Age Statistics by Division (2013 vs. 2018)

[UFCLEGEND88]

At a high level, mma fighters compete like twice a year. I think that gives the old guys an advantage as well. Train smart and one can achieve longevity.

Things like regeneration abilities and resistance to injury are the first things to go. coupled with the fact that it isn't a sport based on running and jumping repeatedly, which wears down the body the most and requires the most youthful speed/and explosiveness.

Old guys can peform, just not week in week out. not 40-70 games a season. MMA is way more intricate and technical than people give it credit for. It's not 300lb men running into eachother with pads, the shear forces of which destroy even most young players who seem to miss entire seasons periodically.

 

[acannxr]

I'm not the guy who mentioned Brady and James, just chiming in on athletes lasting longer because of PEDs.

Just noticed, whoops <45>.

 

[Super Grover]

30+ is old in your mind, how old are you, meanwhile back in the real world that's still very young no matter how you cut it.

Sports is not the real world though. In sports 30 is old. Atheltic prime is basically 23-28ish. By 30 you are well into your decline phase.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Sports is not the real world though. In sports 30 is old. Atheltic prime is basically 23-28ish. By 30 you are well into your decline phase.

Mma isn't a purely athletic endeavour. Skill plays a huge part in it, maybe even more than athleticism and skill takes a long time to get.

 

[Guinness]

Sports is not the real world though. In sports 30 is old. Atheltic prime is basically 23-28ish. By 30 you are well into your decline phase.

Not in this day and age your not, athletes in general have more longevity with the advances in training and nutrition.

 

[Taric]

Athletes in ALL sports are sticking around longer thanks to nutrition and proper training techniques. Look at Tom Brady. Dude almost got a 6th ring. He is the GOAT and he's 40. Other basketball stars played until early 40s. I think LeBron will. Etc. Its different today. Back in the day, people trained differently. You'd be burned at age 30-32. Ala Fedor. Ala Tyson, etc.

QB play is different than it was years ago. There are new rules put in place to protect the QB that weren't there 10 years ago.
Quarterback is also a position that relies more on your intelligence than it does your athleticism. Reading a defensive scheme and exploiting it's weakness is vastly more important than being able to sling a ball at 60 mph like Patrick Mahomes.

Basketball is in the same kind of boat in that nearly half the points in the game come from fouls and free-throws nowadays.

 

[acannxr]

Not in this day and age your not, athletes in general have more longevity with the advances in training and nutrition.

PEDs and see below:

QB play is different than it was years ago. There are new rules put in place to protect the QB that weren't there 10 years ago.
Quarterback is also a position that relies more on your intelligence than it does your athleticism. Reading a defensive scheme and exploiting it's weakness is vastly more important than being able to sling a ball at 60 mph like Patrick Mahomes.

Basketball is in the same kind of boat in that nearly half the points in the game come from fouls and free-throws nowadays.

To add to your point, the NBA was a very different game in the 80s and 90s compared to today's tame set of rules.

 

[Lawrence]

I omitted the women's divisions due to the small sample size (i.e. Women's Featherweight only has 15 fighters in it, total).​

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Wow FlW and BW with a large amount of young fighters. Helps the division's longevity.

 

[dim_]

Number of Women's Featherweight fights in the UFC for 2017? 3.

Aside from Cyborg, all of her opponents were Bantamweights and not true Featherweights.

But I used world rankings because of how arbitrarily the UFC's rankings are handled.


The UFC has a long and documented history of recruiting male fighters with only 5 fights (many current/former champions) with only 1-2 years of experience, so what you're stating is a false narrative.

so why not do womens atomweight and strawweight

theres hundreds of fighters at those weights.

 

[BigMuffler]

so why not do womens atomweight and strawweight

theres hundreds of fighters at those weights.

AW? Not really, if you said FLW that would be more on point...

https://www.tapology.com/rankings/groups/current

AW depth is mythology based on what people think "should" be

 

[dim_]

AW? Not really, if you said FLW that would be more on point...

https://www.tapology.com/rankings/groups/current

AW depth is mythology based on what people think "should" be

you used tapology "rankings"



they are member generated and bear no relation to the actual number of fighters in each division




but anyway.. 150-400 is more than enough fighters to draw data from.. just admit you couldnt be arsed

 

[Thug Rose]

this does not indicate that mma athlete reach their athletic prime at an old age.
it just means that most fighters dont start training mma before their 20s / early 30s.

