Yeah, along with the insane cardio and muscular endurance, they train full body and do a lot of unconventional movements, and great speed, reaction time, and explosive power, and even fight IQ
I disagree. MMA is mostly skill and technique, not physical ability. There are plenty of fighters that despite not being super athletic, they make it very far
@@danahardy4018in terms of speed, power mobility they need a good standard regardless to be effective with their skills but no fighter would make it if they only had enough stamina to last a round.
I agree with you about MMA fighters..apart from the weight divisions that you've chosen. I'd far sooner be Cyril Gane, a heavyweight who moves a like a like light heavyweight. Nothing ...and I mean absolutely nothing beats a big, fit, fast, man with an aesthetic physique .....who is also a trained killer!
Wrestling. Unless you’ve wrestled a full match you’ll never understand how hard wrestling is. You need every athletic ability in the book plus the mental.
As a former fighter and current rugby player and coach I fully agree with you but also consider that in fighting the lighter guys typically are faster and throw a lot more strikes so their fitness is probably better than heavier guys. It definitely gets to a point where all the extra weight begins to slow you down and wear you out.
In terms of fitness, though, heavier fighters are generating more power to move their own body and the opponent. I wrestled and played rugby and soccer. I also ran track and cross-country. Wrestling was certainly the sport that required the most fitness.
@@shantiescovedo4361 Power is force over time. They might be more efficient at the beginning but have to make sure to take advantage of the window of opportunity before fatigue kicks in. l would also say wrestling. another thing to bear in mind is the ability to think straight when the heart is pumping fast. thanks
@@seanyshepfitthis is too true😂, thought the same thing until I got back into mma and started doing a hour sparring session or rolling session. No way a rugby is harder
This video is spot on. I did ice hockey throughout high school and then kickboxing and Muay Thai in college. I love hockey but the level of fitness needed between the two just doesn’t even compare. When you’re doing a combat sport you have to push yourself to the absolute max or else you’ll get pummeled. It’s different in most team based sports where, if you get tired, you can cool down and rotate out with your teammates.
I know what you mean, played soccer for years but could not keep up with an mma workout. My friend who trained mma for 7 years played soccer with us and could not play for more than 30 min. In my opinion, different sports require different muscles to varied extent and changing sport always exposes the unused muscles and aerobic capacity is different when we train different sports.
@@bjf5027 for the most part, I'd say yes. Fighting is just different than most sports, seems more primal, instinctive and multi dimensional. Just my thoughts
I’ve competed in track, CrossFit, and MMA/Muay Thai. I can say without a doubt the most difficult one of these competitions physically and mentally was MMA.
I did the same + strongman and cant decide what was the most challenging... MMA 100% mentally, but whole day crossfit competition can be physically quite demanding. Strongman is brutal just on different level...
I feel like you should've defined what you meant by fitness. Because I would consider all these athletes fit. But you mention good points like being well rounded in other aspects than just cardio or raw strength. Still great video.
How fitness is defined should be listed. There should also be a clear ranking of each of the physical attributes. For example is explosive power, strength endurance or maximal strength rated equally or is it biased to one? Is the cardiovascular endurance based off of 1 minute maximal output, 1 hour output, ability to recover from repeated 30 second to 5 minute high intensity outputs such as in a bike race (while recovering at an "easy" effort that would be 80-85% max heart rate without the efforts)? Is the strength rated as absolute favoring larger athletes or strength to weight favoring smaller athletes? Is female athleticism being considered or are women not worthy of consideration?
Important thing to note about rugby is, although the sport as a whole requires excellent stamina strength, size, agility, etc, individual players specialize in niches, so they don't need to be this remarkable in all the categories. The biggest rugby players and fastest rugby players have almost no overlap. In contrast, fighting, as a 1 on 1 combat sport, requires you to have no weak links. I would definitely consider fighters more fit overall.
Agree with this, just want to add that there are some really large rugby players that are incredibly fast. The overlap does exist although rare. You also have some fighters that are not very fit (Butterbean or old George Forman) but punch hard or take a punch well.
Ive played many sports and have been weight training for 3 years and I absolubtley agree. Boxing was the hardest thing I've ever done, I've never been so tired or drenched in my sweat in my whole life. Felt like a lifeless corpse after every session but totally worth it.
You should try high level JJ. I have run 40-50 + miles a day in all conditions, boxed, and JJ with high level athletes was the hardest for me. But I could not do what high level gymnast do. So its all relative
@@benzun9600 you know it's super annoying not stating what JJ is and expecting everyone else reading to know? I just searched and it doesn't even popup as a sport
No disrespect, but is it sparring, one on one or just hitting the bag. Coz, punching the bag is like energiser battery, just go on and on, and on and on
MMA. These fighters do crazy workouts and really random too, for example going from 1 minute of intense bag hitting to sprawling to squatting heavy to simulate a fight. Not only the weight training and calisthenics but also the sparring with nervousness and an already accelerated heart rate due to not wanting to get knocked out. You have to have a combination of ALL the traits. Speed and fast twitch muscle fibers for explosiveness that helps in things like a suplex or a barrage of punches, not to mention how random these fights can be. You also need slow twitch muscle fibers for strength and long term. You could go from a barrage of punches to getting taken down and fighting you way back up to top position.
@@drwellzz2907 I'd say they're on par in terms of physical ability which is why it's so hard to choose between them. The difference is fight capability
I completely agree, I've played many sports and of all the sports I've practiced, combat sports were the most intense and made me more complete, I did Muay Thai, Kickboxing and currently Boxing, I believe that all of them, including Grapling and MMA are the most complete sports
@BenWinney totally agree and it's good to see a spread of sports that incorporate all aspects of fitness and I think you have already chosen the fittest sports even though some may be a bit more niche
A lot of it comes down to breathing. Know how matter good of cardio you think you have if you get a thrown into a new environment or sport you'll think it's really bad because you won't be breathing optimally. I used to laugh so much at Marathon runners breathing heavy after a single minute of grappling because they put everything they had into it versus pacing themselves and forgot to breathe.
As someone who has played rugby union and does boxing, theyre both fucking insane... Boxing will burn out your shoulders more so than legs whereas the rugby is brutal on the glutes quads hammies calves and a bigger muscle poses a harsher toll on the cardiovascular system. Id go with rugby for this one even though i love boxing.
