Is Europe and Africa taking over the UFC?

[Yellowcrab]

The population of Europe is more than x2 the population of the US. The population of Africa is almost 5x that of the US. The population of Asia is more than 10x of the US.

Per capita, the US is still king.

Per capita is irrelevant when you have that wealth disparity between countries.

The US can put much more money to raise top athletes, not to mention their pharma industry...

 

[nostradumbass]

Have you actually been there and talked to people in their language?
I have. The average person does not endure levels near american poverty. Sure it's a tough life but there is some dignity to be found.

Yes. I don't speak Romanian and went there but I do speak Russian and a little Ukrainian and my in laws are both doctors who now make $80/month in pension. I, by contrast, was American poor and my janitor grandfather had it way better than my fiancee's gulag grandfather. We never waited in line for 2nd hand clothes and our dog wasn't kidnapped and eaten by bums. I don't think for my entire adult life my house has been more than half English. My house was half French when I was barely an adult and my best friends were Moroccans and now it's probably half Russian.

We aren't talking about deadbeats, felons, addicts and mentally ill, who are the makeup of current American poor, we are taking about the average family. Yeah no shit if you take the bottom 5% of any country and compare them to the average of another, you're going to get some skewed results. We have a way out of poverty, they didn't except for sports.

 

[skylolow]

It just goes in cycles and sometimes things line up that certain regions of the world shine bright for year or two.

 

[Yellowcrab]

HW: Ngannou - Cameroon
LHW: Blachowicz - Poland
MW: Adesanya - Nigeria, New Zealand
WW: Usman - Nigeria, USA
LW: Vacant
FW: Volkanovski - Australia
BW: Sterling - USA, Jamaica

Fixed it for you.

 

[Jojomojo]

Per capita is irrelevant when you have that wealth disparity between countries.

The US can put much more money to raise top athletes, not to mention their pharma industry...

Yes as every american knows, we in Europe are completly piss poor and cant afford good athletes or health care. Lmao.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Yes as every american knows, we in Europe are completly piss poor and cant afford good athletes or health care. Lmao.

Compared to EE countries ? There's certainly a huge gap with the US...

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Yes. I don't speak Romanian and went there but I do speak Russian and a little Ukrainian and my in laws are both doctors who now make $80/month in pension. I, by contrast, was American poor and my janitor grandfather had it way better than my fiancee's gulag grandfather. We never waited in line for 2nd hand clothes and our dog wasn't kidnapped and eaten by bums. I don't think for my entire adult life my house has been more than half English. My house was half French when I was barely an adult and my best friends were Moroccans and now it's probably half Russian.

We aren't talking about deadbeats, felons, addicts and mentally ill, who are the makeup of current American poor, we are taking about the average family. Yeah no shit if you take the bottom 5% of any country and compare them to the average of another, you're going to get some skewed results. We have a way out of poverty, they didn't except for sports.

I don't know Romania but I know Russia. Maybe Romania is much poorer.

The people I stayed with in Russia were poor but were nowhere near the hole that is american poverty. I think you mean "average", perhaps?

Anyways this is not a competition to who has it the worst. Am just saying that on many metrics, american poverty is really bad.

 

[Jojomojo]

Compared to EE countries ? There's certainly a huge gap with the US...

In terms of what? There is also a big gap between the US and Russia. Still you wouldnt say that their athletes couldnt compete with american ones.

And btw what eastern Europe you talking about? Jiri is from Czech Republic who first of all view themselves as part of central Europe and also, while not able to compete with the US in terms of income per capita, most people there enjoy a better life than literally the lowest 30% of the US. Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Slowenia etc. are all very diverse and you cant just put them in the catergory "eastern Europe". And even the poorer countries are still civilised states.

 

[Yellowcrab]

In terms of what? There is also a big gap between the US and Russia. Still you wouldnt say that their athletes couldnt compete with american ones.

The case of Russia is particular, this country is a superpower.

Anyway i didn't say that to be insulting toward EE countries.

Overall, it is true that they have less tools than the US to produce top athletes at an industrial rate.

Soccer is very popular in Europe, far more than MMA : gives me one EE country that is competitive in soccer ?

You won't find any, because as many other sports, soccer is also a product of wealth.

 

[arcadeperfect]

Jones. But even without him HW is deeper than it's been since the late UFC/Pride days and even in a traditionally top heavy HW division long streaks are rare. Ngannou has cardio issues it's just no one cares when the opponent is sleeping before they kick in. He lost a three round decision to Lewis and got dominated by Stipe the first time. He's not invincible a lot of people are just obsessed with punching power but it's not everything.

