Media Islam Says He's Open to being a 2-division champ!

[Hatorade]

Depends on the fighter. Lots of high level boxers and even champions late 30s and 40s. Life style and smarter training could be the biggest factors of staying competitive at a later age.

They exist, but it's rare in the smaller weight classes to have champions over 35.

 

[JonJonesNeedle]

I think he could do very well. Smaller fighters like RDA moved up and did extremely well.

Khamzat would be his biggest threat, it's hard to imagine him beating Khamzat

 

[Hatorade]

He's about 2 inches taller than Khabib even though they're advertised as the same height and carries a lot of muscle.

He's a good inch taller than Khabib. Islam is more muscular, but Khabib has a thicker build. I would say they weigh about the same. Usman appears to be a good inch taller than Islam, he's got a thicker build, and he's JACKED. He's got at least 15lbs on Islam, so a full weight class up.

 

[Luckyme]

I think he would be successful at WW but it's hard to see him becoming champion. Bigger guys like Usman and Khamzat would give him problems. Ditto for Khabib.

As talented as both he and Khabib are, there comes a point when skill alone isn't enough to overcome a size disadvantage.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

They exist, but it's rare in the smaller weight classes to have champions over 35.

Yes it's rare but not impossible. Lots of examples past and present. It all depends more on their lifestyle and training in my opinion. Most older fighters got a lot more on their plate and are ready to retire. They have families and may not be living/training like they were when they were younger. So it's not always about just the age, they may just be burned out and over it by that point and time. That's why fighters that start their careers later also end up fighting later than fighters that start their careers early for the most part. Boxers also take long breaks in-between fights to extend their career into later age like what PAC and Floyd did.

Also a lot of fighters that start new families during their fighting career usually lose some focus and lose a lot of their fights during that transition phase. A lot of recent examples of that in UFC.

 

[Bubba32]

how bout wining the first title first.