UFC AllStars

The UFC starting five that would give LeBron and company a run for their money – maybe!

SHOOTING GUARD: DOMINIC CRUZ

'The Dominator' is crafty, light on his feet and possesses genuine leadership qualities. What he lacks in height he more than makes up for in endurance. This shooting guard can happily go all 48 minutes without the need for a time out.

POINT GUARD: PABLO GARZA

The starting point of all attacks, Garza's wealth of experience, as well as agility and poise, will be key to feeding dimes to his burlier teammates. The best ball handler on the team and the guy asked to lead by example. 

CENTER: STEFAN STRUVE

The tallest man in the UFC at six-foot-eleven, 'Skyscraper' Struve boasts the height and range to win his fair share of balls in the low post. He will be the focal point of attacks and will be armed with fending off fellow monsters around the rim. Expect double-doubles.

POWER FORWARD: TRAVIS BROWNE

Browne brings experience and toughness to the fold, having competed as both a college basketball player and heavyweight contender. Now fitter and faster than he was in his basketball heyday, Browne could be a real force.

SMALL FORWARD: JON JONES

If he can get to grips with mixed martial arts in a matter of months, who's to say Jones can't do the same with basketball? Raised in family of athletes, Jones is gifted enough to lend his physical talents and 84-inch reach, and he could be snapped up by the big leagues within a year. 

Fight Night Dream Team?

NBA stars aren't averse to scrapping it out on court following a contentious decision or altercation at the rim. It happens. But, if given the chance to see two giants of the game drop vests and headbands and stand toe-to-toe in the Octagon, what would be the preferred matchups? 

“I'd like to see Amar'e Stoudemire and Metta World Peace duke it out,” says UFC heavyweight Travis Browne. “Back in the day I'd have liked to see Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone get in there and fight as well.” 

Meanwhile, Pablo Garza offers: “Kevin Garnett would be well-suited to MMA. He's quite a rowdy guy and is very focused and determined. We'd have to see how good his chin is, though. Ron Artest is another guy with that bit of rowdiness and inner steel necessary to make the move across. I'd pay to see those two fight each other.” 

Also, how about a brawl between former Pacer Reggie Miller and former Knick John Starks? The pair were notorious for their on-court antics during the 1993 play-off series, Miller the wind-up merchant and Starks the emotional bull. Eventually it all boiled over in game three, as Starks, fed up and frustrated, lashed out and head-butted Miller, leading to ejection and an Indiana victory. 

Even heavier blows would be traded in a bout between Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley, two of the biggest characters to ever grace the hardwood. They first threw down in 1999, during a game between the Lakers and the Rockets, and rolled around on the floor following a Barkley takedown. The behemoths were separated and ejected just as things started to get interesting. Damn you, NBA.

Triangle Offence

It was the spinning elbow heard around the world. Light heavyweights Jon Jones and Rashad Evans contested the UFC title the night before, but, throughout 25 minutes of action, failed to generate the impact of basketball player Ron Artest's infamous right arm, thrown haphazardly in the direction of Oklahoma City Thunder's James Harden on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012.

The Los Angeles Lakers' small forward, now legally known as Metta World Peace, dropped an assertive dunk, before beating his chest like a caveman and dropping Harden with an even more assertive elbow to the face. 

The New York native, no stranger to controversy, claimed the cheap shot was unintentional, but, to anybody with 20/20 vision, the punishment – immediate ejection and a seven-game ban – seemed to fit the crime. The act was primitive, vicious and instinctive, a nod to the fact basketball players, though competing in a predominantly non-contact environment, aren't above settling a dispute with their fists or, indeed, the sharper edges of their anatomy. For World Peace, it wasn't his first public display of disruption. 

“We have scuffles all the time and do a bit of wrestling on court, but I've had probably five proper fights in all,” he recalls. “I consider myself to be 4–1 on court. The sole loss came against a guy who was grappling me – I learned to never grapple again. That isn't my thing. 

“There was another time when I was 13 and fought this kid who kept busting my face with a jab. I couldn't get near him. He was a boxer and I gave up quickly. My dad, who used to box, started teaching me how to fight a little after that mess.”

While all three athletes that weekend – Jones, Evans and World Peace – embraced natural competitiveness and a desire to win, only two were allowed to demonstrate superiority through violence. World Peace chose basketball, whereas Jones and Evans elected to become fighters. However, cut the three amigos down the middle and it's likely you'd find them made from similar stuff. 

