MMA fighters that started late?

[Ogata]

I know a guy who fought in MMA at 70 and there was a 60 something year old woman who also fought in MMA. But are there any MMA fighters who started late and ended up doing well in UFC?

 

[bolly32]

DC and Romero. Maybe Lesnar?

 

[GaveOverForYou]

Yoel Romero, Randy Couture. Romero could still be elite within another 2-3 years in my opinion due to less brain damage

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Randy Couture !!! Like they say... Wine gets better with age.

 

[MMAandBOXINGfan]

Randy
DC
Yoel
Lesnar
Lashley
Batista
Cm Punk
Holly Holm

 

[Reach4theSky]

MMA fighters that started too early:

Erick Silva..

 

[PeterGriffin]

Pretty hard to find a better example than Couture. His success came off of hard-work and determination.

Yoel is a good example, but those genes bro... only in Couture's dreams.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

Everyone already mentioned Randy, Yoel and DC.

Rich Franklin is another guy who never even trained until his 20's

 

[trident]

MMA fighters that started too early:

Erick Silva..

Maybe Rory

When he was first rolled out he was the next new thing, not specializing but practicing all the arts together as MMA

He is not old but he has mileage and I wonder if pushing it so early has led to overall fatigue

Not saying he isn't competitive, I just wonder if spent too much too soon

 

[trident]

Jones kind of started late didn't he?

Wasn't his early training a combination of YouTube kungfu videos and a "I can do this shit" attitude?

 

[superpunch]

Jimi Manuwa started training MMA at age 27 and had no previous martial arts experience. He only started training MMA because he ruptured his pectoral muscle while lifting weights.

 

[Sapp]

Bob Sapp started pretty late.

 

[CalvilloRay]

Came to say Manuwa, fresh out of prison jumped into a gym I think.

Also, Alan Jouban said he didn’t step foot in a gym til he was like 24 or something, which is relatively late. Seems like everyone gets started training at least ONE discipline in their early teens.

 

[Willek]

Everyone already mentioned Randy, Yoel and DC.

Rich Franklin is another guy who never even trained until his 20's

Wasn't he a Maths teacher who started training in some shed in Cincinnati.

 

[Ogata]

Wasn't he a Maths teacher who started training in some shed in Cincinnati.

No one knows for sure but rumor has it that when Ken Shamrock came to Cincinnati to train with the legendary conditioning coach of Cincinnati Bengals Kim Wood. Rich realized he can find the right people to get him up to speed with other pro fighters.

 

[pamirec]

How about Marat Balaev. Spent long time in prison, came out, made his debut at 38. Is the ACB featherweight Champ. 42 now. They don’t call him the motivator for no reason.

 

[sonofjay817]

Hershell Walker

 

[Slapchoppin]

Nate Quarry never even played a sport until he was 24 because he was raised a jehovas witness

 

[White belt and pants]

Cung Le did ok. 2-2 in ufc and was almost 34 his first Mma fight

 

[White belt and pants]

Kenny Florian was 26 when he started Mma.