The most exhausting sports for me is where you need a combination of strength and endurance. If you wrestle an opponent and you are tired but you need to keep on resisting with your whole body. Almost like arm wrestling where you hold your arm tensed in a static position for a period of time. Except you use your whole body. Or rugby where you have to change direction the whole time. Another thing that is very exhausting is lifting your legs the whole time like with kick boxing. Those hip flexors become very tired. I have done a workout where I superset sprawls with flutter kicks. Killer!
Typically the athletes who do American folk style wrestling are fitter than freestyle/Greco Roman. Or as @faithalone5081 referred to it as collegiate wrestling.
@@mikekrasovec6390true but that has nothing to do with the wrestling style, but rather with the relentless agression Style of the americans. You need a ton of cardio to wrestle like that. Where as Russians for example have an approach that relies more on technique. Its the wresting mentality of the americans not folkstyle in particular
I have done wrestling, jiu jitsu, rugby, and CrossFit. Wrestling is easily the hardest, you have to have insane peak fitness with no rest to survive, requiring the most mental toughness. But a CrossFit games athlete would be much stronger and more versatile, even though the mental part could be slightly easier.
From personal experience the first ones that came to mind were: Wrestling, MMA, CrossFit, Gymnastics, Rock climbing, Rugby and Decatlon. It isn’t ordered but I do want to highlight wrestling. Wrestlers are so much faster, more agile, athletic, flexible etc than people realize. If you ever seen a professional wrestler they be doing gymnastics and flips and shit, explode into sprints that leave you speechless, run for miles, life outrageous weight, do handstands and their mentality is something else, there is nothing quite like it.
People who haven't watch rugby in real life cannot understand how insanly intense and brutal it can get , some time youll have 10min non stop actions at the and of the match when evryone is exausted and they keep going and the sound that you hear with some tackles is scary as fk
There’s always an option to quit tho n you can getaway with it and your team mate can pick up. In mma there is no where to hide, you go to the death or you get finished
MMA is for pussies. Put a rugby ball in their hands and then make them run to the other end of the field with another team in the way, most players weighing between 100 - 140 kgs you have to make it thru. There is no defence against a rugby player, you are lined up by your opponent and he aims to crush you. There is no fancy way out of being tackled. An MMA fighter will get crushed by a rugby player, all their fancy fight moves don't mean anything to stop the brute force of a 120 kg man running at you to destroy you. One shoulder barge from a 100kg man will knock you out cold on the spot. A spear tackle will put you in a wheel chair for life. Youve never seen what one man can do to another in a game of rugby.
Unrelated but gymnastics is one of the few sports where being short is more advantageous than being tall. In fact height is probably more important in gymnastics than basketball.
as much as people clown them the work capacity of the average cross-fitter is very impressive I use their cardio machines only and it has helped me tremendously become more fitter in an aerobic and anaerobic capacity
Skill and technical development is a much bigger component in MMA, CrossFit in comparison you basically only develop strength / endurance, technique is basically already what you have on the first day with very little room for development
I remember talking with a kinesiologist who worked with our Olympic athletes and surprisingly he said the best all round conditioned athletes were the ice hockey players.
@@achilles704 not really, a lot of them, especially recently are capable of hitting those types of speeds. And even then, you don’t see the type of athleticism in the nfl anywhere else at such a high percentage
@@paddygreen3266the only issue with water polo,......although it's really hard.... It doesn't translate well to footwork in real life. Soccer players like Ivanovic or totti.... They were strong in their whole body and great footwork. A good soccer player has footwork on another level. Ignore the skinny T-Rex ones with weak shoulders. But some of them are built.
Yea I hadn't heard of cross country skiing until people mentioned it in these comments. I think there's so much debate because it's hard to agree on exactly what fitness is
MMA and Combat Sambo produce the fittest athletes in the world. You have to have speed, strength,conditioning, balance, durability, discipline, agility, and acceleration to be good at those sports. And in terms of MMA and combat Sambo , you’re combining Muay Thai, Wrestling, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu in one sport. Imagine going 5 5 minute rounds and Thai kickboxing, folkstyle wrestling and submission grappling all 25 of those minutes. Those have to be the fittest athletes on the planet. You need every physical attribute possible to win an MMA match or a Combat Sambo match.
I don't know man, all those sports are up there in the fitness realm but God damn, rugby players are something else. They can run fast, lift you in the air and break you in half
Coming from a competitive grappler and track athlete, I think in raw physical fitness CrossFit is probably the best since, that’s literally what they train for; however, if we are also considering mental fitness, MMA wins without a doubt. The mental strength one needs to get hit, choked, thrown, while maintaining strategy and technique is second to none. CrossFit and track athletes don’t have to worry about snapping a knee or even dying in competition as much as fighters do.
I compete in mma currently and track was the hardest for me. I did run 100 to 400m at the D1 level so I may be biased. The training for 400m is what made it so difficult and you’re pushing past personal limits.
I think a lot of people talking about how unbelievably exhausting mma, boxing, etc. are have never actually been fit on a competitive level before. My friend does BJJ and told me two weeks before competition a group of them 'Run two miles every day for two weeks as fast as we can.' and they've never been in better shape before. No wonder BJJ feels so exhausting.
What about tennis ? You have to be fast, strong, agile, tough both physically and mentally, extreme reflexes. These guys strike and defend up to 190 km/h balls for hours. It combines high intensity (for striking hard and moving, reacting fast) and low intensity cardio for being able to play for so long. For me these are the fittest, along with long distance swimmers.
Rock climbing - insane levels of strength and in incredibly difficult ranges of motion. Total command of the body, great flexibility and endurance. The only thing they lack is speed, but with dynos and jumps they need to have fast explosive power in abundance
My opinion goes to rugby. Sprinting around for 80 minutes while also wrestling with other 260-300 pound men just is not even close to comparable to fighting in my opinion
I totally agree with your list. It would be interesting if you had included 7s rugby. It's the most outputting version of rugby. Although a game lasts only for 14 minutes, (7 minutes each half) there are only 7 players on each team. However the field is the same size as the field of an XVs match. You need extreme stamina, endurance, strength, precision, footwork and speed. The tackles have to be made and you need great teamwork to organize the defending as well the attacking line/plays. I am playing 7s, 10s and 15s and 7s is for me the hardest to endure out these three. The sport Rugby definetely takes second place ane it's much more logical that MMA or Boxing takes the first rank. Cheers from Austria 🍻
Tennis players are contenders. Grand slams can be 5 sets, which can last for an hour plus each. The tournament format also means they only get about 48 hours to recover between matches.
