Funaki says fighters peak at 25-30.

[JacJeanFinger]

According to his take on health & sport science, Funaki says, men's best performances at fighting are achieved between the ages of 25 and 30.

"I personally reached summit of my career around 26 or 27. " And he retired at the age of 31

 

[JacJeanFinger]

Evan Tanner (35) vs Justin Levens (25) was given a ridiculous betting odds. It was like a fight between black belt against new blue belt. Based on their skills and abilities, Tanner should have been -800 but in fact he was -375 which was a steal.

I think odds makers either had no idea who they were or they considered their age difference.

 

[Ultra O’Dia]

id agree with that

 

[SandaKicker]

40 year old, former world champion in 100 metres sets his personal best time at 40.



This is not some guy who just took up the sport late and ran a decent fun run time.

 

[Yrat]

It depends of the weight class, the current heavyweight champion in UFC is 38 years old and his opponent will be 41 years old

 

[Falconkick]

Branko Cikatic knocked out Ernesto Hoost cold to win the first K1 World Grand Prix at 40 years old.

 

[Danespina]

This Is When Athletes Hit Their Peak

- For sprints, jumps, and throws, men and women hit their peak around 25 years of age.

- For sprint swimming events, men peak around 24 years and women peak at roughly 22 years. Endurance swimmers peak about a year earlier for both sexes.

- Male and female marathoners are at their best at ages 30 and 29, respectively.

- Male and female triathletes peak at 27-years-old.

- Men and women competing in the Ironman triathlon, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.2-mile run, are at their best at the ages of 32 and 34, respectively.

- Professional hockey players perform best between the ages of 27 and 28.

https://www.realclearscience.com/jo...s_is_when_athletes_hit_their_peak_109280.html

 

[JacJeanFinger]

Branko Cikatic knocked out Ernesto Hoost cold to win the first K1 World Grand Prix at 40 years old.

True, he was 38 then and we know Randy Couture was getting free bus rides when he beat Tim Silvia.

Some succeed before reaching maturity and others keep hanging in there after best days are long gone.

I kinda agree with Funaki on this.

 

[JacJeanFinger]

Masakatsu Funaki went to a national preparatory institution on special academic program that automatically forwards students to bachelor degree. He dropped out at 14 (officially 15) to pursuit his dream to be a prowretler and to set his working mother free.

He has a habit of acting like a professor and sometime confuses people with somewhat clueless lecture he gives out to the press and the audience.

People go......WTF.....Oh well, it's Funaki again....

 

[Mbetz1981]

I think damage accumulated counts for more than age, up to a point. Dan Severn started in his late 30s and had a very long career. Granted only the first few years of his career where at a high level, but to still have that many fights afterwards, probably was due to his training methods. Guys like Couture, Severn, etc, probably didn't bang their bodies up, like a lot of strikers do, not to mention Funaki and a lot of those guys came from Pro Wrestling, or Judo backgrounds, where taking bumps were common. On top of that...A lot of the Pancrase guys were fighting almost every month, which is going to be hell on your body.

 

[GangGangGang]

For the average fighter it's 27-32. That's including peak physical prime and mental/fight iq.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

People that think you can train (which beats you up typically) and getting beat up physically in bouts....If you can last to 35 doing this, great...but 30 is more realistic. Totally agree. It seems to be the key number in most sports as well. Outliers are just that, outliers....They are not typical and there is tons of evidence going against a sportsman being at their "best" at an older age.

Training in MMA still seems pretty primitive and it's only once a fighter gets older (Couture as an example), they realize the error of their ways and back off in the dojo.

 

[SirRealKiller]

I think part of the issue is some athletes/fighters underachieve when they're younger and they get a little older they start to realize their potential. So, at 28-30 or so is probably prime for most fighters. However, some fighters may not get their shit together from training, nutrition... overall commitment until they're 30. So they may peak later when their potential is less but they get closer to their potential.

For instance, if a fighter is 25 and has reached 75% of his potential and pretty much stalls at that level for the next five years. Now at 30 he stops fucking off and trains hard, gets the best nutrition, and is more dedicated he may only be able to reach 90% of his potential at 30 due to age he will actually appear to have reached his prime later.

There's also a difference between being prime and your 80% of prime+experience+ mindset being better than other people's 100% prime.

 

[strebitel86]

Depends on how you take care of your body and how you train, just take a look at Romero.

 

[Gmork]

All of the male champions up to Cejudo's retirement were in their 30s, even in the little guy weight classes. It's different for different people and different divisions. Bernard Hopkins was one of the scariest boxers ever from 36-40. Randy Couture was a legit monster from 39-43. I think a lot of MMA fighters have their best career years at 29, 30, 31 and 32.

 

[loyalyolayal]

This Is When Athletes Hit Their Peak

- For sprints, jumps, and throws, men and women hit their peak around 25 years of age.

- For sprint swimming events, men peak around 24 years and women peak at roughly 22 years. Endurance swimmers peak about a year earlier for both sexes.

- Male and female marathoners are at their best at ages 30 and 29, respectively.

- Male and female triathletes peak at 27-years-old.

- Men and women competing in the Ironman triathlon, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.2-mile run, are at their best at the ages of 32 and 34, respectively.

- Professional hockey players perform best between the ages of 27 and 28.

https://www.realclearscience.com/jo...s_is_when_athletes_hit_their_peak_109280.html

This looks more like washouts from sprinting and competitive swimming transitioned to triathlon then trickled down to ironman. This is quite common in cyclocross and gravel bike races. Those who dominate were pro-riders who got too old or weren't good enough to hang with the guys at tour de france, a vuelta, giro, etc.