Belal Started Training at 23

[gracie_barra_samurai]

I thought he was wrestling all the way through school and college but he said he only did 2 years in high school.

To be fair, that's pretty impressive. An achievement up there with GSP being able to get his MMA wrestling so good despite never wrestling as a kid.

It makes sense how he peaked so late.

 

[Luthien]

I'm coming around on Belal. I hope that he smashes more haters like with Leon

 

[Kwic]

I'm coming around on Belal. I hope that he smashes more haters like with Leon

Yup, since Dana probably hates Belal as champ I now kind of want to see him keep winning.

 

[Ube]

It’s mma, lots of fighters start training later in life compared to other sports where athletes start in childhood. Modern MMA as we know it is about as old as Belal.

 

[gracie_barra_samurai]

It’s mma, lots of fighters start training later in life compared to other sports where athletes start in childhood. Modern MMA as we know it is about as old as Belal.

It's rare for a current champ to start consistent combat sports training at that age. I don't even think that's possible in WMMA anymore.

 

[Benoitthegr8]

Being slightly older than drinking age is a strong base for UFC

 

[Ube]

It's rare for a current champ to start consistent combat sports training at that age. I don't even think that's possible in WMMA anymore.

Yeah I agree, but point being, MMA is one of the sports where you can still start “late”and have some kind of respectable career.

Soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. even if you started at 15, a lot of your competitors would already be 8-9 years ahead of you.

 

[nostradumbass]

Wrestling 2 years of high school means he started training at 16, not 23. He probably meant training full time since that's about the age he turned pro.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Theres soooo many guys not as driven as “what’s his face”



He is clearly motivated to continue to get better and better, and hard work is not an obstacle

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

I thought he was wrestling all the way through school and college but he said he only did 2 years in high school.

To be fair, that's pretty impressive. An achievement up there with GSP being able to get his MMA wrestling so good despite never wrestling as a kid.

It makes sense how he peaked so late.

He would have done 4 but the coaches couldn't remember he was on the team.

 

[Araquém]

He didn't started wrestling in high school?

 

[DiazSlap]

Belal looks 47 today

 

[DiazSlap]

He would have done 4 but the coaches couldn't remember he was on the team.

They could not recall his name…

 

[Araquém]

Yeah I agree, but point being, MMA is one of the sports where you can still start “late”and have some kind of respectable career.

Soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. even if you started at 15, a lot of your competitors would already be 8-9 years ahead of you.

You have cases of guys who started to play basketball in their teenage years and made to the NBA. Football is one that you don't see guys who played for the first time in their teens in the major leagues or even below that

 

[AndrewGolota48]

You have cases of guys who started to play basketball in their teenage years and made to the NBA. Football is one that you don't see guys who played for the first time in their teens in the major leagues or even below that

It's rare but there have been many examples of this happening. Ezekiel Ansah for example didn't play a single second of football until his sophomore or junior year of college. Christian Okoye didn't start until 23 years old. Jordan Devey didn't play at all in high school, then went on a Mormon mission, and after that started football in college. I'm sure there are many more examples.

There are also many examples of NFL guys that played in high school, then didn't play in college at all, then went to the NFL anyway.

 

[AmonTobin]

Life experience is the best base for MMA.

 

[pick999]

Gsp did train a ton of grappling even though he wasn't a wrestler at first

 

[Araquém]

It's rare but there have been many examples of this happening. Ezekiel Ansah for example didn't play a single second of football until his sophomore or junior year of college. Christian Okoye didn't start until 23 years old. Jordan Devey didn't play at all in high school, then went on a Mormon mission, and after that started football in college. I'm sure there are many more examples.

There are also many examples of NFL guys that played in high school, then didn't play in college at all, then went to the NFL anyway.

I'm not talking about american football

 

[TJ Dillashank]

Guys who start training MMA really young like in other sports tend to not last very long. I guess thats whats happens when the sole purpose of the sport is to cause as much damage to your opponent as possible. I guess the consensus being primes are around 27-32 being alot older than other sports changes things aswell.

 

[BowserJr]

Yeah I agree, but point being, MMA is one of the sports where you can still start “late”and have some kind of respectable career.

Soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. even if you started at 15, a lot of your competitors would already be 8-9 years ahead of you.

True but that's also 8-9 more years of wear on the body.

I didn't understand why NBA players get injured so much more than before while the sport is way softer
There were less injuries when players was far more physical and there was less medical advances

It turns out that the most likely culprit is the fact that these athletes have so much more mileage on their joints.

Mileage is much more pronounced in combat sports since it is ultra physical and the consequences more dire.

That's how someone like DC and Couture could do well at a late age. Even though they wrestled the body and concussive wear/ tear is not the same