F1 drivers are well into the discussion for the fittiest athlets in the world. 2h with an heart rate between 180 and 200 bpm. Temperature in the cockpit that can surpass the 50⁰ C. Up to 7g during cornering and braking ( it mears holding >50kg just with the neck) A brake pedal that require between 100 and 150kg of force to slow down the car. 2 to 4 lt of swat lost suring a race. All of that while having to fight on the track with other 20 drivers, Keeping inhumanly rapid reflexes, managing the race, menaging the tyres, and chaning dozen of setting on the steering wheel each lap.
Not many people know about Australian football but I think they are some of the fittest athletes as they run an average of abt 15km per game and have to be big and bulky aswell
In my definition fitness is cardio, strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, agility, durability and reaction speed. while all sport require these aspect, fighting sport like MMA/Muay Thai pushes one to be absolutely master of all of these aspect and no other sport will punish an athlete if they miss one of these like fighting sport. so talking about being all rounded and importance of being fit, fighters definitely are one of a kind.
If you think about it, whole point of being fit and hard is to be ready for danger. Then you you gotta include how much damage they can take and still go in for more later on.
Decathlon is being under rated here in my eyes. The detrimental reason given here was lack of endurance, I guarantee you no one is running a 4:30 1500m without extensive training which is the minimum almost for competitive decathletes. They easily run 60km per week, while training for the hurdles, pole vault (arguably the sport with the largest barrier to entry), sprints as well as explosive events like shot put which requires elite technique, explosiveness and strength. Additionally the point of them being 7/10 or 8/10 on all events isn’t accurate, it’s more like 9 or 10 for some events while being 7 for all e.g Ehammer
Any type of Combat sports and Martial arts is the only sports that makes a human body and mind up to it’s full potential. And there is no need for an explanation to that.
Gotta try working at a fast food, mason or menial labour for 12 hours straight. Used to Play the whole day i the hot summers(cricket, soccer, field hockey) once began to work, dead as a log and slept for 12 hours a day for months earlier in career. Toughest guys are the ones that take the crowded train.
It’s complex …I think it depends on which muscle fibres dominate your physique…. I found getting fitter in Boxing relatively much easier than grappling, but knew others that were the other way round… Another example is playing squash .. I found it more comfortable to play 45 mins of hard Squash than to continuously “easy” run for 15 minutes.
It's a loaded question, as fitness is specific to the situation. What this video is really about is which sport produces the most generally physically fit athlete.
Haven't seen it mentioned once here, but Tennis should be in the conversation. If you think that's a joke, try running around, jumping, pivoting, staying super low, etc, for up to 3,4 or even 5 hours at the pro level. You're by yourself the entire time, no coaching or anything. Then factor in weather conditions. Some tournaments are played in the most brutal areas for heat or humidity in the world. And of course the mental aspect is what puts it so high for me.
I played semi pro rugby for about 5 years, I recognised that I was phenomenally fit compared to just about everyone else, definitely within the top 2-5 percent for all round fitness, over this time I was smashing weights 3 days on, one day off almost every day for the 5 years, outside of this I'd run or play very high intensity 5 a side for between 1 and 3 hours 3-4 hours a week. One of my mates was a semi pro boxer and he was way way fitter than me, hats off to the boxers and fighters
The ona thing that gives fighters big edge over others is that besides the strength and endurance u have to practive the SKILL , that is the biggest component and most important for combat sports
Great video, my personal opinion is that you can tell what sport is the best by the people’s physiques. For example swimmers always have over developed lats or bikers have great legs but not much upper body development, so on and so forth.
A well rounded sport will produce the most well rounded physique and therefore is the most functional and proportional. For now the best sport that does this is the decathlon.
I think it is absolutely correlated to your level of athleticism. In fact the whole reason why humans have muscle is to move and to move is to be athletic. Bodybuilders have muscle mass but they tend to be too developed in certain areas and certainly undeveloped in the lower body region. @@botta4409
Swimming. No debate. Most balanced physique, mix of muscle and agility/explosiveness, aerobic sport as well. Shredded to the bones. Wide backs, wide shoulders, most aesthetically pleasing physiques.
@@johnpark7972 in terms of strength water polo players take the lead. In terms of cardiovascular conditioning swimmers lead. Most people who've competed in both swimming and polo will say that the swimming workouts will develop greater fitness. Polo training plans are typically going to have a bit more dryland strength workouts. Both regularly lift year round. Water polo tends to select larger athletes. Until you reach the level of at least collegiate sport if not national team or professional it's very common to play polo in the fall and swim in the spring with a mix of swimming, strength training and gpp over the summer.
I remember reading a few years ago that Spartans considered swimming and running up rocky hillsides to be ideal for battle fitness. They also preferred the swimmer physique over the gymnasium physique. Endurance is king.
@@RoosterNutz12There's a reason Infantry training is 90% cardio (running, fartlecks, hill sprints) and cardio with weights (rucking, tabbing, route marching, yomping or whatever ur side of the world calls it).
As an mma fighter I would still give it to CrossFit. MMA requires a lot of physical attributes but technique is still very important, CrossFit is literally a sport of just being in shape. There's no technique. It seems like a competition to be in shape would produce the people in the best shape
Going purely on the question of fitness I would rank them 1. Crossfit 2. MMA mostly because of the grappling component, but striking is taxing as well. 3. Rugby. 4 Men's Gymnastics 5. Decathlon.
between MMA fighters and rugby I would side with rugby players. They have better cardio and usually are very strong , most of them weightlift a lot and can perform heavy lifts and are big and fast dudes, so they have the best balance between strength and endurance. Just look at Volk when he changed to MMA, he just outmuscle and outlast everyone in his division. However, heavyweight boxing produce even better athletes than rugby, they are powerful and have to last 10+ rounds against another huge dude that is trying to knock you out.
I've actually seen this tested years ago and the result was clear and beyond challenge. The all-round fittest professional sports players in the world are Australian rules football players. You only have to look at the players to see that. Their bodies are sculptured like freaking marble statues of Olympians from ancient Greece. It's also the oldest codified game in the world. It was originally developed back in the mid 19th century to keep cricketers fit during the off-season. ✌️☮️❤️🇦🇺🍻
As a former water polo player, I can't stress enough how underrated aquatic sports are in these types of discussions. Edit: I would probably give it to traditional boxers. Their training is beyond anything else
I think people's opinion of the fittest sport largely depends on the popularity of the sport and which are their favourites, so less popular sports like water polo tend to get overlooked. Judging by the comments, there are very wide opinions on which is number 1!