HEAVYWEIGHT HOPEFULS

After all, in past lives, many of today's NBA stars may well have been heavyweight champions, either in boxing or mixed martial arts. At a time when American boxing's talent pool is about as appealing as a spot on the Charlotte Bobcats' roster, combat sports yearn for a LeBron James, Dwight Howard or any other 250lb-plus juggernaut lighting up the NBA today. These are the ones that got away. Genetic freaks, ideal templates from which to mould heavyweight champions. Instead, they embraced size and the bigger bucks in bouncing an orange ball. 

“If God gives you certain abilities, you might as well do everything in your power to use them,” says World Peace. “I don't want to leave anything on the table. If it's there, it's probably there for a reason. It's either there for you, or there for you to inspire someone else to do it better.

“That's why I think I've got a good chance with boxing or MMA one day. I've got a good base and solid foundation. I can get to 280lb if I want to, or can get down to 250lb. I can remain athletic at both those weights.” 

Of course, were it not for the obscene amount of money NBA stars stand to make, some might have made the jump years ago. Orlando Magic's Glen 'Big Baby' Davis is one such player. “I'm a true fan of the sport,” he said at a UFC Fan Expo in Boston. “Sometimes your mind ponders a little bit, but these guys are UFC fighters for a reason and I'm a basketball player for a reason. Still, I love the jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai aspects of it, and I use both in my off-season training. 

“Because I'm a big fan of the sport, I've been trying to learn as much as possible. It also helps you prepare mentally. Fighters have a no-lose mentality, and when times are tough, they react. It's like basketball. When teams come out and hit you in the mouth, what are you going to do? Despite getting hit in the face, you've still got to have a game plan and stick to it.”

Davis often appears like a fighter with a ball in his hands. He's robust, scrappy, an enforcer who won't back down when tensions run high and fists start to fly. He's the sort of guy you want on your side. 

The same goes for the Lakers' Steve Blake and Miami Heat's Mike Miller. Blake has been training mixed martial arts since 2007, after first hooking up with former UFC veteran Nate Quarry, while Miller has moved around with Ryan Bader, CB Dollaway and Aaron Simpson. 

RAPTORS’ BLACK BELT

Toronto Raptors' James Johnson, a small forward with a rich fighting background, goes a step further. After winning seven world karate titles, the former Chicago Bulls draft pick progressed to 20-0 as an amateur kickboxer and 1-0 as a mixed martial artist, winning his sole MMA bout against 31-year-old Damond Clark in 2006. Johnson was just 18 years old at the time.

Interestingly, the six-foot-seven, 257lb’er comes from a big martial arts family in Cheyenne, Wyoming. His father Willie is a sixth-degree black belt kickboxer and his mother, Vi, is also a black belt. He's one of nine children, eight of whom are black belts (10-year-old sister Kiandra is a blue belt). 

"Fighting is one-on-one, you against him," Johnson told the Las Vegas Sun. "You don't have to worry about backside help or helping another guy who gets beat. It's just you against the other dude. Basketball is teamwork, a lot of talking, quickness, hand quickness, foot quickness, and I try to utilize all of that. After using footwork all of my life, coming out here on court is kind of easy."

Although now earning millions as part of an NBA franchise, Johnson hasn't ruled out a return to his first love. 

"Fighting is fighting – I did it all my life," he says. "Right now, I'm just focused on keeping my skills sharp on defense, and I'll worry about the other thing (fighting) later. Fighting's like riding a bike. It's going to be easy to get back into it, so when it's time for me to get back into it, I will."

Johnson, of course, was one of the few good enough to reach the big league. UFC fighters Travis Browne (heavyweight) and Pablo Garza (featherweight) may well be positioned at opposite ends of the size spectrum, after both gravitated towards MMA following failed attempts to reach the NBA, Browne as power forward and Garza as point guard. 

“I'm more athletic and explosive than most guys my size, so it was only natural that I'd give basketball a go,” says the six-foot-seven Browne, 13-0-1 in his flourishing MMA career.

He adds, “I used my quickness and agility to play basketball and, in the end, playing basketball improved those two aspects and allowed me to become a heavyweight contender in the UFC. I'm now quicker and more athletic than most of my heavyweight rivals, and I owe a lot to basketball for that. I've spent years moving on my toes, going from side-to-side, and always looking to react to something.” 

