moreorless87 said:
I think a significant issue as well is the greater depth of the lower divisions means its harder to avoid quality comp who are in their physical prime than it is in the higher weight classes, HW especially in the last decade.
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I agree that's a factor, but the speed/reflexes is also a big part of it. And the fact that an older MW/LHW/HW with an iron chin and KO power can still still pretty well (Yoel, Hendo, etc. though they never won a UFC belt).
 
HOLA said:
Manny Pacquio became champ at 146 pounds (or something like that) when he was 40 years old. Mayweather was champ at the same weight when he was 38.

Juan Manuel Marquez was like 39 when he KO'd Pacquio. Technically that fight wasn't for a title, but Pacquio was obviously a top guy there.
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A few exception in one boxing weight division (with 100 years of boxing history) doesn't negate anything I said. Weak competition can cause situations like that, where the best fighters by far are older. If you put old version of Mayweather and Pacquio in the early 80s with the likes of prime Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns, they wouldn't be holding belts.
 
This makes me super excited to see a 36 year old cejudo return vs Aljo.
 
HuskySamoan said:
I just heard Luke Thomas claim that there's been 30 times in UFC history where a fighter age 35 or older at 170lbs or lower, so from Welterweight to Flyweight fought in a title bout and do you know what the win/loss record is for them apparently? 2 out of 30, that's right, they lost 28 out of 30 times. I think MMA fans don't understand what a fighters prime is or how significant age is. I hear so often "he's only 36" or that a 30 year old is "young" with "plenty of time", no guys, not really.

So here's a fun fact to check. I haven't done the leg work to confirm it but it sounds right, when I compiled the data of every champions age when they won the title and lost the title and created averages...The highest average for the age of a champion when losing the title of any division was Heavyweight and it was roughly 34 years old. The claim that "the heavier weight divisions age slower" I wholeheartedly agree with but I think people fail to mention another huge driving factor why that is, it's because those divisions are incredibly shallow compared to 170lbs and lower.

Credit to Alexander Volkara France of Twitter.

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HW is also less about speed and more about knocking someone's head clean off. Power is the last thing to go in someone's arsenal.
 
ineverpost said:
HW is also less about speed and more about knocking someone's head clean off. Power is the last thing to go in someone's arsenal.
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Power and chin. If your chin goes (which can happen with wear/age and happens to some fighters much sooner than others), you won't have much success at HW....unless you face a bunch of other point fighter or can beat everyone with wrestling. I'm surprised more HWs don't just go head hunting when they fight Arlvoski. This is a guy who got KO'd by Datsik and Brett Rogers when he was much younger.
 
The fact that it's "staggering" to MMA fans that 36yo is old is what's actually staggering.
 
djacobox372 said:
The fact that it's "staggering" to MMA fans that 36yo is old is what's actually staggering.
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I know, right?

It started when Couture came back and won. Suddenly dumbshit fans started saying things like "Like OMG he's 34 and lost, and Couture proved anyone can win at 40...." And then it got worse with Hendo.

As if the exceptions that prove the rule suddenly became the ruler we measure everyone by.
 
mkt said:
Who fought at LHH and HW. Reading comp 101, man. I've been saying the same thing for a long time. There's never been a champ at LW or below who's older than 33. The same is true in boxing. You'll find some older guys who have done well in heavier weight classes (Foreman, Hopkins) but no 40-year olds beating everyone at flyweight. A small loss in speed/reflexes is huge at the lighter weight classes.

Look at all the LWs who suddenly declined around age 32: BJ, Bendo, Aldo (though a FW), Gilbert Melendez, Pettis, etc. Anyone who thought 40-year old Bendo had any chance in his last fight was delusional.
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how old was Mayweather when he gave up all the belts and decided to do only money fights?
 
SeattleFightFan said:
I know, right?

It started when Couture came back and won. Suddenly dumbshit fans started saying things like "Like OMG he's 34 and lost, and Couture proved anyone can win at 40...." And then it got worse with Hendo.

As if the exceptions that prove the rule suddenly became the ruler we measure everyone by.
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what's irritating is how those people never acknowledge all of the "ehancements" these guys were on.
 
Pancake Sprawl said:
how old was Mayweather when he gave up all the belts and decided to do only money fights?
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I've addressed that elsewhere and never made the same precise claims for boxing. With over 100 years of history, you're going to have a few anomalies. My precise claim was about 155 and below in
MMA.
 
We've always known that age is a bigger factor in the lighter classes than it is in the heavier ones. Speed prob plays the biggest part in that.
 
Give them all a big raise! By all, I mean every fighter on the roster (except Colby).
 
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