MMA is King, and in MMA Tom Aspinall is King, very tall yet Agile like a smaller guy, has insane cardio yet can KO opponents, 260 lb+ yet good at kickboxing, excellent Defence, great ground-game, very Underrated Fighter
I agree with you, it’s funny how everyone in these comments either brings up sports that are too cardio based or too strength based. MMA is a great in between even with their occasional outlier out of shape knockout master.
Man you doing a very great wirk with these analysis but I'm surprised basketball did not make it to the list,it might not be as demanding as combat sport and but it could stand close to rugby in terms of endurance, stamina and physicality. Running back back and fort while jumping to attack and defend demand a great certain amount of energy and gas
Rugby also Lacrosse. Lacrosse athletes are incredibly strong and a quarter in Lacrosse can have them running basically sprints and also a lot of dynamic movements done for near ten miles.
Want stamina level fit - water polo and swimmers( football real one is second), want agility fit - gymnastics, want simple fit - athletics, want fall down and get back fit - mma
I’m a hybrid athlete but I have done CrossFit for 10 years. I have messed around with mma and boxing. I can tell you that my fitness level was well above the average mma fighter. While running drill and sparring. They are huffing and puffing and I haven’t even broken a sweat.
I think its all what you value in fitness. Are there better all around agile, runners and jumpers than nba? Power and explosiveness nfl? Cardiovascular long distance running, crossfit, soccer/football, combat. All around crossfit maybe? I think its all about what youre looking for.
if crossfit would contain some kind of fighting then it would most likely be the number one and keep in mind that most top level fighters use a lot of crossfit ecercises to prepare their body for fighting
In my experience the thing that feels closest to crossfit is rugby sevens. But you do have to give 100% right from the start to make it as exhausting as crossfit. The main difference is that sevens is a bit more explosive but you don’t have to be as strong
Gymnasts train for hours a day. They do have extreme endurance. They can run all day. Decathletes events are not very endurance based but they do train in endurance a lot. And all of those events are back to back. Rugby and CrossFit are the only ones that hit super heavy loads for reps. Fighters train to be more efficient at fighting, not fitness it’s mostly just a necessity they have a base fitness to effectively move. Most fighters do not know how to run well, they might do that shotty boxer running but that is not going to get you good at running. Fighters would probably be the least conditioned and physically weakest out of everyone, but they would wreck them all in a fight. This is does not seem to take any of the actual training done to do the sport.
Rugby, hands down! You are full pace all the time. And you get hit HARD, harder than taking a punch to the head, a person running at you full pace to break thru your defense line, and you have to stop him dead in his tracks. Rugby is a full contact sport, every rugby player looks to destroy their opponent when the ball is in their possession. Concussions, broken arms, broken ribs, torn ligaments, torn ACL, there is no tapping out, there is no throwing in the towel, the only time the game stops is when someone is comatose on the field and they have to be carried off by stretcher. But when it's all clear, game on again. Very few players can handle the pain of getting crushed by a 120 - 145kg man. If you weigh 90kgs you better have balls of steel to stay in the way of this giant who wants to mow you down.
The conditioning and endurance of boxers who can go the full 12 is next level .
Absolutely
Ever tried wrestling?
@@markoradakovic7713 yes bro it's grusome !
@@markoradakovic7713wrestling matches under 10 min . 12 rounds is 36 minutes
Lmao they couldn’t do 12 rounds of an mma fight though
In my opinion MMA fighters, more specifically welterweights to light heavyweights weight classes.
Yeah, along with the insane cardio and muscular endurance, they train full body and do a lot of unconventional movements, and great speed, reaction time, and explosive power, and even fight IQ
I disagree. MMA is mostly skill and technique, not physical ability. There are plenty of fighters that despite not being super athletic, they make it very far
@@danahardy4018in terms of speed, power mobility they need a good standard regardless to be effective with their skills but no fighter would make it if they only had enough stamina to last a round.
I agree with you about MMA fighters..apart from the weight divisions that you've chosen. I'd far sooner be Cyril Gane, a heavyweight who moves a like a like light heavyweight.
Nothing ...and I mean absolutely nothing beats a big, fit, fast, man with an aesthetic physique .....who is also a trained killer!
In my opinion if you can win in a fight u are the better athlete nothing really matters apart from fighting
Wrestling. Unless you’ve wrestled a full match you’ll never understand how hard wrestling is. You need every athletic ability in the book plus the mental.
Yes wrestlers should be strong flexible, fast and technical.
touching a person of the same gender for that long you must have no feelings. it guess that why its mental lol .
Well you wrestle in mma also so it can’t be only wrestling it would have to be that combined with other martial arts
Wrestling is tough as fk. Nothing and I mean nothing prepares you for it
For real
As a former fighter and current rugby player and coach I fully agree with you but also consider that in fighting the lighter guys typically are faster and throw a lot more strikes so their fitness is probably better than heavier guys. It definitely gets to a point where all the extra weight begins to slow you down and wear you out.
In terms of fitness, though, heavier fighters are generating more power to move their own body and the opponent. I wrestled and played rugby and soccer. I also ran track and cross-country. Wrestling was certainly the sport that required the most fitness.
@@shantiescovedo4361by far. Thought I was fit as a rugby player, NOTHING prepared me for wrestling.
@@shantiescovedo4361 Power is force over time. They might be more efficient at the beginning but have to make sure to take advantage of the window of opportunity before fatigue kicks in. l would also say wrestling. another thing to bear in mind is the ability to think straight when the heart is pumping fast. thanks
@@seanyshepfitthis is too true😂, thought the same thing until I got back into mma and started doing a hour sparring session or rolling session. No way a rugby is harder
This video is spot on. I did ice hockey throughout high school and then kickboxing and Muay Thai in college. I love hockey but the level of fitness needed between the two just doesn’t even compare. When you’re doing a combat sport you have to push yourself to the absolute max or else you’ll get pummeled. It’s different in most team based sports where, if you get tired, you can cool down and rotate out with your teammates.
I know what you mean, played soccer for years but could not keep up with an mma workout.
My friend who trained mma for 7 years played soccer with us and could not play for more than 30 min.
In my opinion, different sports require different muscles to varied extent and changing sport always exposes the unused muscles and aerobic capacity is different when we train different sports.
@@Ken_from_Mumbai very true, pretty amazing how the body adapts.
Id argue that the training for fighting rather than the actual match is what makes them the top on the list
Very true
that could be said for any of the sports on the list, obviously.
@@bjf5027 not really, u miss the point
@@mr.potatohead6138 okay, so the difference between training and competing is somehow greater with fighters than other sports?
