You do make good points, but a take down from GSP is world class, he aint a normal mma guy, know what I mean, his skills are the same as Mayweather is at the boxing. I have said for a while that the first world class boxer who learns proper sprawling and evasive techniques will probably clean up in the mma game.
Mercer won because it was supposed to be a boxing match so the fat guy felt he had to do the honourable thing since it was changed at the last minute.
Honorable thing my ass....right off the bat Slyvia threw a leg kick which shows that he had no intention of restricting himself to only boxing. He just got his ass kicked.
Boxing and MMA are great sports. It's alright to be fans of both. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbAxheqajKg[/ame]
CroCop; when Vitali was kickboxing he wasn't the boxer he is now. Just as importantly Vitali fought full contact rules, which means no kicks to the legs, so he would not be prepared for CroCrop under the more common K1 or Muay Thai style rules.
Putting Mayweather in a cage against GSP, without at least a full year of takedown defense/clinch training, he would realistically get taken down within the first 10 seconds without a single punch thrown. There's no way any mma fighter would get in boxing range with a world class boxer, so landing a punch is very hard right off the bat, then GSP could go for a very low single leg or double leg takedown and get him on the ground easy, and then its over. Look at the huge range gap couture was keeping vs toney, simply looking for the most basic form of takedown, very low single leg, Toney couldn't throw a power punch from there and once on the ground the fight's done. Well rounded fighters like GSP wouldn't lose to any pure wrestlers/boxers/bjj artists since he can just pick a specific strategy against them. But of course put GSP in a boxing ring, and an average Boxer would easily win. MMA fighters train in several martial arts to become as complete as possible to overcome any situations, whereas boxers train extensively on the same martial art in order to master it.
Lesnar is a bad matchup for Vitali. We all know Brock is a fairly mediocre striker but his explosive athleticism makes up for it. As a former wrestler he'll be shooting for the takedown at every opportunity and given Vitali's age and inexperience on the ground I don't see Vitali winning unless he gets in a lucky strike. Vitali vs Carwin or Valasquez would be interesting. Mir has also shown a tendency to stand up more, but if he was introduced to an excellent striker like Vitali you know he'd go straight back to his BJJ
Vitali v Overeem could have been interesting. But this roid version of Overeem is pretty damn dangereous.