Jokes aside I can see Lewis, Gane, and Volkov having a chance especially if the latter two keep distance and kick fight the whole time. Jones I don't see it. He struggled to take Reyes down, and yet people are convinced that he's going to wrestle Ngannou like Stipe did in their first fight. Just because Jones managed to avoid getting ragdolled by DC at 205 doesn't mean that he's going to Khabib everyone in the HW division. Everyone is bigger and stronger which matters way more for wrestling than striking.

 

[nostradumbass]

I don't know Romania but I know Russia. Maybe Romania is much poorer.

The people I stayed with in Russia were poor but were nowhere near the hole that is american poverty. I think you mean "average", perhaps?

Anyways this is not a competition to who has it the worst. Am just saying that on many metrics, american poverty is really bad.

I pretty explicitly said average.

There's a pretty big difference between 2% being poor and 80% being poor.

Being American poor means you're a few good decision away from not being poor, Eastern Euro poor means you're poor no matter what you do.

 

[PAPERCLIP30]

How can a prospect be elite? Isn’t that kinda an oxymoron?

 

[Herwald]

Eastern Europeans are. This time next year Usman will be only African champ remaining. Ngannou and Adesanya are on their way out.

You're sayin' Marcin Tybura will get the job done?

 

[Jojomojo]

The case of Russia is particular, this country is a superpower.

Anyway i didn't say that to be insulting toward EE countries.

Overall, it is true that they have less tools than the US to produce top athletes at an industrial rate.

Soccer is very popular in Europe, far more than MMA : gives me one EE country that is competitive in soccer ?

You won't find any, because as many other sports, soccer is also a product of wealth.

Lmao dude Croatia literally went 2nd at the last world cup. Russia, Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slowakia are all fairly competitive in Scoccer DESPITE (with the exception of Russia) not having a big and rich national league. Thats literally a counter argument to what you are trying to say...

And no income per capita doesnt have a lot to do with producing successfull athletes. Yes you need good infrastructure with up to date gyms etc. But believe me when i tell you AKK doesnt have anything a gym in Prague wouldnt have, except the high level training partners.

How would you explain Dagestan and Chechnia producing so much high level wrestlers and MMA fighters despite these regions being super poor, no Investment money around?

 

[Choco]

He was born in Africa and identifies as such very clearly.

Usman "identity" changes accoriding with his interest. I.e: He didn't try to represent Nigeria in the Olympics. He ws very happy to be a Yank back there.

 

[Selukrid612]

A level athletes baby. Couple of our boys switch over from playing football and it will be a clean sweep.

It’s not unlike boxing tbh. When the iron curtain fell and more and more country’s took up the sport, US dominance was effectively ended. The US aren’t a bad sporting nation, but definitely specialise in sports that no one else is really bothered about.

The US routinely wins the most medals/gold medals at the Olympics. I know big population and all that jazz, but clearly we do more than just specialize at sports no one else cares about

 

[Yellowcrab]

Lmao dude Croatia literally went 2nd at the last world cup. Russia, Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slowakia are all fairly competitive in Scoccer DESPITE (with the exception of Russia) not having a big and rich national league. Thats literally a counter argument to what you are trying to say...

A rare exception is not a counter argument : they don't win anything in soccer and soccer is the most popular sport in all Europe and BY FAR.

Greece won the european cup and we all know that was a rare exception that won't be produced again.

How would you explain Dagestan and Chechnia producing so much high level wrestlers and MMA fighters despite these regions being super poor, no Investment money around?

1) Huge cultural factor : they basically learn wrestling since they are born.

2) They still benefit the help from Russia.

 

[Khaiser]

The US routinely wins the most medals/gold medals at the Olympics. I kabob big population and all that jazz, but clearly we do more than just specialize at sports no one else cares about

Big population isn’t exactly just a throwaway comment - it’s the overriding factor in terms of why you win so many medals.

Per capita, you’re very much mid-tier.

 

[MetaIIica]

Just wait until the Russians get their turn....

 

[milenss]

Usman is an American.

Usman "identity" changes accoriding with his interest. I.e: He didn't try to represent Nigeria in the Olympics. He ws very happy to be a Yank back there.

Usman is a Nigerian socialist. He probably hates America too. Just because Olympics is a quota sport doesn't mean he didn't want to compete for Nigeria.
He's based in the US though. And that kind of forces him to compete with an American flag sometimes.