Many pure strikers have crossed over to mma and have found success... Most boxers are great athletes and can pick up on things quickly. The main thing a boxer would need to work on is TDD and a bit bit of JJ for defensive purposes. Can you imagine the kind of Havoc an elite boxer would wreak if he had a good enough sprawl? Talking prime Cro Cop level sprawl here... I love both MMA and boxing, but the fact of the matter remains that it would be easier for an elite boxer to cross over into MMA and find success than Vice Versa, this is a fact...
Oh like James Toney you mean Your argument has more floors than the MGM Grand, go away from this forum before I tear you to shreds! You foolish man :thumbsup
Boxers have done poorly in the octagon. If boxing is all you know what are you going to do when your opponent uses leg kicks and takedowns? You're going to get owned that's what. That's why some MMA fans bash boxing. Boxing is old school and one dimensional, not a complete package like MMA.
Its F level Boxing C level wrestling and C level Jiujitsu all in 1 ugly sport. Half the UFC champions have less than 10 fights Boxing is a real sport, MMA is nothing more than trashy entertainment.
James Toney was an elite striker in 2010? LOL I bet you thought his IBA "world title" actually meant something MMA is fast food entertainment, not a sport.
Like I said boxers tend to get their asses kicked by MMA fighters. Ever seen what happens to boxers when they get in the cage? It aint pretty. That old school boxing just don't cut it in the octagon. You have to mix it up, one dimensional guys get owned.
If you know anything about MMA you know boxers of all ages have poorly in the octagon going back to the 90s. You are ignorant.
C level boxers like Anderson Silva and BJ Penn have dominated the sport, even GSP needs Freddy Roach to coach him to keep him on top
And Couture was in his prime? Not hardly. He was almost done when he fought James Toney and still owned him.
guys who are less than journeyman in the sport of boxing such as chris lytle hold the record in the UFC for bonuses If a world class boxer joined the UFC they would be the greatest of all time within 10 fights. UFC athletes are mediocre just like their purse.
For all those who claim MMA fighters are talentless, it's helpful to look at the world-class combat sports athletes who competed -- or are currently competing -- in MMA. A lot of these guys fell by the wayside because MMA requires a different skillset than a lot of other disciplines. Note that these are just the fighters I could scrounge up with a few minutes of internet searching. I'm sure I missed a lot. The majority lost to opponents who didn't have nearly the same abilities in a "pure" combat sport. You don't just learn a little takedown defense / striking and beat somebody with your gold-medal skills. Most of them didn't get belts. Their MMA records are in parenthesis: Wrestling Mark Schultz - Gold medalist, freestyle (1-0) Kevin Jackson - Gold medalist, freestyle (4-2) Kenny Monday - Gold medalist, freestyle (1-0) Matt Lindland - Silver medalist, Greco-Roman wrestling (22-9) Karam Gaber - Gold (2004) and Silver (2012) medalist in Greco-Roman (0-1) Rulon Gardner - Gold (2000) and Bronze (2004) medalist in Greco-Roman (1-0) Istvan Majoros - Gold medalist in Greco-Roman (2004) Stephen Abas - Silver medalist in freestyle (2-0) Eldari Kurtanidze - Bronze medalist in freestyle (0-1) Matt Ghaffari - Obese in his MMA fight; nevertheless a silver medalist in Greco-Roman (0-1) Townsend Saunders - Silver medalist in freestyle (0-2) Dennis Hall - Silver medalist in Greco-Roman (0-1) Aleksey Medvedev - Gold medalist, freestyle (0-0-1) Katsuhiko Nagata - Silver medalist in Greco-Roman (6-7) Kenny Monday - Gold medal in freestyle (1-0) Kevin Jackson - Gold medal in freestyle (4-2) Note that this list, and the judo list below, could be longer if we counted Olympians who didn't medal. Judo Hidehiko Yoshida - Gold medalist (9-8-1) Makoto Takimoto - Gold medalist (6-5) Naoya Ogawa - Silver medalist (7-2) Satoshi Ishii - Gold medalist (6-2-1) Pawel Nastula - Gold medalist; past his prime when he entered MMA (4-4) Bernhard Spijkers - Bronze medalist (0-2) Min Su Kim - Silver medal (3-7) Jung Bu-Kyung - Silver medal (0-4) Hiroshi Izumi - Silver medal (4-2) K-1 (Kickboxing) Branko Cikatic - Champion (0-2) Mark Hunt - Champion (9-8) Semmy Schilt - 4 x champion (26-14-1) Alistair Overeem - Champion (36-13) Mirko Filipovic - Champion (28-10-2) Combat SAMBO Rasul Mirzaev - World combat SAMBO champion (6-0) Alexander Emilianenko - World combat SAMBO champion (23-6) Kirill Sidelnikov - World combat SAMBO champion (7-4) Vyacheslav Vasilevsky - World combat SAMBO champion (22-2) Blagoy Ivanov - World combat SAMBO champion (8-0-1) Fedor Emilianenko - World combat SAMBO champion; had an incredibly successful MMA career. (34-4) Shotokan Karate Chinzo Machida - Vice champion in 2006; lost to the #1 ranked guy in the finals. (1-2) Muay Thai Malaipet Sasiprapa - Former Rajadamnern Stadium champion; former Thai champion (3-4) Kyokushin Karate Ewerton Teixera - 2007 World Kyokushin Champion (3-0) San Shou / Sanda (Competitive Kung Fu; one of China's national sports) Cung Le - One of the best Western San Shou players; past his prime when he entered MMA (9-2) Muslim Salikhov - "King of Sanda"; held the championship for several years (1-1) Army Combatives Tim Kennedy - 3x Army Combatives Champion (16-4) Being Really, Really Strong Mariusz Pudzianowski - World's Strongest Man champion (5-3) Now as far as boxing vs. MMA goes, results are mixed. On one hand, a shot Ray Mercer beat a past-it Tim Sylvia by knockout. On the other hand, journeymen boxers lost in early MMA events to fighters who wouldn't crack the top 20 today. Milo Savage (final boxing record 49-46-10) fought a boxer-vs-judoka match against Gene Lebell in the 1960s, and was choked out. After that, you saw a couple early boxer-vs-wrestler bouts in Japanese professional wrestling that may or may not have been fixed (the wrestlers won). When UFC 1 finally rolled around, Art Jimmerson (final boxing record 33-18) tapped to a takedown. Melton Bowen seemed to have a slightly better chance in UFC 4, since he was a big, 220+ pound boxer with a big punch and a decent record (final boxing record 35-9, 28 knockouts). A police officer who studied ninjutsu beat him by armbar. And of course, there's the farce with Couture and Toney. There's only one example of a reigning, modern heavyweight boxing champion taking on an MMA "fighter": Ali vs. Inoki. Antonio Inoki was a professional wrestler whose only claim to fame was his discus-throwing skills. Ali insisted on the most one-sided rules imaginable: Ali could punch Inoki at will, but Inoki wasn't allowed to use takedowns, submissions, or strikes from a standing position. Yep, that's right: Inoki could do practically nothing. Inoki resorted to flinging himself onto the ground while kicking Ali's legs. The entire farce is on youtube if you want to watch it. Ali landed perhaps four punches, and claimed that his legs were a mess after the fight. So if you want to get technical, a really bad MMA fighter outstruck the world heavyweight boxing champion by flopping around in fetal position.