The conditioning and endurance of boxers who can go the full 12 is next level .

In my opinion MMA fighters, more specifically welterweights to light heavyweights weight classes.

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.

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.

Id argue that the training for fighting rather than the actual match is what makes them the top on the list

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.

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.

Gymnasts would be the only ones that beat combat in flexibility.

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.

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.

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.

All of these sports contain really physically demanding. But I think they are all different types of cardio

Boxing and fight sports in general is the hardest

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.

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.

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

Fighters and rugby players use CrossFit (cross model training) type training to get in shape to do their sport.

In MMA you have to be strong, have amazing endurance, be flexible, explosive, you got it all.

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

Great video. For part two, you need to include: rowers, swimmers, cross-country skiers, and triathletes.

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

This is superb content. I’m a fan! More fighting fitness, mentality, etc stuff!

In no definite order - Olympic Level Wrestling - MMA/Boxing/Lower level wrestling - Water polo - Soccer

Was thinking about this question since many days after watching a JRE clip,and this video appeared today Cheers to you Ben !

I like your video. In fighting, that is a combination with wrestling boxing, judo and others . You get something that is on another level.

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!

Combat sports win easily, not only do you have to perform at your best every minute of the fight, but you do that under the highest amount of mental stress across the ring from a person who has trained just as hard as you with the sole purpose of hurting you.

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.

Freestyle/greco wrestling.

NFL has Miracles. Especially Linemen. People who Weight 300lbs+ and runnin 35kmh are scary.

Soccer players/swimmers should be here

Football players (as we call it in Europe or soccer as they call it in the states) are the fittest athletes in the planet!! They have to continuously run and pay attention to the game for 90 minutes, with only one 15 minute break after the first 45 minutes and on some occasions they might need to continue playing for another 30 minutes if the game goes to extra time!! Also they usually play two games per week!! That's 50-60 games per year for the average football athlete, it is insane!!

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

Decades ago, there was a study comparing wordl-class athletes. Judged by VO2 max. I believe rowers won by a substantial margin...

Great list

Combat sports, and calisthenics 💪. They really emphasize mastering your body and mind

Messi, Messi played in Barcelona every 3 days for 90 min, at peak level world class, made 3 children, won all championships available. Natty.

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.

There’s being in shape, and then there’s being in wrestling shape.

Really interesting 🤟🏼

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

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.

If we're talking straight athleticism, then I'd say wrestling is on top

All combat sports including wrestling Needs lot of stamina strength and cardio!!

Next video I'd like to see motorsports; especially open wheel, endurance racing and motorcycles

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

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.

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

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 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 🍻

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Heard about cross country skiing requiring the highest vo2max. Not the only parameter that makes you fit but it's definitely interesting

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

8 couldn't agree more , well done

Yes you are right❤

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.

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

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.

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 think, the crossfitters are the fittest Their cardio to strength ratio is crazy Rugby players actually walk for a big part of the game

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.

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

Very good video sir.

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.

I wrestled in Highschool 3 minutes 3 rounds and let me tell you those 3 minutes feels like 20 minutes each

Great video

Interested to see what you could say about ballet and breakdances, any of the performing arts

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

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.

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.

Fighting is the ultimate and original competition that almost all life on earth has to do for survival .

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

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.

Bare knuckle Mike Perry is brutal

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.

These are smaller sports but sprint canoe and kayak as well as probably rowing have a huge fitness demand

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.

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.

it depends my friend of what kind of conditioning... jejej, I am pretty sure, you already said that in the video, I think, it all depends on the activity

0:42 AYYYY ITS RODTANG WOOOOOOOOO

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.

Obviously fighters. MMA fighters are physically fit and look good too. Any fighter can play rugby, soccer, tennis, you name it. But not every other athlete could fight.

Most definitely table tennis players! The amount of physical toughness and endurance needed is outrageous! Where is table tennis??

I think water polo needs more recognition. That sport is pure insanity

Prob gymnastics, just look at jake dalton, after winning gymnast olympics he still continue training jiu jitsu and running avg. 5 miles a day

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

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

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 think American football should’ve been considered. The plays being short is actually an advantage to athletic ability because having some rest forces you to output the most speed, strength, etc that you can repeatedly. Similar to how powerlifters train. However since your putting in all your effort there is a sort of HIT cardio component that leads to great cardiovascular development as well.

I understand boxing and mma but trust me running specifically long distant runners and cross country runners fitness is unbelievable.for example kipchoges one mile pace for a marathon which is usually around 26 miles was 4 minutes and 27 seconds per mile to put this into perspective most people couldn't even do 1 mile in under 7 minutes

In my opinion MMA fighters. Especially welterweights and lightweights. MMA fighters need an insane endurance to bring out that output level in different disciplines and to inflict damage to their opponents. Rugby, it's true they are massive and overpowering their opponents, and also they have to be sufficiently fast to evade their opponents, it's not as violent as MMA. Now a small correction: in fighting, muscular mass is certainly an advantage, but never expect an elite rugby player to beat an MMA guy, no matter his weight class. Rugby players aren't fighters, and I can guarantee you that a rugby player will be smoked and roasted by a fighter, especially the elite ones

Olympic Water polo players, Swimming very fast, while have people trying to drown you, then wrestling in the water , then skills in ball accuracy in throwing. It's 1hr of very intense activity, plus it's lasts for 2 weeks of Olympic level games . This was tested many years ago.

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.

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.

Decathletes. Have to be strong fast and have endurance. Mma has other qualities irrespective of fitness such as durability and toughness.