@@bjf5027 for the most part, I'd say yes. Fighting is just different than most sports, seems more primal, instinctive and multi dimensional. Just my thoughts
I’ve competed in track, CrossFit, and MMA/Muay Thai. I can say without a doubt the most difficult one of these competitions physically and mentally was MMA.
I did the same + strongman and cant decide what was the most challenging... MMA 100% mentally, but whole day crossfit competition can be physically quite demanding. Strongman is brutal just on different level...
I feel like you should've defined what you meant by fitness. Because I would consider all these athletes fit. But you mention good points like being well rounded in other aspects than just cardio or raw strength. Still great video.
Yeah exactly
How fitness is defined should be listed. There should also be a clear ranking of each of the physical attributes. For example is explosive power, strength endurance or maximal strength rated equally or is it biased to one? Is the cardiovascular endurance based off of 1 minute maximal output, 1 hour output, ability to recover from repeated 30 second to 5 minute high intensity outputs such as in a bike race (while recovering at an "easy" effort that would be 80-85% max heart rate without the efforts)? Is the strength rated as absolute favoring larger athletes or strength to weight favoring smaller athletes? Is female athleticism being considered or are women not worthy of consideration?
Important thing to note about rugby is, although the sport as a whole requires excellent stamina strength, size, agility, etc, individual players specialize in niches, so they don't need to be this remarkable in all the categories. The biggest rugby players and fastest rugby players have almost no overlap.
In contrast, fighting, as a 1 on 1 combat sport, requires you to have no weak links. I would definitely consider fighters more fit overall.
Agree with this, just want to add that there are some really large rugby players that are incredibly fast. The overlap does exist although rare. You also have some fighters that are not very fit (Butterbean or old George Forman) but punch hard or take a punch well.
Smaller fighters are weaker. Bigger fighters are slower. Plenty of weak links.
Ive played many sports and have been weight training for 3 years and I absolubtley agree. Boxing was the hardest thing I've ever done, I've never been so tired or drenched in my sweat in my whole life. Felt like a lifeless corpse after every session but totally worth it.
Nothing makes me sweat as rapidly as boxing
You should try high level JJ. I have run 40-50 + miles a day in all conditions, boxed, and JJ with high level athletes was the hardest for me. But I could not do what high level gymnast do. So its all relative
@@benzun9600 you know it's super annoying not stating what JJ is and expecting everyone else reading to know?
I just searched and it doesn't even popup as a sport
@@william_SMMA Gotta be Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
No disrespect, but is it sparring, one on one or just hitting the bag.
Coz, punching the bag is like energiser battery, just go on and on, and on and on
Fighters and rugby players use CrossFit (cross model training) type training to get in shape to do their sport.
But getting hit and still playing is something different.
CrossFit was started for people doing sports in their off-season. Now the vast majority of crossfaders don't do any sports.
MMA. These fighters do crazy workouts and really random too, for example going from 1 minute of intense bag hitting to sprawling to squatting heavy to simulate a fight. Not only the weight training and calisthenics but also the sparring with nervousness and an already accelerated heart rate due to not wanting to get knocked out. You have to have a combination of ALL the traits. Speed and fast twitch muscle fibers for explosiveness that helps in things like a suplex or a barrage of punches, not to mention how random these fights can be. You also need slow twitch muscle fibers for strength and long term. You could go from a barrage of punches to getting taken down and fighting you way back up to top position.
Great video. For part two, you need to include: rowers, swimmers, cross-country skiers, and triathletes.
In MMA you have to be strong, have amazing endurance, be flexible, explosive, you got it all.
Yep that's why I've put it at the top
But so does crossfit@@BenWinney
@@drwellzz2907 I'd say they're on par in terms of physical ability which is why it's so hard to choose between them. The difference is fight capability
@@BenWinney And in fighting you have to use intelligence and creativity at the same time
I completely agree, I've played many sports and of all the sports I've practiced, combat sports were the most intense and made me more complete, I did Muay Thai, Kickboxing and currently Boxing, I believe that all of them, including Grapling and MMA are the most complete sports
All of these sports contain really physically demanding. But I think they are all different types of cardio
They are, so the ones at the top are the ones with the best mix of everything
@BenWinney totally agree and it's good to see a spread of sports that incorporate all aspects of fitness and I think you have already chosen the fittest sports even though some may be a bit more niche
A lot of it comes down to breathing. Know how matter good of cardio you think you have if you get a thrown into a new environment or sport you'll think it's really bad because you won't be breathing optimally. I used to laugh so much at Marathon runners breathing heavy after a single minute of grappling because they put everything they had into it versus pacing themselves and forgot to breathe.
As someone who has played rugby union and does boxing, theyre both fucking insane... Boxing will burn out your shoulders more so than legs whereas the rugby is brutal on the glutes quads hammies calves and a bigger muscle poses a harsher toll on the cardiovascular system. Id go with rugby for this one even though i love boxing.
Huge respect to the athletes from both sports
This is superb content. I’m a fan! More fighting fitness, mentality, etc stuff!
The most exhausting sports for me is where you need a combination of strength and endurance. If you wrestle an opponent and you are tired but you need to keep on resisting with your whole body. Almost like arm wrestling where you hold your arm tensed in a static position for a period of time. Except you use your whole body. Or rugby where you have to change direction the whole time. Another thing that is very exhausting is lifting your legs the whole time like with kick boxing. Those hip flexors become very tired. I have done a workout where I superset sprawls with flutter kicks. Killer!
Freestyle/greco wrestling.
Valid
Collegiate wrestling is harder than both
Typically the athletes who do American folk style wrestling are fitter than freestyle/Greco Roman. Or as @faithalone5081 referred to it as collegiate wrestling.
@@mikekrasovec6390true but that has nothing to do with the wrestling style, but rather with the relentless agression Style of the americans. You need a ton of cardio to wrestle like that. Where as Russians for example have an approach that relies more on technique. Its the wresting mentality of the americans not folkstyle in particular
I have done wrestling, jiu jitsu, rugby, and CrossFit. Wrestling is easily the hardest, you have to have insane peak fitness with no rest to survive, requiring the most mental toughness. But a CrossFit games athlete would be much stronger and more versatile, even though the mental part could be slightly easier.
In no definite order
- Olympic Level Wrestling
- MMA/Boxing/Lower level wrestling
- Water polo
- Soccer
Could not agree more. Glad you mentioned Water Polo!
Decades ago, there was a study comparing wordl-class athletes. Judged by VO2 max. I believe rowers won by a substantial margin...
I don't know about the margin, but rowers had the highest for sure.
