Is age nothing but a number?

I recently looked at Sherdog's top 10 MMA rankings list and updated the names here with ages. I expected that the lighter weight classes would have a younger average age because, at lighter weights, speed is a more important factor. Speed and reflexes become reduced at an earlier age than the reduction of power.

For a result, we find that heavyweight has the highest average age. Also, we find that lightweight has the lowest average age. Of course, speed isn't the only factor to consider when looking at the average age of each division. The talent pool that is available to each weight class also has a large effect on the numbers.

I have some thoughts about fighters who have changed divisions by either moving up or down in weight.

Some have succeeded when moving up from light heavyweight to heavyweight. For example, Randy Couture and Alistair Overeem. Other fighters have dropped down from light heavyweight to find success at middleweight (Chael Sonnen, Brian Stann).

However, we must also look at fighters who have not had success when moving down a division, such as Kenny Florian and Tyson Griffin (lightweight to featherweight).

I can predict many things from these numbers. Age isn't the only factor to take into account here, but I'm sure that you can follow the same line of thought as me.


Oldest: Dan Henderson (age 41)
Second Oldest: Shane Carwin (37)
Third Oldest: Anderson Silva (36)

Youngest: Dustin Poirier (22)
Second Youngest: Jon Jones, Anthony Pettis, Pat Curran, Renan Barao and Darrell Montague (all 24)


Heavyweight

Junior Dos Santos - 27
Cain Velasquez - 29
Alistair Overeem - 31
Fabricio Werdum - 34
Brock Lesnar - 34
Shane Carwin - 37
Frank Mir - 32
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - 35
Josh Barnett - 34
Daniel Cormier - 32

Oldest: Shane Carwin (37)
Youngest: Junior Dos Santos (27)

Average Age: 32.5


Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones - 24
Dan Henderson - 41
Mauricio Rua - 30
Rashad Evans - 32
Quinton Jackson - 33
Lyoto Machida - 33
Phil Davis - 27
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira - 35
Forrest Griffin - 32
Rafael Cavalcante - 31

Oldest: Dan Henderson (41)
Youngest: Jon Jones (24)

Average Age: 31.8


Middleweight

Anderson Silva - 36
Chael Sonnen - 34
Yushin Okami - 30
Mark Munoz - 33
Nate Marquardt - 32
Demian Maia - 32
Brian Stann - 31
Michael Bisping - 32
Vitor Belfort - 34
Luke Rockhold - 27

Oldest: Anderson Silva (36)
Youngest: Luke Rockhold (27)

Average Age: 32.1


Welterweight

Georges St. Pierre - 30
Jon Fitch - 33
Nick Diaz - 28
Josh Koscheck - 34
Jake Ellenberger - 26
Jake Shields - 33
Carlos Condit - 27
Johny Hendricks - 28
Martin Kampmann - 29
B.J. Penn - 33

Oldest: Josh Koscheck (34)
Youngest: Jake Ellenberger (26)

Average Age: 30.1


Lightweight

Frankie Edgar - 30
Gilbert Melendez - 29
Gray Maynard - 32
Ben Henderson - 28
Shinya Aoki - 28
Jim Miller - 28
Clay Guida - 30
Anthony Pettis - 24
Donald Cerrone - 30
Michael Chandler - 25

Oldest: Gray Maynard (32)
Youngest: Anthony Pettis (24)

Average Age: 28.4


Featherweight

Jose Aldo - 25
Hatsu Hioki - 28
Chad Mendes - 26
Pat Curran - 24
Kenny Florian - 35
Marlon Sandro - 34
Diego Nunes - 29
Dustin Poirier - 22
Bart Palaszewski - 28
Joe Warren - 35

Oldest: Kenny Florian (35)
Youngest: Dustin Poirier (22)

Average Age: 28.6


Bantamweight

Dominick Cruz - 26
Urijah Faber - 32
Joseph Benavidez - 27
Brian Bowles - 31
Scott Jorgensen - 29
Demetrious Johnson - 25
Renan Barao - 24
Miguel Torres - 30
Brad Pickett - 33
Masakatsu Ueda - 34

Oldest: Masakatsu Ueda (34)
Youngest: Renan Barao (24)

Average Age: 29.1


Flyweight

Ian McCall - 27
Jussier da Silva - 26
Yasuhiro Urushitani - 35
Mamoru Yamaguchi - 34
Darrell Montague - 24
Shinichi Kojima - 32
Yuki Shojo - 31
Kiyotaka Shimizu - 27
Louis Gaudinot - 27
Jose Maria Tome - 30

Oldest: Yasuhiro Urushitani (35)
Youngest: Darrell Montague (24)

Average Age: 29.3

Big thanks to Robert Sargent  (MMA Rising) for English editing.

Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2012

I write about up and coming Japanese MMA fighters to stay on the look out for.  Specifically I focus on those outside of the major MMA organizations.  Most likely, only die-hard MMA fans will know about the following fighters.

Kyoji Horiguchi

Horiguchi is on a three fight KO streak in 2011 after winning the Shooto Rookie tournament.  Horiguchi will next face world-ranked fighter and upcoming Bellator tournament contestant Masakatsu Ueda.  With his tremendous speed, karate skills, and knockout power, Horiguchi definitely has a chance to pull off the upset over Ueda.



Doo Ho Choi

After gaining attention from his decision victory over Ikuo Usuda in 2010, Choi seeks to improve on a breakout 2011.  He showcased vicious knees and an impressive sprawl during his wins over Mitsuhiro Ishida and Nobuhiro Obiya.  He will next face Kazunori Yokota for the vacant DEEP featherweight title and should be a strong favorite.  I’m curious to see how he will fare against a strong and powerful striker.



Jon Shores

From very early in his career, Shores has been known for his submission finishing skills.  This year, he seeks to bring his striking up to a similar level.  He defeated Tomonari Kanomata by maintaining a steady striking pace and will likely now square off against Takumi Nakayama for the Pancrase interim featherweight title.



Yasuaki Kishimoto

You might recognize this name after his victory over Un Sik Song, who currently trying to rediscover his prior form from before his military stint, Kishimoto is now in the mix for the DEEP lightweight title. After beating veteran Jutaro Nakao, I’m guessing that he will likely get a title shot soon.


Yuta "Uruka" Sasaki

Uruka’s 2011 campaign was hard fought.  He got a pair of close decision nods over Yoshifumi Nakamura and Kosuke Kindaichi.   His lack of finishing skills needs to be improved upon, which could be seen in his loss to Guy Delumeau’s wrestling/BJJ style.  Fortunately he is young enough that there should be plenty of time for improvement.



Michinori Tanaka

Tanaka is the MVP of this year’s Shooto Rookie tournament, which was actually one of the more stacked rookie tournaments in recent history.  By consistently attacking with chain grappling, Tanaka completely dominated runner-up Teruto Ishihara, who was clearly the second best rookie in Shooto this year.



Hideto Tatsumi

Although the dearth of talent in the Japanese heavier weight classes makes for some difficult comparisons, Hideto Tatsumi’s impressive judo background warrants a closer look.  After losing his debut to Christian M’Pumbu, Tatsumi upset veteran Hiromitsu Kanegara in just his third fight.  While still too early to judge, his performance is definitely promising.  Currently training with Japanese star Yushin Okami, his next test will be against Yang Hae Jun at Legend FC.


Also DEEP will crown flyweight champ with tournament.If Tatsumitsu Wada drop flyweight,it guarantee tounrament's winner quality.

SKILL MMA : Japanese MMA scene Fighter to watch out 2011

Big thanks to Dean Ryuta Adachi  (Deanadachi.com) for English editing.