GSP started doing Kyokushin karate at 7 years old, and was a 2nd dan by the age of 12, but yes, it was definitely his time as a hockey player that made him into the combat athlete he was.
If I understand your word salad, you're basically saying athletes in contact sports make better fighters. As a shower thought that brilliant, I mean who could figure out people who participate in organized violence ( if you've ever been tackled in football or checked into the boards in hockey you know what I mean)are capable of aggressive behavior?
Exactly! You just confirmed my point. Athletes of gridiron football, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, soccer, and baseball indeed tend to make the best warriors(martial artists, military soldiers, etc.) in history and that's because they are the people who are testosterone-filled brutish thugs with killer instincts.
By the way, sports do not create alpha males. They attract them. This is why nerds and gentle good males are very bad at sports especially gridiron football, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, soccer, and baseball.
Sports do not create alpha males. They reveal them.
You will never survive in gridiron football, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, soccer, and baseball if you're an average ordinary person, a decent good person, or a nerd. You have to be a competitive alpha male scum brute to be good at any sports.
This is why sports especially gridiron football, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, soccer, and baseball are necessary evils because without sports, alpha male brutish thugs won't have healthy ways to channel their aggression and ruthless brutal killer instinct. Without sports, you're middle-class-to-upper-class teenage alpha male testosterone-filled dudes will form gangs in the streets and fight each other and other people and also cause trouble everywhere. They are gonna be even bigger bullies than they are now and will rape more females. Worse, they won't just attack social outcasts but EVERYONE.
It's not that sports create alpha males and tough men. It's just that testosterone-filled alpha male tough brutes tend to gravitate towards sports especially gridiron football, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, soccer, and baseball and are the best in all of them. The reason why they are the best in all of them is because alpha male brutes with killer instinct tend to be extremely competitive and extremely dominating in everything in life while your average person is afraid of competition and domination.
Competitive domination is the mark of the alpha male and the warrior.
Sports do not create alpha males. They reveal and attract them.
They were already alpha males before they were athletes. Their alpha male killer instinct mindset has always been with them since they were in their moms' wombs.
To be a great warrior and tough guy, an aggresive power-hungry mindset is far more important than physical attributes and physical skills especially on the long run.
An unathletic person with a competitive and dominating mentality is often scary and intimidating to your athletic people who aren't competitive or dominating.