From personal experience the first ones that came to mind were: Wrestling, MMA, CrossFit, Gymnastics, Rock climbing, Rugby and Decatlon.
It isn’t ordered but I do want to highlight wrestling. Wrestlers are so much faster, more agile, athletic, flexible etc than people realize. If you ever seen a professional wrestler they be doing gymnastics and flips and shit, explode into sprints that leave you speechless, run for miles, life outrageous weight, do handstands and their mentality is something else, there is nothing quite like it.
Wrestlers are so well rounded
People who haven't watch rugby in real life cannot understand how insanly intense and brutal it can get , some time youll have 10min non stop actions at the and of the match when evryone is exausted and they keep going and the sound that you hear with some tackles is scary as fk
There’s always an option to quit tho n you can getaway with it and your team mate can pick up. In mma there is no where to hide, you go to the death or you get finished
It's not nearly as brutal as MMA where your opponents literally hurt you.
MMA is for pussies.
Put a rugby ball in their hands and then make them run to the other end of the field with another team in the way, most players weighing between 100 - 140 kgs you have to make it thru.
There is no defence against a rugby player, you are lined up by your opponent and he aims to crush you. There is no fancy way out of being tackled.
An MMA fighter will get crushed by a rugby player, all their fancy fight moves don't mean anything to stop the brute force of a 120 kg man running at you to destroy you.
One shoulder barge from a 100kg man will knock you out cold on the spot. A spear tackle will put you in a wheel chair for life.
Youve never seen what one man can do to another in a game of rugby.
@@OhgodImtoosexyyou can see what’s hitting you in mma but you can’t in rugby or American football
@@willrich7209That's such a stupid thing to say lol
Gymnasts would be the only ones that beat combat in flexibility.
Unrelated but gymnastics is one of the few sports where being short is more advantageous than being tall. In fact height is probably more important in gymnastics than basketball.
There’s being in shape, and then there’s being in wrestling shape.
Messi, Messi played in Barcelona every 3 days for 90 min, at peak level world class, made 3 children, won all championships available. Natty.
He is not natty
as much as people clown them the work capacity of the average cross-fitter is very impressive
I use their cardio machines only and it has helped me tremendously become more fitter in an aerobic and anaerobic capacity
Meanwhile powerlifters with 0 work capacity are the ones clowning... I think that's stupid asf
Some of best corssfitters are retired fighters.
Boxing and fight sports in general is the hardest
Skill and technical development is a much bigger component in MMA, CrossFit in comparison you basically only develop strength / endurance, technique is basically already what you have on the first day with very little room for development
I remember talking with a kinesiologist who worked with our Olympic athletes and surprisingly he said the best all round conditioned athletes were the ice hockey players.
I mean it is also a combat sport lol
NFL has Miracles.
Especially Linemen.
People who Weight 300lbs+
and runnin 35kmh are scary.
That’s why nfl athletes are typically the most athletic on the planet. But I play football as well and I wouldn’t say the fittest
@@christianimura1958no, caus they have not the endurance other athletes have. They are not well rounded.
@@leonbouadi7382 I said athleticism, not fitness
35kmh is highly exaggerated
@@achilles704 not really, a lot of them, especially recently are capable of hitting those types of speeds. And even then, you don’t see the type of athleticism in the nfl anywhere else at such a high percentage
Soccer players/swimmers should be here
The hardest sport I’ve ever played was water polo. People underestimate the water
@@paddygreen3266the only issue with water polo,......although it's really hard.... It doesn't translate well to footwork in real life.
Soccer players like Ivanovic or totti.... They were strong in their whole body and great footwork. A good soccer player has footwork on another level. Ignore the skinny T-Rex ones with weak shoulders. But some of them are built.
Combat sports, and calisthenics 💪. They really emphasize mastering your body and mind
Heard about cross country skiing requiring the highest vo2max. Not the only parameter that makes you fit but it's definitely interesting
Yea I hadn't heard of cross country skiing until people mentioned it in these comments. I think there's so much debate because it's hard to agree on exactly what fitness is
Rowing > Crossfit
Decathlon > Crossfit
walk around the block > crossfit
literally anything > crossfit
Have you seen that show that pits 100 Koreans of different sports disciplines against each other? Crossfire athletes won both times.
I've heard of it and yes that makes sense. Crossfitters are probably the most well rounded
MMA and Combat Sambo produce the fittest athletes in the world. You have to have speed, strength,conditioning, balance, durability, discipline, agility, and acceleration to be good at those sports. And in terms of MMA and combat Sambo , you’re combining Muay Thai, Wrestling, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu in one sport. Imagine going 5 5 minute rounds and Thai kickboxing, folkstyle wrestling and submission grappling all 25 of those minutes. Those have to be the fittest athletes on the planet. You need every physical attribute possible to win an MMA match or a Combat Sambo match.
I don't know man, all those sports are up there in the fitness realm but God damn, rugby players are something else. They can run fast, lift you in the air and break you in half
They are built different
0:42 AYYYY ITS RODTANG WOOOOOOOOO
Coming from a competitive grappler and track athlete, I think in raw physical fitness CrossFit is probably the best since, that’s literally what they train for; however, if we are also considering mental fitness, MMA wins without a doubt. The mental strength one needs to get hit, choked, thrown, while maintaining strategy and technique is second to none. CrossFit and track athletes don’t have to worry about snapping a knee or even dying in competition as much as fighters do.
I compete in mma currently and track was the hardest for me. I did run 100 to 400m at the D1 level so I may be biased. The training for 400m is what made it so difficult and you’re pushing past personal limits.
I think a lot of people talking about how unbelievably exhausting mma, boxing, etc. are have never actually been fit on a competitive level before. My friend does BJJ and told me two weeks before competition a group of them 'Run two miles every day for two weeks as fast as we can.' and they've never been in better shape before. No wonder BJJ feels so exhausting.
What about tennis ? You have to be fast, strong, agile, tough both physically and mentally, extreme reflexes. These guys strike and defend up to 190 km/h balls for hours. It combines high intensity (for striking hard and moving, reacting fast) and low intensity cardio for being able to play for so long.
For me these are the fittest, along with long distance swimmers.
Rock climbing - insane levels of strength and in incredibly difficult ranges of motion. Total command of the body, great flexibility and endurance. The only thing they lack is speed, but with dynos and jumps they need to have fast explosive power in abundance
Rock climbers are super impressive athletes. Sleeper build strength
All combat sports including wrestling Needs lot of stamina strength and cardio!!
