Athletecism again

[Valhoven]

DC is a great athlete but he doesn't look athletic.

Although a big fan of Cormier's, I cannot argue against this.

 

[Project 86]

Agree with the names being thrown in here but for all your guys saying Maia:

I'm with you on him not being Lesnar, Ibrahimović or Marshawn Lynch calibre but his grappling credentials getting to this point aren't characteristic of someone nonathletic, or rather a "poor athlete"; they're in fact freaking awesome.

Is "a great athlete" the right term here? Demian is a great athlete, I reckon. He can be boring AF when he's playing backpack but that doesn't make him any less athletic.

Hunt by my understanding is what I think of as a "poor athlete" and more an MMA phenomenon. But here, Hunt and Maia are grouped together? That doesn't do either justice.

imo he is not a great athlete but he has great technique and fundamentals

compare maia to jacare for example of athleticism

 

[Curly Peibce]

Krazy Horse is or was all athleticism over technique he pretty much squandered it as we all know though.

 

[Valhoven]

imo he is not a great athlete but he has great technique and fundamentals

compare maia to jacare for example of athleticism

First of all, I think Souza looks like a bad MF and one of those guys that just seeing him indicates his being a labourer, athlete etc, whereas @papasmurf999 points out how the opposite is true in cases like Cormier. Maia...never met the guy, but probably looks more on the non-athlete side.

So you take no issue with, f.ex., MVP, Belfort and Souza in TS' athlete group while Maia finds peerage with the likes of Hunt, Nelson and Holloway? Can't agree with that myself.

To be world-class in any sport demands athleticism; I just don't see another way about it. I feel people look at Maia through a narrow lens as if thinking the sum of Michael Jordan was his baseball career.

This was why I argued earlier that the framework good/bad athlete doesn't paint an accurate picture of these guys. TS wants to know if you can be top 10 without being a great athlete; going by my own definition of that, I say no, but if you think Maia is not an athlete, then for you, your answer is yes.

As a side note, I think one can however reach gatekeeper calibre even today with intangibles like discipline, diet, IQ etc.

We've talked Florian here but is Bader a "good athlete" to you or no? Because he's a workhorse in camp and out while also "looking" by all accounts like an athlete but has some of the worst fight IQ I can think of at present.

Spoiler

BTW, P86 the band? I still listen to the Drawing the Lines LP.

 

[Project 86]

First of all, I think Souza looks like a bad MF and one of those guys that just seeing him indicates his being a labourer, athlete etc, whereas @papasmurf999 points out how the opposite is true in cases like Cormier. Maia...never met the guy, but probably looks more on the non-athlete side.

So you take no issue with, f.ex., MVP, Belfort and Souza in TS' athlete group while Maia finds peerage with the likes of Hunt, Nelson and Holloway? Can't agree with that myself.

To be world-class in any sport demands athleticism; I just don't see another way about it. I feel people look at Maia through a narrow lens as if thinking the sum of Michael Jordan was his baseball career.

This was why I argued earlier that the framework good/bad athlete doesn't paint an accurate picture of these guys. TS wants to know if you can be top 10 without being a great athlete; going by my own definition of that, I say no, but if you think Maia is not an athlete, then for you, your answer is yes.

As a side note, I think one can however reach gatekeeper calibre even today with intangibles like discipline, diet, IQ etc.

We've talked Florian here but is Bader a "good athlete" to you or no? Because he's a workhorse in camp and out while also "looking" by all accounts like an athlete but has some of the worst fight IQ I can think of at present.

Spoiler

BTW, P86 the band? I still listen to the Drawing the Lines LP.

i look at maia and see someone who is very slow,throws sloppy uncoordinated takedown attempts,no explosion,etc. great technique horrible athleticism

 

[eiyuu]

Question: Can you still be a top ten fighter without being a great athlete?
I know people here like to say that mma fighter aren't A-level athlete but we al know that they are certainly much (to say the least) athletic than the average guy.
I know that the growth of rugby brought the sport from being a tough sport but played by all sorts of guys to being a sport played by bloody freaks. Some say the sport has lost in spectacularity while other like it. I just think it's lost diversity in it's growth.
I ask myself if mma is the same. If fighters like lidel, forrest o the nogueira brothers could still be top fighters (not saying they are/were couch potatoes)?
I accept and even like the growth of the sport but i kind of lost some of its romaniticism

You need to be a fighter 1st and athletic 2nd.

 

[aus101]

Well the post was about athleticism. And he was a top fighter who doesn't seem very athletic. Hw is different cause as long as you have power you can be a contender. Mark hunt now comes to mind as well. And Tim Sylvia

What makes Hunt a terrible athlete? Samoan's are only a few generations removed from being tribal savages.

Their bodies still retain this fighting ancestry, being mostly huge and fearsome in hand to hand. They make up my countries best athletes, filling out rugby teams etc (the best rugby playing country by far is another pacific island country, New Zealand, whose Maori denizens are literally Uruk hai, well, they portrayed them in Lotr.)

I guess hunt isn't a particularly athletic Samoan specimen, he is likely natural however.

These are some of the athletic Samoans. Imagine hunts power but on a 6'4 frame and shredded. Sonny bill Williams and Israel Falou, two of the worlds best rugby union players (but they are both world class level in 3+ sports, league, union and 7's and league, union and AFL respectively.)

Here's Falou with some Samoan brothers, the rock and his 6'8 teammate Will Skelton (yet another Samoan member of Australia's top rugby union team).

They're all monsters.