Not for want of trying, Browne's pursuit of NBA glory came to an end shortly after representing Palomar College in San Diego. “I won league MVP countless times as a kid, but once I started playing at college I got a reality check,” he said. “There are a lot of kids out there with similar dreams, and it's tough to rise above. I looked around and saw point guards who were six-foot-seven and wider than me. 

“I got offers to play overseas on semi-pro teams, but didn't want to be an also-ran. I don't want to be mediocre at anything in life and, as time went on, I came to the realization that I'd never be an NBA star. I looked at people like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and thought to myself, 'You need to get a new hobby'.”

So he did. Browne picked up jiu-jitsu and then mixed martial arts, and thanks basketball for making the process so seamless. “Basketball helped me with hand-eye coordination and also helped me learn how to move my body and to not think like a big man,” he explains. “When it came to learning jiu-jitsu at 25, I was supple and agile enough to pick up the techniques extremely quickly.

“There is a clear template for the modern day basketball player, and if you fit that bill on the way up, there's a good chance you'll be a shoe-in. MMA, on the other hand, has no such templates and you have to truly learn the trade.

"Nobody just grows up and becomes a fighter. We're not born with God-given fighting tools. Physical advantages don't matter so much when it comes to fighting. Guys are born to run, jump, dunk and play a sport that requires height and length, but we don't get the same in professional fighting. So, in many ways, I feel fighting is more difficult to learn and master than basketball.”

LAM-DUNKING SCARECROW

Featherweight Garza was up against it from the get-go, of course. Six-foot-one and just 145lb, it's fair to say the Jamestown point guard wasn't known for his rebounding. “I enjoyed every aspect of basketball,” reveals the 28-year-old. “I was fast, explosive, could shoot and break ankles with my crossover. I also liked going out on court and showing off a lot. Basketball was the first thing in my life that I knew I was really good at. 

“My hand-eye coordination, agility and footwork have been improved massively because of basketball. Also, my cardio was already at a decent level when I started MMA, simply because I was used to training hard as a basketball player.”

Garza made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2007, after experiencing the same realization Browne did during his college years. He now encourages basketball players, whatever the level, to step into his world from time to time and learn the true meaning of hard work. “Training in mixed martial arts would help a basketball player immensely, purely from a cardio standpoint,” said Garza, 11-3 in his fighting career. 

“MMA cardio is on a completely different level to basketball cardio and I am 10 times fitter now than I was when I was playing ball. We even have professional NFL players doing additional MMA training in order to better their cardio levels, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if some basketball players were doing the same.”

The thriving featherweight admits basketball and shoot-arounds are a thing of the past. He's fully committed to climbing the featherweight ladder as a fighter. And yet, when he stands in the corridor on fight night, ready to walk out and battle an opponent, Garza can't help but remember his days on court. 

“Mentally, I prepare for fights the same way I did basketball games,” he admits. “I tell myself it's just another sparring session, and attempt to reduce the importance of it in my head. I did the same before countless basketball matches. It's just another game, just another fight.” 

Garza and Browne are probably two of the best examples of basketball standouts showing up in MMA, but there are others, too, notably Sean McCorkle and Walt Harris, heavyweights who played basketball at college level, and UFC bantamweight king Dominick Cruz, a champion who enjoys nothing more than a game of pick-up in between training sessions. 

A history of non-contact shouldn't lead to success in a combat sport, but sometimes it does and, in the case of World Peace, for as long as athletes possess elbows and testosterone, there will always be common ground and crossovers.

Shaq Diesel

Video gamers have already had the chance to face off against one NBA superstar inside the Octagon, as Shaquille O’Neal featured as an unlockable character in the game UFC Undisputed 2010.

Shaq begged Dana White for years for a run in the UFC, and called out former Pride star Hong-Man Choi on countless occasions.

He actually began training in MMA back in 2000, mixing up boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling and even jiu-jitsu. Training out of Jonathan Burke’s Gracie Gym, Shaq went by the name ‘Diesel’ and is reportedly more than competent on his feet and his back.

However, as he's now well on his way to being 50 I think we can safely say seven-foot-one Super-Shaq has decided to pass on this window of opportunity – in real life at least.