I was reading Fighting Fit magazine yesterday so came to thinking about this. Obviously we know the standard ones like Cintron did wrestling, Klitschkos did kickboxing, Williams did Judo etc Hatton did kickboxing from when he was 8. Allan Green says he wrestled in college and also did kickboxing. I said it long before any of this came to light. These guys are fighters and there are many boxers who could compete in MMA and vica versa. It's known and coming to light slightly more that MMA like KJ Noons, Marcus Davis, Randy Couture etc boxed as pros or amateurs.
Hatton did kickboxing for about a year as a small child but left because his legs were too short to kick anyone....I doubt it counts as him being any good at all at it. What was Matt Skelton before his boxing career? I nkow he fought K1 but little else?
There is footage of his sparring with his bro so he must have an understanding of kicking. I've also seen him pull off a legit spinning back fist in boxing sparring. Obviously its not indepth knowledge but that martial arts foundation bodes well for further learning.
I agree...I just heard him say he left kickboxing because he could not reach anyone with his kicks...kinda like when you put your hand on a midgets head to stop him connecting.
Darchinyan joins the long list of boxers considering MMA Vic Darchinyan has revealed that he aspires to take up MMA in the future, having been training in wrestling since childhood. He joins many other boxers who have toyed with the idea, including the likes of David Haye and Kermit Cintron. At the moment there is still a lot more money to be made in boxing, but the gap is closing rapidly, and the UFC now outsells all but the biggest fights on pay per view. Speaking to Australian newspaper the Daily Telegraph, Darchinyan said: "At the right time, I want to have a go at cage fighting. I've done wrestling since I was very young, so I believe it's something I could compete at if I wanted to. My father was an Olympic wrestling coach for Armenia, so he was teaching me from the time I was very small. In a year or two, it's something I'm definitely going to do."
Skelton had an MMA bout. He was submitted with a strangle choke at a PRIDE event. I think it was Tom Erikson he fought. The footage of the bout is still kicking around Youtube somewhere. Skelton spent quite some time on the kickboxing circuit and in the K1 prior to becoming a pro boxer.
No. Its not. The gap in pay between boxers and UFC fighters is still huge. Some of the low carders in the UFC get paid peanuts that not even journeymen in boxing turn up for. When the money comes to the UFC trust me fighters will go where the money is.
90percent of professional boxers can do MMA and kick those amateur streets fighters ass any time :hat
So why don't they? Surely the 89% would love to be millionairess for being world champions. Take your dumb ass to an MMA gym and find out; alternately kill yourself.