What individual dominated their sport more than any other dominated theirs?

[TheDazzler]

I challenge anyone in this thread to a game of Subbeteo.
I WILL dominate.

[Waz1892]

I challenge anyone in this thread to a game of Subbeteo.
I WILL dominate.

Loved that game.

[TheDazzler]

I challenge anyone in this thread to a game of Subbeteo.
I WILL dominate.

Loved that game.

You mean you loved that SPORT.

[doubleup]

not in an overly passionately way, but putting it out there,

Sport or game / pastime - always considered If i can play it and in essence all it took was practice to become a "champion", it is a game/pastime.....if it need nature talent it is a sport.

flame away.

You can get better at everything with practice - but what is your maximum potential?  That's where natural talent is a factor imo.

I doubt that you could become a "champion", in anything that has professionals making a living, simply by practice.  Most sports organise their championships to eliminate luck as much as possible.  That isn't to say that luck isn't a factor in who wins, but that it won't be possible for someone without a certain level of skill to win by being lucky.

 

[bergeroo]

Poor refereeing IMO

Bill Goldberg started out 173-0 in his professional wrestling career in WCW which included winning a US title and vacating it as he won the world title with multiple defenses of the title within that streak.  He defeated legends of the sport on that streak including Hulk Hogan, Sting, Lex Luger, Diamond Dallas Page and Brett Hart.  Arguably his reign of dominance wouldve been much longer as he lost the title due to these shenanigans at 15m 39s

[Kmac84]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halil_Mutlu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naim_S%C3%BCleymano%C4%9Flu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrros_Dimas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Alekseyev

[Waz1892]

not in an overly passionately way, but putting it out there,

Sport or game / pastime - always considered If i can play it and in essence all it took was practice to become a "champion", it is a game/pastime.....if it need nature talent it is a sport.

flame away.

You can get better at everything with practice - but what is your maximum potential?  That's where natural talent is a factor imo.

I doubt that you could become a "champion", in anything that has professionals making a living, simply by practice.  Most sports organise their championships to eliminate luck as much as possible.  That isn't to say that luck isn't a factor in who wins, but that it won't be possible for someone without a certain level of skill to win by being lucky.

 

Naively most likely, but with Darts and Snooker i think enough practice is enough to get you higher in most other "sports"

I can practice darts and snooker and technically become a champion, as it is limited in its challenge. By what i mean, if you hit the ball correctly at the right angle it'll go in.  You can practice cue and ball control, pace etc and you'll nail it eventually. Same with darts, angle vision practice practice i would could become champion - in theory.

Cricket, rugby, football and the like i can practice as much as above, but will never play at the top level as i havent got nature talent

[AndrewT]

I challenge anyone in this thread to a game of Subbeteo.
I WILL dominate.

Poker forum the wrong place to issue a Subbuteo challenge - too many people have too much experience at flicking it in.

[vegaslover]

not in an overly passionately way, but putting it out there,

Sport or game / pastime - always considered If i can play it and in essence all it took was practice to become a "champion", it is a game/pastime.....if it need nature talent it is a sport.

flame away.

You can get better at everything with practice - but what is your maximum potential?  That's where natural talent is a factor imo.

I doubt that you could become a "champion", in anything that has professionals making a living, simply by practice.  Most sports organise their championships to eliminate luck as much as possible.  That isn't to say that luck isn't a factor in who wins, but that it won't be possible for someone without a certain level of skill to win by being lucky.

 

Naively most likely, but with Darts and Snooker i think enough practice is enough to get you higher in most other "sports"

I can practice darts and snooker and technically become a champion, as it is limited in its challenge. By what i mean, if you hit the ball correctly at the right angle it'll go in.  You can practice cue and ball control, pace etc and you'll nail it eventually. Same with darts, angle vision practice practice i would could become champion - in theory.

Cricket, rugby, football and the like i can practice as much as above, but will never play at the top level as i havent got nature talent

Disagree. Most players cannot even get to being a champion in darts or snooker. In snooker for instance, plenty of players can hit century breaks and wont ever get close to being a pro standard, let alone ever getting close to being a champion.

Not so in team sports, sooo many mediocre players in rugby/football in particular who have very little skill.

[MintTrav]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Alekseyev

Never forget Alekseyev at the Olympic opening ceremony, carrying the Soviet flag in one hand with his arm fully extended, while the other flag-bearers all sat theirs in a leather pouch that was strapped around them.

[Waz1892]

not in an overly passionately way, but putting it out there,

Sport or game / pastime - always considered If i can play it and in essence all it took was practice to become a "champion", it is a game/pastime.....if it need nature talent it is a sport.

flame away.

You can get better at everything with practice - but what is your maximum potential?  That's where natural talent is a factor imo.

I doubt that you could become a "champion", in anything that has professionals making a living, simply by practice.  Most sports organise their championships to eliminate luck as much as possible.  That isn't to say that luck isn't a factor in who wins, but that it won't be possible for someone without a certain level of skill to win by being lucky.

 

Naively most likely, but with Darts and Snooker i think enough practice is enough to get you higher in most other "sports"

I can practice darts and snooker and technically become a champion, as it is limited in its challenge. By what i mean, if you hit the ball correctly at the right angle it'll go in.  You can practice cue and ball control, pace etc and you'll nail it eventually. Same with darts, angle vision practice practice i would could become champion - in theory.

