The modern-day sport's most fierce rivals boxing and MMA really is a clash of the titans. Now they have been pitched against each other to find out which sport is truly the pound-for-pound king.
Cast your mind back to August 28th, 2010 and ask yourself what would have happened if Randy 'The Natural' Couture lost his mind, neglected the takedown and foolishly decided to stand and trade punches with an overweight and cumbersome version of the boxer once known as James 'Lights Out' Toney?
Crash, bang, wallop – the likelihood is that Couture would have been sent to his back in roughly the same amount of time it took to double-leg the veteran boxer into the fetal position at UFC 118.
See, regardless of how out of shape, ill-equipped and forlorn Toney seemed on the night, he still possesses punching instincts and boxing ability unparalleled by anybody competing in mixed martial arts, in 2011. That isn't some rash claim made through a cloud of nostalgia, it is simply a realization that Toney, even at 43 years of age, and with 23 years of wear and tear behind him, has forgotten more than most mixed martial artists will ever know about the art of hand-to-hand combat.
However, the less said about his ground game and, indeed everything else that constitutes mixed martial arts, the better.
That particular victory did little for Couture's overall standing in the sport, nor did it edge him any closer to a title shot.
Yet, in general terms, the fight itself was important and acted as a necessary bookmark in 2010; a sign of where mixed martial arts and boxing stand in the great debate. After all, never before had a pure boxer of Toney's standing ever contemplated stepping inside the Octagon and shooting straight for the jugular, berating and then confronting one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever do it.
Toney's ignorance got the better of him and his pride forced him into an ill-advised trek into the unknown. Last August we discovered, or perhaps were reminded of the fact, that mixed martial artists are no longer just fighters, scrappers, chancers or bar brawlers.
These are now super-skilled athletes with the versatility to conquer opponents with a variety of methods.
In many ways, Toney's defeat at the hands of Couture was an extension of something Royce Gracie started with a one-gloved Art Jimmerson at UFC 1. However, while Gracie, at the time, only had one way of beating boxer Jimmerson and vice versa, any well-rounded mixed martial artist in 2010 could demonstrate at least half a dozen methods of humbling Toney. Mixed martial arts is now so much more than just swinging in short shorts and, month by month, the boxing world is finally starting to realize.
Fall through the ropes
“Like most people, I thought MMA would be easy,” says former world heavyweight and cruiserweight boxing champion David Haye.
“I did some grappling and jiu-jitsu at The Third Space dojo in Piccadilly Circus (London), just to get an idea of the differences between boxing and mixed martial arts. I’ve always been a naturally gifted boxer, but I was a lot worse than I thought I would be at MMA.
“A traditional boxer can’t get off with the same punches he’d be able to throw in a boxing match. You have to consider getting hit with fists, legs and takedowns. Balance-wise, and in terms of leverage, the two styles of punching are completely different.
In MMA, you’re always moving and changing angles to avoid shots, clinches or takedowns. That automatically takes away the balance and the moment to set you’d need as a boxer.
“Unless you adapt to the kind of stand-up needed in MMA, you’ll get taken down as soon as you set your feet to throw a big shot.
A boxer wouldn’t be as effective punching-wise in an MMA contest as he would in a boxing ring. A lot of boxers don’t realize that and think they can just turn up and bomb the MMA guy out.
While there’s always the chance of that happening, it’s only a slim chance.”
Haye admits that in 10 straight confrontations with a grappler he would, on average, be dragged to the floor in seven of them.
He'd land the first shot only three times in 10 attempts. For a boxer well accustomed to getting off first and taking the initiative behind a thudding jab or right hand, such realizations are incredibly disconcerting.
“I like Toney as much as the next guy – I've followed him my whole career – but he was an idiot to think he could just enter the UFC the way he did,” says Haye. “I stayed up all night to watch that fight, in the hope that James had actually learned something in training and that he'd be able to keep the fight standing for a little bit.
For some reason, I actually believed he wouldn't be stupid enough to just overlook that element of the game. As it turned out, James was every bit as stupid and ignorant as I feared.
The result didn't say much about boxing and MMA, but it said a lot about how uneducated and ignorant some boxers are when it comes to MMA.”
