Why have older fighters done so well in recent years compared to past eras?

ExitLUPin

ExitLUPin

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In the past if a fighter was pushing 40 or even 40 they were cooked ESPECIALLY in the lighter weight classes. Now we routinely see fighters late 30s, early 40s winning fights. Volk just broke the over 35yo curse for 125-155lbs fighters.

41yo Salikhov just KOd a tough and durable Leal who had never been stopped before in under a minute.

Minutes before we saw 39yo Davey beat a very good up and coming BW in Blackshear who was on a nice streak and had a 50/50 fight with Bautista and he did it over 15 minutes. 10 years ago a 39yo BW winning a UFC fight was unthinkable let alone over a fighter like Blackshear.

In the past we had some outliers like Hendo and Randy who were on TRT and Anderson also was great in later age but he got to UFC in his 30s. When we did see older fighters having success back then they were always in the heavier weights. We never saw 125-170lbs fighters pushing 40 winning fights like we have seen in recent years. Why is this?
 
Advances in health, training, sports medicine etc.


People in general are just aging better. A few decades ago it was uncommon for fighters in their early thirties to do well. Now many are not even hitting their physical prime until that age.

You can see this across the board in all sports: football, basketball, bodybuilding, etc
 
Im 40 this year not that im some Adonis but 40 now isnt what it was 40 years ago. All you need to do is go look at pics from the 80s and check out those 40 year old dudes woman too. Its fucking crazy
 
I think some guys are training smarter and focusing on nutrition and recovery. They didn’t have that shit in the old days. Those tournaments probably took years off people’s lives, although I miss the format. People also know about CTE now, so some fighters may be reluctant to engage in those classic gym wars we heard so much about.
 
Söze Aldo said:
Didn't Randy Couture win a belt at 43?
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I mentioned Hendo and Randy as outliers who were both on TRT. And they were renowned for being as good as they were as they aged.

Now we have 40yos getting KOs in the lighter weights. 35 was considered washed for 125-155lbs fighters a decade ago. Now we've seen many of the rankings filled with them and every card a lighter weight fighter pushing 40 picking up big wins and finishes.

41yo Salikhov just got a 50 second KO
39yo Davey just decisioned an up and coming strong BW

Last week 39yo Michael Johnson dropped and outclassed 26yo top LW prospect Zellhuber

38yo Patricio beat Ige. 38yo DRod beat up and outlasted Holland.

It happens every card now. We did not see this shit back then.
 
Hymen Crusher said:
Im 40 this year not that im some Adonis but 40 now isnt what it was 40 years ago. All you need to do is go look at pics from the 80s and check out those 40 year old dudes woman too. Its fucking crazy
Click to expand...
I’m 44 in a week and still holding up ok ….i do work out regularly and eat somewhat healthy…..agreed some 40 year old woman still look fantastic
 
Healthier men, better training methods, guys not going to war in the gym every single day.
 
It's still a young sport, you could expect older fighters to win at some point or another. There is no excluding reason why they can't. So therefore over time, you will eventually see older fighters win in any division, be it open weight, heavy weight, or the severely handicapped weight divisions.
 
Fact Checker said:
Advances in health, training, sports medicine etc.


People in general are just aging better. A few decades ago it was uncommon for fighters in their early thirties to do well. Now many are not even hitting their physical prime until that age.

You can see this across the board in all sports: football, basketball, bodybuilding, etc
Click to expand...
If my BJJ gyms anything to go by some of these older guys are on TRT and the UFC fighters now have access to things like stem cells to help with healing injuries.
 
Like it was mentioned, Advances in health, training, nutrition, supplements. But also planning careers and fighting less on average.
 
There are no new talent. Thats all. Combat Sports are the most cruel sport and one of the least rewarding. If you are athletic, you pick literally EVERYTHING over it.
There is no other mainstream, not a single one, where you get history like Pereira.
21 year old alcoholic with 8 years experience becames world champ within 5 years.
Martin Buday is ranked. He is multiple international champ in both BJJ and Oktagon. Guy is fat nerd, who decided to go do some sport, to shed some pounds, when he was almost 20.
Volkanovski is former 1#p4p and one of the goats of FW. Guy was to weak for rugby, decided to go do some MMA, to keep activity during offseaon.

No other mainstream sports have stories like it.
No other sports have stories like this from my country - world champ, one of the very few people, who defeated UFC champion, multiple national champion. His everyday job is working as a labourer in toilet paper factory.

The old guys are still in buissines, because there is noone to replace them. MMA is dying, who wants to get CTE for 12+12?
 
Söze Aldo said:
Didn't Randy Couture win a belt at 43?
Click to expand...
Randy was always the exception though. Even in his mid-30s when he first beat Vitor it was considered such a big deal because of the age gap between the two.

Like others have said, advancements in medications and training have done a lot to allow fighters to last much longer.
Also, more fighters today are fighting smarter and relying on technique and skill instead of raw athletic ability.
 
The leap in skillsets were much larger and faster back then so old dogs got left behind (back when fighters were like "wrestlers with rudimentary striking" or "strikers with poor TDD and shit jitz" but nowadays everyone is already fairly well rounded and the jumps in skill levels each year aren't as notable so they can hang on for longer
 
Fact Checker said:
Advances in health, training, sports medicine etc.


People in general are just aging better. A few decades ago it was uncommon for fighters in their early thirties to do well. Now many are not even hitting their physical prime until that age.

You can see this across the board in all sports: football, basketball, bodybuilding, etc
Click to expand...

This. Kind of that it was obvious no ?
 
Hymen Crusher said:
Im 40 this year not that im some Adonis but 40 now isnt what it was 40 years ago. All you need to do is go look at pics from the 80s and check out those 40 year old dudes woman too. Its fucking crazy
Click to expand...

It is bizarre, I don't really understand it tbh.

And this isn't athletes here that are benefitting from advances in modern supplements, training, medicine etc, just normal people.

The weird part this current aging better generation is arguably eating worse, way more junk and processed stuff.
 
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