OSH;903413 wrote:It's hard to argue that!
It is close though. Soccer just requires so much more in terms of time within the activity. It's 90 minutes...wrestling isn't. Now, MMA can go quite some time (especially if you were Helio Gracie or Waldemar Santana). Wrestling and MMA/boxing do rely more on strength -- especially upper body.
I wouldn't mind seeing some testing on what sport is most rigorous. That'd be interesting results to look at.
Not sure if you wrestled or not, but as a wrestler throughout my career I encountered many wrestlers who also played soccer, and not one of them ever said soccer was more demanding or tougher than wrestling. This includes a few soccer players who said this while playing d1 soccer in college. I have had D1 football players tell me the same thing as well. There is no comparison when it comes to sanctioned sports at the amateur level, except maybe swimming, but in swimming you also don't have a guy that is trying to beat the living piss out of you while swimming laps.
MMA now is a different story. That obviously takes the cake since it mixes all fighting styles into one, and the fights can last up to 25 minutes. That is just ridiculous.