Would Pro Football Players Dominate MMA? | Part 2

Last week, we discussed whether professional football players, in the middle of their career, could suddenly switch to MMA and use their tremendous strength, speed, and agility to dominate. The answer was an emphatic no. No matter how good they are at football, and even imagining they cross over in their late 20s, they will invariably lose to decent martial artists at heavyweight, the most talent-poor division in MMA. The question is frankly insulting to pro fighters. On a fundamental level, pro footballers build their bodies up to play a completely different sport, and learn utterly different motions and instincts for too long, to succeed at MMA.

But there was a second half to my initial question. What if those same athletes never pursued a career in professional football, but instead chose MMA and began training in their late teens, if not earlier? At first glance, this seems purely hypothetical. After all, if they don't pursue football, how do we even know if they had the ability to become pro footballers in the first place? Indeed, there is a level of conjecture here. However, we can make educated guesses based on certain data and our observations of a fighter's athleticism.

And as it turns out, there is one famous MMA champion we can be reasonably certain had the talent to make the NFL. One of the greatest ever, in fact. I'm talking about none other than Jon Jones. Both of his brothers were pro footballers. Arthur Jones played for seven years in the NFL as a defensive tackle. Chandler Jones, meanwhile, has already recorded nine years in the league as an outside linebacker so good he might make the Hall of Fame. He is a two-time first team All-Pro, a three-time Pro Bowler, led the league in sacks in 2017, won the Butkus Award for best linebacker in the league in 2019, is a Super Bowl champion, and has almost 100 sacks during his career. Last week we discussed some of the best pro football players who tried their hand at MMA: Marcus Jones, Michael Westbrook and Greg Hardy. In terms of football accomplishment, all three pale in comparison to Chandler Jones.

Given what his brothers achieved, and Jon Jones' own superlative physical strength, speed, agility, and overall athleticism, not to mention his height and freakishly long arms, is it crazy to believe he would have made it to the NFL if he hadn't chosen MMA? Can't you see Jones, if he slimmed down a little from his frame as light heavyweight champion, as a wide receiver; if he kept that size, a quarterback; if he bulked up a little a linebacker like his brother Chandler, and if he bulked up a lot a defensive tackle like his brother Arthur? I certainly can.

And indeed, Jones dominated MMA for a very long time, rightly being considered one of the best ever. So is that the end of our investigation? That if athletes who could make the NFL instead took up MMA at an early enough age, they would dominate? Not so fast!

It's a proof of concept, but one example doesn't demonstrate that every would-be pro footballer could have been a champion fighter. There are a number of unique qualities Jones possesses that don't necessarily apply to even the most athletic would-be football player. Let's look at the ones that immediately come to mind, mixing and matching mental as well as physical traits:

1. An enormous passion for becoming a world champion in MMA, especially during his earlier years. This can't be understated. Marcus Jones and Michael Westbrook from last week's article were never fully devoted to MMA and it showed. If the desire isn't there, all the physical talent in the world is useless.

2. An unparalleled reach of 84.5 inches, especially for a light heavyweight. Needless to say, even among pro footballers, this is a tremendous outlier. Hardy, who is a heavyweight with a much wider chest, still only measures at 80.5 inches. This also extends to Jones' outstanding kicks, which can reach an opponent from seemingly anywhere.

3. A tremendous aptitude for learning fighting techniques, all executed flawlessly. Marcus Jones and Michael Westbrook had very poor technique after years of training, coasting on their strength and athleticism. Even Hardy, who is far more invested and has solid technique on certain punches, has often shown little improvement between fights. By contrast, Jon Jones showed some of the most amazing improvement from bout to bout in the history of MMA and could execute a wide assortment of techniques, grappling as well as striking, with textbook perfection. This is a guy so ridiculously talented that he would learn and master techniques merely from watching YouTube videos in his youth. I'll never forget my utter shock when the athletic wrestler who threw around Stephan Bonnar but had precious little striking developed a very decent jab and good ring movement en route to thoroughly embarrassing Jake O'Brien in the stand-up only five months later.

4. An iron chin. Jones has been cracked hard many times in his career, including by huge punchers, and has never been knocked out or in very serious trouble. He has certainly been hurt, most recently in Round 4 of his fight against Dominick Reyes, where he panic wrestled, but even then, he recovers quickly. The chin is an innate quality and isn't one required of pro footballers. Certainly, Hardy and Marcus Jones were brutally knocked out by far less than the amount of firepower Jon Jones has weathered.

5. Heart and toughness in the midst of battle. Whatever Jon Jones might be outside the cage, he is a true warrior inside of it. Even when he is losing, when his phenomenal talent isn't working, he refuses to fold, and finds a way to win. Consider his comeback victory in the first Alexander Gustafsson bout. And while I think he lost to Reyes, that was still a fine example of his tremendous toughness. He lost the first three rounds and was noticeably hurt at the beginning of the fourth. He could have easily given up, but instead, Jones took Reyes down, came back to win the stanza, and then emphatically won the fifth and final round. That is the hallmark of a true champion.

Hopefully, the point should be clear: Jon Jones is unique. Not every superlative athlete who chooses MMA instead of pro football is going to dominate the sport like him.



And in fact, that neatly brings me to another example, Kevin Randleman. Before choosing to go with amateur wrestling, Randleman started all four years of high school in football. Moreover, to this day he might be the most purely athletic fighter ever at the heavier weights. Just look at Randleman almost leaping out of the ring, or consider his legendary suplex against Fedor Emelianenko. Can't you imagine him as a running back, or even an undersized middle linebacker who made up for it with devastating speed and strength?



And yet, as I wrote in an article about Randleman's fight against Randy Couture, while he had the potential to be one of the greatest ever at any weight, Randleman never fulfilled that promise. He was briefly UFC heavyweight champion during a very weak era, with Couture having left and vacated the title and bigger, better pure wrestlers, like Randleman's close friend, mentor and coach Mark Coleman, as well as Mark Kerr, fighting in Pride Fighting Championships. Moreover, while I believe he deserved the nod over Bas Rutten, none of Randleman's victories matched the expectations. Decision wins over Maurice Smith, Pete Williams and Pedro Rizzo were all fairly dull, ho-hum affairs. And once the competition improved and evolved, Randleman could only shows flashes of his ability, like his awesome knockout in the first Mirko Filipovic fight, while racking up many losses. He wouldn't dominate the MMA world nowadays given that he wasn't dominating it in the early 2000s, when he should have been in the prime of his career.

Comparing him to Jones, Randleman lacked a few of the physical attributes, having stubby arms compared to Jones' long ones, and a much weaker chin, but most importantly, he lacked the toughness, dedication, and drive.

So to return to the main question, whether an athlete with the talent to become a pro footballer would dominate MMA if he started early enough, the answer is “maybe”. It's a possibility, but by no means guaranteed. While they may possess certain physical qualities for greatness, it's by no means exhaustive. A pro football player can get by with a weak chin but fighter may not. Most importantly, having physical tools is no guarantee that one will master the many mental aspects of the martial arts, from learning new techniques quickly and well, to showing toughness in the heart of battle. And if there is one truth I hope my articles convey, it's how much of fighting is mental.