Jake Yono
JY Journalism
11/20/25
The Best Individual Sport Played At The Highest Level
A while back, I wrote an article on how basketball, even though we do not see it a lot, is the most intriguing team sport to watch. If you want to check this out, it’s currently on my NBA and sports topic pages. I recommend checking it out to get the criteria and motives I’m coming to you with in this article. I will be showcasing what I think the best individual sports talent is at the highest level.
My candidates for the top individual sport played at the highest level are Track and Field, and MMA that’s it, professional golfers are skilled but competitions are usually decided as to who will be at the top after the first 36 holes of the 72 hole competition, within swimming thwres a huge gap between top swimmers who win big meets, world championships, and Olympic Games and other professional swimmers so it’s vary predictable to see whos going to win and this same trend happens within competition, Another close honorable mention is any Red Bull sponsored extreme sport, this includes skiing and snowboarding course ran and in the park, bike time trial races through urban cities, and all other sports found on their website here (Red Bull) the main part of why there not at the top is the staggering difference between top athletes and everyone else and only the top part is well known which needs to be fixed in these truly intriguing sports but I do appreciate Red Bulls effort and investments which have been successful so far and there network which films all of them.
Those were my honorable mentions, but my top 2 candidates are track and field and MMA, and my top individual sport played at the highest level is MMA. Track and Field made it this far because of the drastic amounts a result can change and how fast runners can push to meet and world records when they have good competition around them, for example at the 2024 NCAA Track and Field Championships in the mens final of the 800m Shane Cohen of Virginia was favored last to win the final. He stayed with the pack and waited until 200m to go. He stretched out to alne 4 to win the NCAA Championship, in other races in track and 100m dash at the highest level is so close where every single part matters from getting out of the blocks to reaching top speed at the perfect time and leaning at the line all within 10 seconds and one imperfecton of this can lead to a shrit in finishing results which makes it so intriguing to watch these athletes at the highest level as anything can happen. For example, at this past summer's Paris 2024 games, the entire 100m final field was separated by 0.12 tenths of a second, and 1 one thousandth of a second separated gold and silver between Kashayne Thompson and Noah Lyles, where he took gold (Men's 100m Final Paris). These and other close finfishes truly show how Track and Field can be so exciting and unpredictable, but MMA tops this.
Mixed Martial Arts is truly at the highest level the best sport to watch because some can argue that in track and field athletes have more to conquer because theres other athletes on the track but in fighting the skills displayed under pressure at the highest level are truly remarkable as every single punch, kick, clinch, and takedown are calculated movements and fighters must have a calm mind under pressure to execute these moves because brute fighting does not exist in the UFC and it’s not an efficient way of succeeding, instead fighters must study and breakdown their opponemnts and make offensive moves while defending themselves to avoid getting knocked out. Several examples of this are Max Holloway are where he has the most landed strikes in UFC history, and he throws calculated strikes while analyzing his opponents, as his UFC record is 22-7, and he defended the belt 3 times at featherweight. Another skilled fighter is retired aruglaby the greatest of all time Khabib Nurmanagov who finished his carrer 29-0 and was famous was his daganstanian style wrestling where it’s stated that when he takes you down, your not getting back up until he finishes you or the rounds over, this truly shows his skill over long 25 minute fights that Khabibs able to control his opponmnts and not let them play any offense, Jon Jones an undefeated fighter does this same tactic where his punch power is so strong where he weakens other light heavyweights so fast and then takes them down and once he gets in a ground and pound it’s over for the other fighters. Many other fighters show their skills in the octagon and perform under pressure.
This takes over track and field because theres so much more to it then just being the fastest, you could be the most skilled fighter but without any IQ one punch can take you out showcasing how much you need to analyze and anticipate what your opponemnt is bound ti do and try to defend it and match it offensively. The last reasons why this individual sport is the most talented at the highest level is the level of upsets and new champions the UFC constantly gets such as Illia Torupia, Alexasndre Pantoja, and Merab Dvalishvili and that it’s vary hard to consistently defend titles but fighters like Jon Jones and female Valentina Shevchenko can consistently do this making them remarkable, also in the UFC unlike most other popular individual sports direct offense and direct defence are involved, in other individual sports athletes choose to compete defensively depending on competition but in MMA you must compete as much defensively as offensively if you wan to establish a legacy and rack up wins. MMA is the best individual sport played at the highest level.