Age and MMA

[MJS]

In another thread Andrew started about Tito vs. Shamrock, I noticed a few people talking about the age difference between the two fighters. Rather than take away from the topic of that thread, I figured I'd start a new one.

While he doesn't have a perfect MMA record, despite his age, Randy has still dominated in the ring and has some awesome conditioning. He has fought fighters younger than him and pulled off wins. So, given the age difference and his wins, did his age really play that much of a part in any of his wins/losses?

I know that the other thread was about Tito and Shamrock but given Randys age, I figured I'd use that as an example.

Mike

 

[Andrew Green]

Probably, Age is going to be a factor, as is cumulative damage over fights. Randy seemed to be getting KOed by strikes that I think he might have been able to recover from earlier in his career.

Same for Shamrock, his body has been through a lot of abuse over the years, and his ability to recover is not going to be what it once was.

There are exceptions, Randy was definately one of them, George Foreman another, and older fighters gain experience and knowledge, but, their ability to absorb punishment and recover seems to go down as they get up in the years.

Same for any other preofessional sport, not many are still at the top of their game past 40. Cummulative injuries start to take a drain, recovery times increase, etc.