Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Mike was more than the baddest HW who ever lived. He was built for true combat and would have been an Ultimate Fighter if he came around 20 years after he did.
I can see Iron Mike fighting both boxing and MMA... and kicking ass in both!
He was a genetic freak, he was a boxer but had the strong build of a wrestler with giant legs and neck. I wish I could have seen him take someone's jaw clean off punching with a tiny MMA glove. He could defend the takedown for sure, unlike most top-heavy HW's with skinny-ass chicken legs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvQTyHE2c5M
Mike Tyson is truly the baddest HW in history.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
I very much doubt it.
If you were Jim Jacobs in 88 and Tyson had just beaten Spinks for $20 million would you really go to the UFC for peanuts?
I think the highest they reckon they have paid anyone is $5 million but even that is hard to believe.
When Toney faced Couture Toney was paid $500,000 to Coutures $250,000. A faded boxer earnt twice than their biggest draw!
I dont think it would have happened until he was at the end of his career and the big money fights were drying up. Jacobs would never have risked his investment for peanuts.
Say Mike breaks a limb and is out for a couple of years rehabilitating. What earnings would you lose? You would need that figure to be at least matched which would have been astronomical.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Im not against mma fighters but I see it a single discipline fighter like a qualified tradesmen, whereas an mma fighter is a handyman.
They fight for money and why would you fight for less money?
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Well this isn't really a question of whether or not it would be financially adventageous to do both.
But the fact remains that the UFC HW champ is considered the baddest man on the planet, not the boxer.
I think Mike's competitive spirit would force him to set up a super fight with the UFC champ to become the true baddest man on the planet.
And Dana White would open his wallet for Tyson. He wouldn't make boxing money but he'd make low 8 figures I'd say.
But my point is, Mike Tyson COULD HAVE been the champ of both if he wanted to. He was a true combat athlete.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
If Tyson wanted to he may have been able to but I think someone would have snapped Tyson's knee.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Beanflicker
Well this isn't really a question of whether or not it would be financially adventageous to do both.
But the fact remains that the UFC HW champ is considered the baddest man on the planet, not the boxer.
I think Mike's competitive spirit would force him to set up a super fight with the UFC champ to become the true baddest man on the planet.
And Dana White would open his wallet for Tyson. He wouldn't make boxing money but he'd make low 8 figures I'd say.
But my point is, Mike Tyson COULD HAVE been the champ of both if he wanted to. He was a true combat athlete.
Hmmm, I dont think so.
I think you may be more aware of mma than I am but even if I asked someone on the street who the biggest and best fighter is on the planet they would have a think and maybe some will say Lennox Lewis but most would probably say Wladimir Klitschko and I doubt any know the name of the current UFC heavy champ. Im not even sure in fact as laughable as it is I know of caine Velasquez and thats nly because Tyson Fury was talking about him but iv got no odea if hes even a champion.
The last time I saw a former heavyweight boxer fight a UFC champ, Mercer knocked Tim Silvia cold;D
You would never see a UFC fighter come in to boxing and KO the champ or even a top contender. In that respect, top boxers have done better than top mma fighters in the transition because top mma fighters just will not do it because they know they will be vulnerable. Boxers are a bit deluded in to thinking although correctly that they have more skill with their fists but that this will be enough. I am also well aare that people like Botha have taken many losses in mma and bad ones and Al Cole, Mayorga, Phillips etc. Even Butterbean had some good wins in mma when he could no longer box at any kind of level. Its only ever been washed up boxers who have transitioned so really we will never know. If Dana White was to put his hands in his pockets and offer Klitschko £100,000,000 to fight his heavy champ but schedule it a year from now Wlad would have more success than an mma fighter given a year to get ready to box him and I think we can all agree on that.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ross
I think you may be more aware of mma than I am but even if I asked someone on the street who the biggest and best fighter is on the planet they would have a think and maybe some will say Lennox Lewis but most would probably say Wladimir Klitschko and I doubt any know the name of the current UFC heavy champ.
Might be different in England, maybe MMA doesn't have the fanbase it does overseas.
But for sure the #1 baddest man on the planet is the UFC champion. MMA is a complete fighting sport, boxing is a small percentage of what the body can do.
There's no current boxing champion that wouldn't get murdered by an MMA champ of comparable weight right now.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Beanflicker
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ross
I think you may be more aware of mma than I am but even if I asked someone on the street who the biggest and best fighter is on the planet they would have a think and maybe some will say Lennox Lewis but most would probably say Wladimir Klitschko and I doubt any know the name of the current UFC heavy champ.
Might be different in England, maybe MMA doesn't have the fanbase it does overseas.
But for sure the #1 baddest man on the planet is the UFC champion. MMA is a complete fighting sport, boxing is a small percentage of what the body can do.
There's no current boxing champion that wouldn't get murdered by an MMA champ of comparable weight right now.
In mma? Maybe...
The same can 100% be said visa versa.
Give me an example of a top mma fighter who has transitioned and even had moderate success in boxing.
Kickboxers can do it better tyan mma fighters but imagine an mma fighter thrown in a boxing match and how hard you would laugh and cringe at how poor their technique is;D
Imagine chick liddell in with Kovalev (I Dont know who Liddells contemporary is now);D.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ross
In mma? Maybe..
Without question. And in a real fight as well.
Boxing is a very limited art, especially compared with Thai boxing, which uses almost every part of your body to attack.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
beenKOed
Beanflicker, who wins Mike Tyson vs Fedor Emelianenko prime MMA?
Fedor would murder him. Mike would get taken down or thrown, and at that point Fedor could do what he wanted to him. Choke him out, break his arm, pound him, do whatever.
But if Mike had trained seriously, I think Mike could have been a great MMA fighter, maybe the greatest ever.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
A boxer could just go up and knock the guy out and blindside him and it be over Ufc fighters cant take a punch worth a shit. Cain getting his ass kicked recently showed me he is far from the baddest man in the planet really. Fedor i respect and i am happy he is coming back he was a joy to watch over the year. I won't think the badest man in the planet till they pay more money and the sport been around more then 20 years the talent pool is not even close to other sports.
Re: Mike Tyson would have been a boxing and UFC HW champ.... at the same time
Also when you have fighters that are becoming the best at 10 to 15 fights i got to think this sport lacks talent and the pool needs some work. The reason the athletes are not there because beside the America and Brazil the sport is not huge it died out hard in Japan and Russia. I mean how can you be the baddest man when the talent pool not even world wide which boxing is. If our hw did not suck we would not have to lean on other sports so much and i like the Ufc but is is far from being elite level comp. As for real fight thats stupid because the Ufc has blankets the just cover and score points it worse then boxing. I think the sport will be better when there not a monopoly on it and the fighters get paid something worth it and not chump change. Never going to get great talent with out the money to pay them not happening.