Cricket, rugby, football and the like i can practice as much as above, but will never play at the top level as i havent got nature talent

Disagree. Most players cannot even get to being a champion in darts or snooker. In snooker for instance, plenty of players can hit century breaks and wont ever get close to being a pro standard, let alone ever getting close to being a champion.

Not so in team sports, sooo many mediocre players in rugby/football in particular who have very little skill.

True about team sports, so lets say badminton/ tennis in comparsion, nee more than pratice to become a champion at those as natural talent is needed vs darts/snooker

[The Camel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Alekseyev

Never forget Alekseyev at the Olympic opening ceremony, carrying the Soviet flag in one hand with his arm fully extended, while the other flag-bearers all sat theirs in a leather pouch that was strapped around them.

1.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 he was on drugs.

[Kmac84]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Alekseyev

Never forget Alekseyev at the Olympic opening ceremony, carrying the Soviet flag in one hand with his arm fully extended, while the other flag-bearers all sat theirs in a leather pouch that was strapped around them.

1.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 he was on drugs.

Of course he was but so are the majority of sportsmen than make it to the top of their game. 

[swinebag22]

Takeru Kobayashi - hot dog eater

[AdamM]

Some MMA candidates

Ronda Rousey
Anderson Silva
Georges St. Pierre

I was going to say, MMA has some great candidates.

Anderson Silva entered the UFC in 2006 18-4 and won 16 on the bounce over the next 6 years, usually in devastating fashion, including a dethroning and twice annihilating of Rich Franklin who, himself was a pretty dominany force with a 22-1-1 record when they first fought. He's lost twice to Chris Weidman, but no body thinks that's because Weidman is a better fighter (good as he is). Hopefully he's back with his recent Diaz win, but I think we're all braced for a retirement, if not now, then following one of his next couple of fights.

Georges St Pierre entered the UFC 5-0 and appart from his novice loss to Matt Hughes (in his prime) and a shock defeat by Matt Serra (legend) he's went 20-2 as a UFC Welterweight, including avenging both losses. Not having any of this Jonny Hendriks was robbed rubbish either. GSP clearly won 3 rounds of 5.

Talking of Matt Hughes, he was pretty dominant before GSP came along and spoilt the party. His 45-9 record has an 18 win streak, followed by two quick losses, then a 19 fight winning run broken only by a loss to BJ Penn smack bang in the middle. The game evolved and time is unforgiving, but 1998 - 2006, Matt Hughes was unarguably the greatest welterweight on the planet.

And what about Jose Aldo at Featherweight? 25-1, 15 straight in WEC/UFC, hasn't lost since 2005. Much as I love Conor McGregor, I just don't see a dethroning when they meet. Utterly dominant champion.

Not to forget Fedor Emilianenko too. Until Fabricio Werdum broke the spell in 2010 Fedor was 31-1-1 and the loss was a controversial 1st round 17 second doctors stoppage. Ignoring that and the NC against Big Nog due to an accidental clash of heads, Fedor won 31 straight against a murderers row on heavyweight/open weight killers. If only the UFC deal could have been done.

Ronda Rousey is 10-0, and that includes 9 1st round stoppages, and 8 armbar submissions. Cat Zingano's 9-0 streak is coming to an end saturday 28th Feb.

Jon Jones (sadly, cos he's a dick) has been utterly dominant, at least he was until Alex Gustaffson was robbed at UFC 165. He's gone 5 rounds in his last 3 fights and I think once he loses to Alex at the rematch this summer, much like with Fedor, the spell will break, and he'll look human again.

Finally, you have to mention Demetrious Johnson. 21-2-1, and his only loss in UFC was to Dominic Crus at Bantam Weight. As a Flyweight, he looks unbeatable for the foreseeable future.

Forgot about Jones who deserves to be there after cutting through a historically elite lineup of LHW's, I did consider the rest but didnt list Fedor because he lost to guys that are doing ok but arent champs in UFC (Werdum, Henderson, Bigfoot) and with nog and Cro Cops performances in UFC I was harsh with his non-signing to the UFC to prove he was the best.

Johnson and Aldo are great champions but, imo, in newer divisions that don't have any all-time great fighters.  Didnt go for Hughes because he lost to Penn and his win over Newton was a complete robbery but its probably being harsh as he completely dominated the division for a time with elite wrestling in a time where the majority of MMA fighters couldnt wrestle.

Those losses of Fedor's mark the end of his period of domination. Up til that point, he was utterly dominant, as an undersized fighter in open weight/heavy weight competition against elite competition. Still think Randy Couture would have beat him in the cage though

The Hughes win against Newton where they were both out and he woke up first was a farce, but other than those peppered losses, there's no doubt he was a mile in front of the other fighters in the class at the time. As you say, the wrestling in the rest of the division was a long way short of Hughes at the time and of the game as a whole now. GSP was a whole new generation of athlete.

I think with the others you're being harsh. We're talking about people that dominate their sport. You can only beat what's in front of you and Johnson abd Aldo have battered everyone they've had rolled in front of them, and look set to continue the same way.

Best sport in the world. The best fight the best card after card.