Why are MMA fighters not getting better? Here are the UFC champions from 2010 vs 2018....

Beer tastes awful

Beer tastes awful

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On December 16, 2010 (the day WEC was merged), the UFC champions were:

HW: Cain Velasquez
LHW: Shogun
MW: Anderson Silva
WW: GSP
LW: Frankie Edgar
FW: Jose Aldo
BW: Dominick Cruz

Now, let us fast forward to 2018....
HW: Daniel Cormier
LHW: Daniel Cormier
MW: Robert Whittaker
WW: Tyron Woodley
LW: Khabib
FW: Max Holloway
BW: TJ Dillashaw

Hypothetically, if the 2010 versions of the 7 guys above faced the current crop as they are now, I got

- Cain beating Cormier
- Cormier beating Shogun
- Silva beating Whittaker
- GSP beating Woodley
- Khabib beating Edgar
- Holloway beating Aldo
- Cruz beating Dillashaw

So the 2010 guys would win in my opinion (4/7), and that is very concerning because in a sport as young as MMA (started only 25 years ago), the fact that the guys today aren't a whole lot better than the guys from 2010, if at all, is unheard of. Of course my picks are just my opinion, but almost no sane person would argue that the 2018 guys would blow the 2010 guys out of the water.

The time from then to now (8 years) is 32% of the time that the sport has been around.

Professional baseball (National League) began in the US in 1876 (142 years ago), and 32% of that is 45.44 years. There's no way the best baseball team from 1973 would be competitive with the best team from today, and you'll find this is the case in most professional sports not named MMA.

Why is MMA's evolution lagging behind so much?

This is not even taking into account the fact that the talent was far more diluted into different organisations in 2010, as organisations such as Strikeforce housed some of the best fighters in the world.
 
The evolution of a sport involves two key factors:

1. Evolution of the knowledge and understanding of the sport - techniques, training, nutrition etc. This is the software level.
2. Evolution of the athletes involved in the sport - better overall athletic talent, sport specific body types etc. This is the hardware level.

MMA has continued to evolve in the first category, but plateaued in the second, since most A/B level athletes are recruited into A/B level sports where the pay is much better and there are established national and international scouting systems, instead of getting into a C-level sport like MMA.

In other words, trying to improve MMA is like trying to run highly optimized modern software on pretty out-dated hardware to make it faster. There's only that much you can do without upgrading to the A level athletic gene pool.
 
We're passed the point of rapid evolution. There's only so much you can learn. Eventually, you just have to be better at applying what you've learned.

GSP and Silva were a special breed though. They were wayyy ahead of the curve.
 
ANIM4L said:
2010 Aldo beats Max
Click to expand...

Aldo was gassing out back then too. His fight with Canadian hematoma guy was in 2011 and he gassed like shit in the last rounds, and Canadian hematoma guy is nothing compared to Hollowords. He'd lose in 2010 too.
 
LouisBolanos said:
Aldo was gassing out back then too. His fight with Canadian hematoma guy was in 2011 and he gassed like shit in the last rounds, and Canadian hematoma guy is nothing compared to Hollowords. He'd lose in 2010 too.
Click to expand...
He fought sick that night. It's been established and he only really dropped the 5th round while dominating. Hominick was a machine back then on a great run.
 
How can you say 4/7 champions now would beat the champions of 2010, yet MMA fighters aren't getting better?

By your own admission the majority of champions now are better than champions of then...
 
I think they are getting better overall though. Ofcourse there are champs from 8 years ago that could still be champ today, but overall I think the skill level has increased.

That said, 8 years is that long. Only 1 generation of fighters. Look at MMA fighters from 2000 compared to now. Or from 2008 compared to what we may have in 2028
 
ANIM4L said:
He fought sick that night. It's been established and he only really dropped the 5th round. Hominick was a machine back then on a great run.
Click to expand...

Excuses. Prime Canadian hematoma was nothing compared to Hollowords. Hollowords would make him gas in the 3rd. The only difference is Hollowords would probably take more damage, but he'd win nonetheless.
 
Gilday said:
How can you say 4/7 champions now would beat the champions of 2010, yet MMA fighters aren't getting better?

By your own admission the majority of champions now are better than champions of then...
Click to expand...
I said 4/7 from 2010 would beat the guys from 2018

Can you even read, or count?
 
Because back in the day, only the Craziest MOFOS joined MMA...These guys were pure fucking warriors with warrior/athlete genetics...Guys like Igor vovchanchyn, Fedor, Shogun, Wanderlei, Rampage, Anderson Silva etc

Real fucking warriors.

7939810038_c680594418_b.jpg



Now that MMA is mainstream...The Crazy Mofos aren't joining it, because it has lost the spectacle that use to surround it back in the PRIDEFC/Early UFC days.


Now the people joining MMA are these guys


maxresdefault.jpg


Guys who think about what is going to happen when their career ends or guys who obviously don't have top warrior genetics....Guys who want to become commentators, when they are fighting, to future proof their careers instead of just focusing on pure fighting....These guys aren't the same crazy mofos, they are calculated pussies who don't take risk


Add in the fact that the UFC doesn't pay shit to get top talented athletes....and this is why MMA sucks.
 
LouisBolanos said:
Excuses. Prime Canadian hematoma was nothing compared to Hollowords. Hollowords would make him gas in the 3rd. The only difference is Hollowords would probably take more damage, but he'd win nonetheless.
Click to expand...
Excuse for having a dominant title fight? He dropped maybe a round...
and Max is probably done with fighting because of the aftermath with Aldo. <{cruzshake}>
The only thing Max has on Aldo was youth, size and durability. 2010 Aldo's skills would over come the size discrepancy. All other things being equal.
 
Last edited:
I dont see much evolution in mma the last 10 years.

Just more divisions and fighters. Bigger weight cuts and everyone can grapple now
 
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