Is intelligence a prerequisite to be an elite MMA fighter?

brainwash

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What do you goofs think?

edit.

reading the replies in this thread, it sure isn't a prerequisite to be a sherdogger.
 
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Not even a little bit. And that goes for every sport. The only prerequisite is being in the top .01% of all humans in history in terms of talent and athleticism.

Don't let all these "all you gotta do is work hard and believe in yourself" guys fool you. Even the worst guys are so ridiculously talented they are almost another species. I have played hockey against guys who could not even make the NHL and they are insanely gifted athletes (and usually not that smart lol)

You can teach people anything they need to know. You cant teach being an absolute freak of nature.
 
You need to possess good octagon IQ. However that's a completely different thing than traditional intelligence outside of the octagon. There are many great fighters that are dumb as rocks in every day life but extremely intelligent in the way they fight.
 
It doesn't hurt, look at Fedor, Crocop, Stipe, GSP, Rich Franklin, all intelligent people, but no way a prerequisite, the Diaz brothers are elite fighters, Wand. I think the more important thing is fight intelligence.
 
No. Look at Jon Jones. Guy has great fight iq but he's a fuckin idiot. Gsp believes in aliens. Eddie bravo believes the earth isn't fucking round..
 
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No.
 
TJ beat Garbrandt because he is a smarter and more well rounded fighter
 
Tim Sylvia...

Johnny Hendricks....

You don't need intelligence. Steroids help though.
 
How to we encapsulate Nate diaz inability to deal with leg kicks with intelligence with his other superb abilities.
It wont be intelligence for sure
 
IQ is very different from Fight IQ.
Intelligent people could have terrible fight IQ, and vice versa.

For example, spatial intelligence (like being able to visualize 3d shapes in your mind, or figure out how to tie a knot) is a big factor in IQ tests. At the same time spatial awareness is very important in fighting.
But there's a big difference between intelligence and awareness.
Some animals have amazing spatial awareness, but it's more of an intuition than abstract thought. A falcon can position it's wings perfectly to fly into a small space. But that's not really the analytical thinking that we think of when we talk about intelligence.
 
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Good fight iq is the one thing that all the greats have in common.

It may not directly correlate with intelligence, but I've noticed most great fighters are reasonably smart.
 

I love clowning on Tito as much as anyone because of his awkwardness when he talks. But verbal fluency is far from a prerequisite for intelligence.

I think Tito is a smart guy. There. I said it.
 
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