What would happen if four MMA stars tried to take the ball from an onrushing NFL linebacker? The ‘Sports Science’ show decided to find out back in 2009.
The linebacker in question was the 5ft 10, 225lb Rudi Johnson, who at the time was coming off an eight-year run in the NFL, playing seven of those for the Cincinnati Bengals in addition to a further year with the Detroit Lions.
As for the MMA stars, the most notable among them was the 6ft 1, 185lb Chael Sonnen.
In 2009 he had only just signed to the UFC and had still to reach the peak of his fame (evident by the fact the presenter says his name wrong!), but would go on to become one of the promotion’s biggest stars and a three-time title contender at middleweight and light-heavyweight.
Also on board was the 6ft, 205lb Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, a highly touted prospect back then who would win Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight title a year later and has since also won Rizin’s heavyweight grand-prix and become a major player in Bellator.
Then there was 6ft 1, light-heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski, who was already a veteran of over 30 fights back then, but was just at the start of what would prove to be a 6-3 run in the UFC.
Finally, there was Houston Alexander, a notoriously hard-hitting 6ft, 205lb slugger who was coming towards the end of his run in the UFC in 2009.
So, how did Johnson fare protecting the ball as he tried to run through this daunting line-up of MMA talent as they tried to grab, punch and elbow it from his grasp?
Pretty well as it turns out, managing to run the gauntlet five times without losing the ball, despite data from the Fight Science team showing that the fighters had been striking the ball with an average of 800lbs of force.
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Further data suggested that Johnson’s cradle-like grip was able to withstand 1000lbs of force.
However, Alexander then restored some pride for the MMA contingent in a separate test where Johnson had to stand still while ‘The Assassin’ landed an elbow strike to the ball and managed to blast it free from his grasp.
