While watching TUF this season I started to think about MMA in general and the level of athletes that are currently in it.
I read and article about Uriasian Bolt and his record setting sprints, and why has there not been a tall sprinter with such impressive speed in the past?
The author, speculated that the reason we have not, is because of the level of pay, and lack of “dream” to be a world record sprinter.
While Mr. Bolt is winning a hefty pay check on more citizens’ scale, he is poor compared to pro athletes.
How many kids in high school, dream of growing up to be a sprinter? Compared to a NFL wide receiver, a NBA forward, or even a hockey forward, Then compare the pay scale, the scholarship funding.
It made sense, I’m sure there are fast receivers in the NFL, that are currently running the 40 in the low 4 second marks that could only train sprinting, and be as fast as Mr. Bolt. The thing is, they have to work on so many more important aspects of the game, that there actual 40 time is not even close to being the top priority of a top receiver.
Then I thought about TUF, is it weird that the winners of a reality TV show are mostly all ranked in the top 10 MMA fighters in their respective classes after winning the show? And after such few years of training, most TUF contestants are very green.
Skill set is enormously important in MMA, and is more important than your athletic ability. Take Fedor for example, he does not strike you as some physically impressive athlete, but he is devastating in the ring.
At some point though, when you are near the top of the skill set, you have trained to near the skill set of other top fighters, athletic ability comes into play. In MMA athletic ability can take you a long way, GSP comes to mind as someone who uses his physical ability to win. Anderson Silva comes to mind as someone who practices superior skill to win.
So are we honestly seeing the top MMA fighters being the close to the top athletes in the world?
Brock Lesnar comes to mind, he got cut from the Vikings, but is now the 2nd ranked HW in the world?
Could we have a NFL, NBA, NHL version of TUF and have the winner be a ranked player? Or a significant player in each area?
And if you are a top 5% athlete, and you have the option of going into a MMA career and making a few million a year….or making 7 million as a second string defensive end…with a longer career, what do you choose?