 

[BigMuffler]

you used tapology "rankings"



they are member generated and bear no relation to the actual number of fighters in each division




but anyway.. 150-400 is more than enough fighters to draw data from.. just admit you couldnt be arsed

I'm not the TS, I was pointing out it's a fallacy to act like AW is one of the deeper women's divisions. If it was there wouldn't so many inexperienced fighters or fighters with poor records ranked in the top 10 on multiple lists.

 

[Deleted member 535377]

So, NOBODY is 30 years old?

 

[acannxr]

so why not do womens atomweight and strawweight

theres hundreds of fighters at those weights.

Perhaps you could cite your source for that number and database.

you used tapology "rankings"



they are member generated and bear no relation to the actual number of fighters in each division




but anyway.. 150-400 is more than enough fighters to draw data from.. just admit you couldnt be arsed

And as @BigMuffler already pointed out, he didn't compile this data and create this thread, I did.

What fighters did you use to compile this? I ask because I'd guess that using say the top 15 fighters only would give good insight into "prime" whereas using top 30 would give more of a look at longevity.

Interesting data and I wonder how it compares to say 6-8 years ago? It seems that the heavier divisions are currently pretty full of older, "past-their-prime" guys while the lighter weight classes have much more younger fresher talent. I wonder if the stats would support that gut feeling or if the numbers have always remained more or less like this?

Thanks for the thread TS!

Expanding the number to 30 fighters would in all likelihood increase the average age by a large margin; I wanted to examine the top echelon so I limited it to 15.

Five years ago the heavier divisions' ages would probably decrease slightly, but only because it would be the same fighters; Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, and Middleweight have an unhealthy amount of influx of new talent, which is why their ages are rising and the other divisions are remaining relatively unchanged (or in some cases getting younger).

this does not indicate that mma athlete reach their athletic prime at an old age.
it just means that most fighters dont start training mma before their 20s / early 30s.

Or it means that for some divisions (265, 205, 185) they're getting less new talent than other divisions, which doesn't bode well long-term.

 

[superpunch]

MMA is more of a skill based sport than football, etc. You can compensate for a slowdown with better technique. You can't really do that as much in football.

Also, not having to play every week helps a lot too. Federer looked like he was done a few years ago. Now, he's the #1 ranked player in the sport because he started selectively limiting his schedule.

 

[acannxr]

Thanks for the reply but...

First, can you answer my question about what fighters you used? What ranking list did you use to determine who would be included? (I do see you said it was based only on 15 fighters, but WHICH 15?)

As for the rest of your post, I find it too full of "in all likelihood's" and "would probably's" to be considered more than wild ass guesses.

I love the data behind things, and especially find the data of mma fascinating, however I don't generally like guesses and assumptions (especially when I don't think they're based on a solid foundation). That's why I asked about what the number would look like it compiled the same way but from 6-8 years earlier, which could prove/disprove your assertions "probably decrease slightly, but only because it would be the same fighters" and "which is why their ages are rising and the other divisions are remaining relatively unchanged (or in some cases getting younger)" and "they're getting less new talent than other divisions".

If you could provide the source you used for the list of fighters included, I or someone else, might be willing to compile the data from 6-8 years ago to compare. Otherwise we can only make assumptions about how things may have changed/stayed the same.

I used the rankings from FightMatrix; I'll compare the numbers from previous years later tonight.

 

[Paladin]

I omitted the women's divisions due to the small sample size (i.e. Women's Featherweight only has 15 fighters in it, total).​

The athleticism needed in the lower weight classes is higher, and athleticism goes with age

 

[acannxr]

@MastiffMike - I compiled the data on each division from 5 years ago and updated the first post accordingly; the UFC didn't have a Flyweight champion until the end of 2012, so it probably wouldn't have been a good comparison if I went back any further than that.

Here's the new data, for your convenience:​

​

Notes:
-All divisions' average age have increased, except Bantamweight and Flyweight which actually got younger.
-All divisions have less fighters who are younger than 30 ranked in the top 15 with the exception Bantamweight, which has more than what it did in 2013.

My inferences about the heavier weight classes appears to be fairly accurate.