[Opinion] Gane proves A level athlete hypothesis

[mmainvestigations]

To an extent, at least. He is a tremendous athlete that could have played any sport. Basketball, soccer, football. Yet he chose muay Thai at a fairly advanced stage in his life, and now he's fighting for the HW belt. He clowns everyone in the division besides the other A level athlete Ngannou.

Hardy was not an A level athlete, since being a defensive tight end only requires a sort of brute strength and not much else. So don't use him as a counter example.

Fact remains, if LeBron was trained to fight MMA from a relative young age, he would destroy everyone including Ngannou. I could see him finishing Ngannou in particular with a judo slam into heavy, vicious GnP. Almost like the Jon Jones of the HW division but with scary athleticism .

Gane will destroy Jones too I'm afraid, as Jon is no A level athlete

 

[Post 2 Decision]

Lebron in MMA, getting punched and kicked?! More like LOLbron

 

[Hagelslag2]

You can be the biggest, most athletic dude out there, but if you can't take a punch you'll never be a world class fighter. Mental toughness in a fight is probably the most important talent a fighter can have.

 

[Lee_]

Athleticism is a part of the picture, but you need much more than that, and it doesn't guarantee you anything. NFL players have sucked in MMA, including the ones who really trained for it (including one who was an all-pro in the NFL).

Lebron would definitely be good if he trained long enough, but you are wildly exaggerating on just how good. Basketball does not equal MMA, very different attributes and skills needed. No guarantees Lebron would be championship material.

The logic just doesn't work- he's so fantastic at basketball, so he MUST be able to dominate everyone in the world in a fight. Nope.

 

[Clark Rogers]

I hope Gane invents a super-dunk punch. Like Vince Carter's elbow hang dunk, but no rim to catch him, so his fist just crashes down on Jones head from like 10' up.

Ridiculous right? At least it'd make all these damn basketball threads mean something

 

[TIMELESS TRUTH]

I hope Gane invents a super-dunk punch. Like Vince Carter's elbow hang dunk, but no rim to catch him, so his fist just crashes down on Jones head from like 10' up.

Ridiculous right? At least it'd make all these damn basketball threads mean something

So, slap fighting is just them doing free throws over and over?

 

[Karl_Hungus]

Oh, gosh, it's the "A-level athlete" thread again. I love these, and have for many years now. Gane hasn't proven anything yet, and he isn't even "A-level," or he would be playing football or basketball. Those guys, as someone else has pointed out, don't have the toughness for combat sports. Also, most of them are uncoordinated goofs who couldn't time a punch, much roll with one. Thanks for bringing us your unique insight, TS. If you have a Youtube channel for us to subscribe to, please tell us, so we can hear your further thoughts.

 

[marvinparsons]

Bork, Gane and Ngannou all dominated at HW and are legit A level athletes. This is HW we are talking about though. If you have any level of skill/athleticism and aren't just a fat LHW/MW you'll do well.

It takes a lot less skill to succeed at HW than it does at lighter divisions. A Brock Lesnar scaled down to 145 pounds is a much worse version of Chad Mendes and probably barely sniffs the top 10 unless he improved his striking/grappling.

Some great athletes, if they learned MMA, would do amazing and would have the other components needed to do well (drive, picking up striking, dieting, high pressure, cardio, getting punched etc.), while some would not. They might be good at football and have zero cardio or poor punching/kicking motions.

 

[Yep]

Well the “train from a young age” is a new spin on the lebron mma invincible fighter argument.

 

[Ushiro_sankaku]

Was Greg hardy considered athletic? I don't watch football but know about his NFL and wife beating background

 

[WolverReem]

Lebron in MMA, getting punched and kicked?! More like LOLbron

End /thread

 

[Lee_]

Was Greg hardy considered athletic? I don't watch football but know about his NFL and wife beating background

Multiple time all-pro in the NFL? I'm afraid you don't do that without being athletic. He found out MMA fighters are a whole lot tougher than his girlfriends.

 

[koquerelle]

The trolls are out in full force tonight.

 

[mmainvestigations]

Multiple time all-pro in the NFL? I'm afraid you don't do that without being athletic. He found out MMA fighters are a whole lot tougher than his girlfriends.

Being a good football player is not necessarily indicative of anything but being good at a single job. An extreme example is the kicker - he's good at ... kicking and punting the ball. A defensive tight end is maybe good at spinning and juking people out and grabbing a dude. So again not the best example of athleticism

Compare the guy who's good at doing one thing to LeBron who can jump 4 feet high and is jacked and moves like a freight train and can probably play any sport he wants.

 

[mmainvestigations]

You can be the biggest, most athletic dude out there, but if you can't take a punch you'll never be a world class fighter. Mental toughness in a fight is probably the most important talent a fighter can have.

Let's be real, being able to take a punch is an overrated skill. Any guy who is fighting to put food on the table will put his body on the line. LeBron just so happens to be a guy with options, so he wouldn't want to get punched in the head for 20 k.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Gane isn’t A level

 

[NoSmilez]

It is also the gym. It is rare to have a real big athletic person then you need to have several of them in one room to train properly.

 

[AFewDollarsMore]

Defensive ends are extremely athletic and fast.

 

[Brit_Brawler]

We can't possibly deduce that from this scenario. All we know is that gane is an anomaly

 

[Izzysexboyfriend]

Well to reach a high level in mma you kinda need to be a great athlete. It takes more than being a great athlete in fighting though, running fast, jumping high isn’t going to help you in a fight. In combat sports it’s all mental but of course you need speed, power and fight IQ.

NFL and NBA players are on every kind of steroid possible anyway. Not saying they aren’t talented but PEDs make you a whole lot more athletic and a freak then without.