1. MMA, 2. Wresteling, 3. Muay thai, 4. Swimming, 5. Climbing, 6. Running with jumping over, 7. Sprinting, 8. Hit, 9. Crossfit, 10. Olympic weight lifting.
I'd put football and rugby up there, I did hurdles and sprinting and it was not as physically demanding as rugby tbh
My opinion goes to rugby. Sprinting around for 80 minutes while also wrestling with other 260-300 pound men just is not even close to comparable to fighting in my opinion
I like your video. In fighting, that is a combination with wrestling boxing, judo and others . You get something that is on another level.
I totally agree with your list. It would be interesting if you had included 7s rugby. It's the most outputting version of rugby. Although a game lasts only for 14 minutes, (7 minutes each half) there are only 7 players on each team. However the field is the same size as the field of an XVs match. You need extreme stamina, endurance, strength, precision, footwork and speed. The tackles have to be made and you need great teamwork to organize the defending as well the attacking line/plays. I am playing 7s, 10s and 15s and 7s is for me the hardest to endure out these three. The sport Rugby definetely takes second place ane it's much more logical that MMA or Boxing takes the first rank. Cheers from Austria 🍻
7s - boo
CrossFit is not a sport. It’s competitive exercising.
Tennis players are contenders. Grand slams can be 5 sets, which can last for an hour plus each. The tournament format also means they only get about 48 hours to recover between matches.
Definitely, I'll include them in the next version of this video
F1 drivers are well into the discussion for the fittiest athlets in the world.
2h with an heart rate between 180 and 200 bpm.
Temperature in the cockpit that can surpass the 50⁰ C.
Up to 7g during cornering and braking ( it mears holding >50kg just with the neck)
A brake pedal that require between 100 and 150kg of force to slow down the car.
2 to 4 lt of swat lost suring a race.
All of that while having to fight on the track with other 20 drivers, Keeping inhumanly rapid reflexes, managing the race, menaging the tyres, and chaning dozen of setting on the steering wheel each lap.
They're good but not the best athletes
Was thinking about this question since many days after watching a JRE clip,and this video appeared today Cheers to you Ben !
Decathletes. Have to be strong fast and have endurance. Mma has other qualities irrespective of fitness such as durability and toughness.
Not many people know about Australian football but I think they are some of the fittest athletes as they run an average of abt 15km per game and have to be big and bulky aswell
In my definition fitness is cardio, strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, agility, durability and reaction speed. while all sport require these aspect, fighting sport like MMA/Muay Thai pushes one to be absolutely master of all of these aspect and no other sport will punish an athlete if they miss one of these like fighting sport. so talking about being all rounded and importance of being fit, fighters definitely are one of a kind.
I agree
If you think about it, whole point of being fit and hard is to be ready for danger. Then you you gotta include how much damage they can take and still go in for more later on.
Fittest athletes in the world? Fighters and gymnasts.
Decathlon is being under rated here in my eyes. The detrimental reason given here was lack of endurance, I guarantee you no one is running a 4:30 1500m without extensive training which is the minimum almost for competitive decathletes. They easily run 60km per week, while training for the hurdles, pole vault (arguably the sport with the largest barrier to entry), sprints as well as explosive events like shot put which requires elite technique, explosiveness and strength. Additionally the point of them being 7/10 or 8/10 on all events isn’t accurate, it’s more like 9 or 10 for some events while being 7 for all e.g Ehammer
Fair points, obviously they're incredible athletes
Any type of Combat sports and Martial arts is the only sports that makes a human body and mind up to it’s full potential. And there is no need for an explanation to that.
I would agree
Gotta try working at a fast food, mason or menial labour for 12 hours straight. Used to Play the whole day i the hot summers(cricket, soccer, field hockey) once began to work, dead as a log and slept for 12 hours a day for months earlier in career.
Toughest guys are the ones that take the crowded train.
It’s complex …I think it depends on which muscle fibres dominate your physique…. I found getting fitter in Boxing relatively much easier than grappling, but knew others that were the other way round…
Another example is playing squash .. I found it more comfortable to play 45 mins of hard Squash than to continuously “easy” run for 15 minutes.
It's a loaded question, as fitness is specific to the situation.
What this video is really about is which sport produces the most generally physically fit athlete.
Yeah that's correct
Haven't seen it mentioned once here, but Tennis should be in the conversation. If you think that's a joke, try running around, jumping, pivoting, staying super low, etc, for up to 3,4 or even 5 hours at the pro level. You're by yourself the entire time, no coaching or anything. Then factor in weather conditions. Some tournaments are played in the most brutal areas for heat or humidity in the world. And of course the mental aspect is what puts it so high for me.
Huge respect to tennis players
Bare knuckle Mike Perry is brutal
I played semi pro rugby for about 5 years, I recognised that I was phenomenally fit compared to just about everyone else, definitely within the top 2-5 percent for all round fitness, over this time I was smashing weights 3 days on, one day off almost every day for the 5 years, outside of this I'd run or play very high intensity 5 a side for between 1 and 3 hours 3-4 hours a week.
One of my mates was a semi pro boxer and he was way way fitter than me, hats off to the boxers and fighters
The ona thing that gives fighters big edge over others is that besides the strength and endurance u have to practive the SKILL , that is the biggest component and most important for combat sports
Most definitely table tennis players! The amount of physical toughness and endurance needed is outrageous! Where is table tennis??
Great video, my personal opinion is that you can tell what sport is the best by the people’s physiques. For example swimmers always have over developed lats or bikers have great legs but not much upper body development, so on and so forth.
A well rounded sport will produce the most well rounded physique and therefore is the most functional and proportional. For now the best sport that does this is the decathlon.
@@ordjk4797 so bodybuilding should be the best? Your phisique doesn't rapresent your real level of athleticism
I think it is absolutely correlated to your level of athleticism. In fact the whole reason why humans have muscle is to move and to move is to be athletic. Bodybuilders have muscle mass but they tend to be too developed in certain areas and certainly undeveloped in the lower body region. @@botta4409
Swimming. No debate. Most balanced physique, mix of muscle and agility/explosiveness, aerobic sport as well. Shredded to the bones. Wide backs, wide shoulders, most aesthetically pleasing physiques.
It actually is very debatable.
I would say waterpolo is much more tough
@@johnpark7972 in terms of strength water polo players take the lead. In terms of cardiovascular conditioning swimmers lead. Most people who've competed in both swimming and polo will say that the swimming workouts will develop greater fitness. Polo training plans are typically going to have a bit more dryland strength workouts. Both regularly lift year round. Water polo tends to select larger athletes. Until you reach the level of at least collegiate sport if not national team or professional it's very common to play polo in the fall and swim in the spring with a mix of swimming, strength training and gpp over the summer.
