How athletic are UFC fighters compared to athletes from other sports?

[PrincesaZelda]

Kind of a vague question, but I want to leave it open-ended to see what other people have to say. I'll post my own opinion if / when the thread picks up pace. :icon_evil

 

[Spacemonkeys]

Lemme grab my chart which consists of letters from the alphabet and the word 'Athlete'.

 

[standandtrade7]

I would put some athletes like Edson Barboza, Anthony Pettis, or Hector Lombard at or above a lot of guys in other sports.

 

[donegalbjj]

If you take the average, quite low..

 

[PrincesaZelda]

I would put some athletes like Edson Barboza, Anthony Pettis, or Hector Lombard at or above a lot of guys in other sports.

Interesting that they're all shorter too. I think shorter fighters tend to be more athletic because they were too small for the NFL, basketball etc? Where as the larger athletic types may been drawn to other professional sports?

 

[standandtrade7]

Interesting that they're all shorter too. I think shorter fighters tend to be more athletic because they were too small for the NFL, basketball etc? Where as the larger athletic types may been drawn to other professional sports?

Interesting point, although 5-11 is probably fine for the NFL, Soccer, Baseball, etc.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

whitebelt coooooooombo breaker!

 

[PrincesaZelda]

Interesting point, although 5-11 is probably fine for the NFL, Soccer, Baseball, etc.

Of course. I don't think Hector Lombard was probably like "well, I wanted to play in the NFL but I was too short." But I do think that there is probably less athletic people to recruit from in the heavier weight brackets due to a large % of the naturally gifted going to more popular choices (of course there are also less giants walking the Earth in general).

 

[iwhoopedbatman]

This has been explained many times:

 

[RockUmSockUm]

Can any MMA fighter throw a 70 yard pass to a guy running 25 miles an hour while being hounded by another guy running 6 inches from him? I doubt it. Can any MMA fighter stop a 275lb guy running at his QB and prevent that guy from crushing his QB into the dirt? Mitrione and Schaub couldn't, so I doubt any MMA fighter could. Can any MMa fighter jump 4 feet in the air and dunk a basketball? 6'4" Jon Jones couldn't.

 

[Dayman1984]

The talent pool for most other sports is enormous compared to MMA. As a result, the average athletes that start on an NFL or NBA team are superior, freakish athletes. There's definitely a few of them in MMA, I think GSP, Jacare Souza, Chris Weidman, and Edson Barboza could be proficient in any sport you put them in. For some other UFC fighters, not so much.

 

[Skydome]

Interesting point, although 5-11 is probably fine for the NFL, Soccer, Baseball, etc.

The best soccer player on the planet is 5'6.

 

[Blommen]

Not good, simply because there aren't as much money in it as there are in sports like football or basketball. Since the most money are made in those sports, that's what the best athletes decide to train because it can provide the best financial stability. as MMA becomes progressively more mainstream and the money starts getting better you will also begin to see progressively better athletes come into the sport.

 

[RafailNadull]

The UFC pays shit compared to the big sports. The endorsements MMA fighters get are shit compared to those athletes in the big sports get. The social status of MMA fighters is shit compared to those of the big sports.

All this means that the best athletes for body sizes that can succeed in the big sports never end up fighters. To get the best athletes, competitive wages are needed, and whilst the UFC could easily pay the fighters much more than they do, to really compete with big sports, MMA itself would need to grow.

Currently, there is precicly one A-level athlete in her athletic prime fighting for the UFC. Ronda Rousey.

 

[Viva]

This has been explained many times:

Thanks for clearing this up brother.

 

[Se4n]

whitebelt coooooooombo breaker!

How long have you been waiting to use that line?

Anyways back to the topic, I don't think the athleticism gap is as big as people like to make it. And different sports require a different type of athleticism.

 

[Skydome]

Look at the straight right from Howard. 0 days of training and he lands it flush on KG's chin(KG has a mark hunt like chin so he didnt go down)

 

[JWtheKarateKid]

This has been explained many times:

perhaps the greatest thing i've ever seen

 

[themainman]

whitebelt coooooooombo breaker!

You're an honorary white belt imo

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

This vague question depends entirely on what sport they are playing. I would bet most UFC fighters are going to out sprint most Kenyans.