MMA's Generational Shift: The Old Guard Is Out

What this does to the older champions

The athletes losing belts right now aren't losing them to younger bodies. They are losing them to different sports educations. Catching up at thirty-five is, by every account, a different problem than catching up at twenty-five.

A few of the deposed champions are adapting in real time. Most aren't. The pattern is consistent enough that it isn't really a pattern anymore — it's a generation.