I remember reading a few years ago that Spartans considered swimming and running up rocky hillsides to be ideal for battle fitness. They also preferred the swimmer physique over the gymnasium physique. Endurance is king.
@@RoosterNutz12There's a reason Infantry training is 90% cardio (running, fartlecks, hill sprints) and cardio with weights (rucking, tabbing, route marching, yomping or whatever ur side of the world calls it).
As an mma fighter I would still give it to CrossFit. MMA requires a lot of physical attributes but technique is still very important, CrossFit is literally a sport of just being in shape. There's no technique. It seems like a competition to be in shape would produce the people in the best shape
Going purely on the question of fitness I would rank them
1. Crossfit
2. MMA mostly because of the grappling component, but striking is taxing as well.
3. Rugby.
4 Men's Gymnastics
5. Decathlon.
If we're talking straight athleticism, then I'd say wrestling is on top
Track. Nuff said.
To be fair the 400m is horrific 😂😂
These are smaller sports but sprint canoe and kayak as well as probably rowing have a huge fitness demand
between MMA fighters and rugby I would side with rugby players. They have better cardio and usually are very strong , most of them weightlift a lot and can perform heavy lifts and are big and fast dudes, so they have the best balance between strength and endurance. Just look at Volk when he changed to MMA, he just outmuscle and outlast everyone in his division.
However, heavyweight boxing produce even better athletes than rugby, they are powerful and have to last 10+ rounds against another huge dude that is trying to knock you out.
Next video I'd like to see motorsports; especially open wheel, endurance racing and motorcycles
I wrestled in Highschool 3 minutes 3 rounds and let me tell you those 3 minutes feels like 20 minutes each
Was it cardio or muscular exhaustion? I imagine a mix of both. And you have to stay mentally sharp and responsive too
I've actually seen this tested years ago and the result was clear and beyond challenge.
The all-round fittest professional sports players in the world are Australian rules football players. You only have to look at the players to see that. Their bodies are sculptured like freaking marble statues of Olympians from ancient Greece. It's also the oldest codified game in the world. It was originally developed back in the mid 19th century to keep cricketers fit during the off-season.
✌️☮️❤️🇦🇺🍻
As a former water polo player, I can't stress enough how underrated aquatic sports are in these types of discussions.
Edit: I would probably give it to traditional boxers. Their training is beyond anything else
I think people's opinion of the fittest sport largely depends on the popularity of the sport and which are their favourites, so less popular sports like water polo tend to get overlooked. Judging by the comments, there are very wide opinions on which is number 1!
MMA is King, and in MMA Tom Aspinall is King, very tall yet Agile like a smaller guy, has insane cardio yet can KO opponents, 260 lb+ yet good at kickboxing, excellent Defence, great ground-game, very Underrated Fighter
Fighting is the ultimate and original competition that almost all life on earth has to do for survival .
8 couldn't agree more , well done
Gymnast peoples looking jacked soo much
Gymnastics produces some of the most aesthetic physiques of any sport
@@BenWinney ı agree 👍🏻
And highest level of mastery of their body, which lifting can never even scratch the surface of.
I agree with you, it’s funny how everyone in these comments either brings up sports that are too cardio based or too strength based. MMA is a great in between even with their occasional outlier out of shape knockout master.
Man you doing a very great wirk with these analysis but I'm surprised basketball did not make it to the list,it might not be as demanding as combat sport and but it could stand close to rugby in terms of endurance, stamina and physicality. Running back back and fort while jumping to attack and defend demand a great certain amount of energy and gas
Rugby also Lacrosse.
Lacrosse athletes are incredibly strong and a quarter in Lacrosse can have them running basically sprints and also a lot of dynamic movements done for near ten miles.
Want stamina level fit - water polo and swimmers( football real one is second), want agility fit - gymnastics, want simple fit - athletics, want fall down and get back fit - mma
I’m a hybrid athlete but I have done CrossFit for 10 years. I have messed around with mma and boxing. I can tell you that my fitness level was well above the average mma fighter. While running drill and sparring. They are huffing and puffing and I haven’t even broken a sweat.
I think its all what you value in fitness. Are there better all around agile, runners and jumpers than nba? Power and explosiveness nfl? Cardiovascular long distance running, crossfit, soccer/football, combat. All around crossfit maybe? I think its all about what youre looking for.
No boxing? No xc skiing? No biathlon? No wrestling? No triathlon?
Wrestling. These dudes do gymnastics as a WARM UP... That's just insane to me.
if crossfit would contain some kind of fighting then it would most likely be the number one and keep in mind that most top level fighters use a lot of crossfit ecercises to prepare their body for fighting
Freestyle and Greco Wrestlers. Its not even a debate.
In my experience the thing that feels closest to crossfit is rugby sevens. But you do have to give 100% right from the start to make it as exhausting as crossfit. The main difference is that sevens is a bit more explosive but you don’t have to be as strong
I guess the GSP phisique is the ideal of fighters, neither more, nor less, for womem i guess that is Lucero "La Loba" Acosta.
Gymnasts train for hours a day. They do have extreme endurance. They can run all day.
Decathletes events are not very endurance based but they do train in endurance a lot. And all of those events are back to back.
Rugby and CrossFit are the only ones that hit super heavy loads for reps.
Fighters train to be more efficient at fighting, not fitness it’s mostly just a necessity they have a base fitness to effectively move. Most fighters do not know how to run well, they might do that shotty boxer running but that is not going to get you good at running.
Fighters would probably be the least conditioned and physically weakest out of everyone, but they would wreck them all in a fight.
This is does not seem to take any of the actual training done to do the sport.
Rugby, hands down!
You are full pace all the time. And you get hit HARD, harder than taking a punch to the head, a person running at you full pace to break thru your defense line, and you have to stop him dead in his tracks.
Rugby is a full contact sport, every rugby player looks to destroy their opponent when the ball is in their possession.
Concussions, broken arms, broken ribs, torn ligaments, torn ACL, there is no tapping out, there is no throwing in the towel, the only time the game stops is when someone is comatose on the field and they have to be carried off by stretcher.
But when it's all clear, game on again. Very few players can handle the pain of getting crushed by a 120 - 145kg man.
If you weigh 90kgs you better have balls of steel to stay in the way of this giant who wants to mow you down.
Decathlon. I rest my case