At what age can we more or less agree you start to decline at?

after 35 but as other posters said it's about mileage first and formost.

35 is where i believe milage be damned, you wont be the guy you used to be
 
My decline started at 37. After a couple of years, I could still KO younger guys, but my speed and cardio wasn’t the same. The power, I believe, increased.
 
Not a professional athlete and my sport you can slowly Improve right into the 40s, unless you start really young or abuse gear

But I would say early mid 30s is the time when recovering gets much harder and also you lose a little speed

I used to squat, bench and deadlift multiple times a week and never had a problem. But now one heavy deadlift session every 2 weeks, 2 bench and squat sessions a week, one heavy and one for speed and I still find it harder to recover

So pretty much once your over 30, you are on a slippery slope and likely in your athletic peak. All your really doing is trying not to slide down the other side
 
Anderson took so little damage most of his career. He was super hard to hit clean. Eventually his reflexes slowed down, he started getting hit more. that was the end.
 
32-34 is when we really see things change for the worst.

28 seems like the peak age where athletic ability and skillset/experience intersect. Beyond that you're on a downward slide.
 
Time competing seems to matter more. Jon Jones is 33 but has clearly declined the past couple years while a guy like Romero looks the same as ever because he entered the sport late.
 
maybe gotta look at the ring age and how many wars you've been in
 
Lot's of all time great boxers couldn't buy a win after 32yo.
 
ClosetVitorFan said:
My dad was saying how he was able to play competitively well into his late 40s, just pick up basketball where he didnt feel much different than say 20 years prior. He says something happens when you approach 50. He says your reaction time is not the same. He says you see something happen and your brain says ok react and your body just doesnt match up with what your brain is telling you. My dad said like once he hit 49, he could sense and feel the decline and definitely by early 50s, you are completely changed.
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If that's true, your dad is a very rare case. In basketball, the decline starts earlier than in most sports. It's downhill for sure past the early 30's. The average age of an NBA player is 26. There are teams without a player over 30.

MMA is such a different deal than the other major sports, with people entering it at a later age, the impact of different styles on wear and tear, and the relative speed of competitors at different weight classes. Outside of the two heaviest weight classes, which are their own little world, 32-35 and it's going downhill.
 
ClosetVitorFan said:
Fighting professionally wise and in each division? I obviously think the heavier divisions allow for more longevity. Reason I bring this up, guys like Joe Benevidez who fight at 125 pounds, hes 36. Those lighter weight classes is a young mans game. Even at 155 with Tony Ferguson. Hes not the same. I think on average 35 is the age you gotta hang it up. LHW and HW you can fight into your 40s. Glover, Randy, Reem, etc. Even Anderson at 35 was still in his prime at MW. But that was during the steroid era. That changes everything. Just curious.
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Years spent training/fighting is a better determination of prime than a fighter's age, though age can be a factor depending on the division a fighter competes in.
 
You physically start declining around 30. It's just at this time fighters have more experience (10 years experience) and their skill is great so it's not noticable.

By 33-35 their physical decline will outweight their skill advantage and that's when we see fighters really decline.
 
Depends on many factors and therefore its different for each fighter. Ur chin will diminish and for some this happens faster than others based on their defence and how good their chin was at the start (rockhold's chin was solid but he had crap defence so it disentegrated while someone like hendo had a chin so great it was still decent when he was 46 and DC's has held up well since he's great defensively). It also depends on how injury prone u r (cain and cruz r the best examples) and how much u depend on athleticism which will decrease as u age (pettis declined fast due to this)
 
Oicho Throw said:
Probably more to do with the cocaine, alcoholism and repeated run-ins with the law than the ravages of father time, tbh,
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He's been fighting for almost 13 years now. No one's prime lasts that long.
 
This guy ran faster at 40 than when he was world champion.



Speed doesn’t have to go till you are in your 40’s really.
 
Depends on the person but I'd say it probably starts around 39-42 for certain freak atheletes, that havent abused their body to oblivion from long years of sweaty wrestling
 
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