Another boxer who has experienced both sports first hand in the gymnasium is Liverpool boxer Tony Quigley, a former British super middleweight champion and a man famed in the north of England for his sparring sessions with numerous top UFC fighters.
A long-time staple of the Wolfslair MMA gym, Quigley has crisscrossed between the two sports and often contemplated switching his successful boxing career for a crack at the cage.
“I started going down the road of MMA simply because I fell out of love with boxing and became frustrated by it,” explains Quigley.
“I trained a lot with UFC fighters and helped them with their stand-up work and their boxing skills. I would work out with 'Rampage' Jackson, Michael Bisping, Cheick Kongo and Paul Kelly.
We had some good spars, and I could see the improvements in their boxing ability on a daily basis. I'm not sure a trained mixed martial artist will ever be able to catch up with a pure boxer as far as hands go, but these guys are getting better all the time. I can't take liberties with any of them or take my foot off the gas.”
While Quigley has yet to make his mixed martial arts bow, despite numerous offers to do so, London Shootfighters light heavyweight James Zikic is one man that has split his time between both boxing and mixed martial arts, with typically mixed results.
A karate exponent since the age of 15, Zikic eventually made his mixed martial arts debut in 1998 and then ventured into boxing in 2002.
He won his first three bouts as a pro boxer, before settling for a career record of 3-2 and retiring from the sport in 2004. His time in mixed martial arts has been far better served.
Currently 21-10-2 in his pro career, Zikic won the Cage Rage world light heavyweight championship in 2007 with an impressive victory over Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos.
“Coming from a karate background, I had to work on my hand placement and had to correct a few things, but I’ve always had nice straight punching,” said 'The Messenger.'
“The main reason for boxing was to test myself in another combat sport and improve my handwork.
"I believe I’m more naturally suited to MMA, though. I have a lot of attributes suited to grappling as well as striking.
I have good core strength and horsepower and have a thick neck that is good for grappling and strong hard bones that are good for striking with different parts of my body. I also have a long, lean body that is good for jiu-jitsu and finishing guys with submissions.”
Enter the UFC
Haye knew better, Quigley weighed up his options and Zikic made the jump between the two with fleeting success. American welterweights Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle, however, both started out as pro boxers before eventually finding their true calling in the fledgling sport of mixed martial arts.
“MMA is the purest form of legal fighting available,” says Davis, who turned pro as a boxer in 1993 and compiled a respectable record of 17-1-2 in the seven years he spent in 12oz gloves.
“I see myself as a warrior and fighting in MMA was the best way to express myself. I’m not a natural boxer.
I am not a natural MMA fighter. I’m just a natural fighter – I was born to fight.
“Making the transition from boxing to mixed martial arts in 2002 was a long and arduous process. Once I identified the issues at hand it took me about seven months of total dedication to the training to get to where I am today. When I boxed I only did my boxing training and sparring along with running. As an MMA fighter you train in several disciplines of fighting – striking arts and grappling arts. You also do stuff like weight training and plyometrics.
It really is the ultimate form of multitasking. If you ease up on one aspect of training, I guarantee that's the area that will get exploited when it comes time to fight.”
Both Davis and Lytle have made the move with aplomb, and are no longer pinpointed as mere punchers masquerading as all-round mixed martial artists. Davis is adept on the floor, and has scored submission wins over Paul Taylor and Paul Kelly, while Lytle may well be even more dangerous when a fight hits the floor than when he is throwing Hail Mary fists on his feet.
“Being a former boxer in this sport is truly a blessing,” says Lytle, now retired, but a former UFC fan favorite and top 170lb contender.
“Aside from the fact it gives you a good grounding when a fight starts, it also helps because people tend to underestimate your grappling.
I've been doing this thing for over 20 years now and people still don't think my grappling matches up to my striking. It's only when I take them down or pull guard and then tap them out that they realize I'm pretty darn good down there, too. My preference is always to stand and bang and put on a show for the fans, but I also know I have it in me to take a fight to the ground and win it that way.”
As far as the actual mechanics of striking in MMA, Davis and Lytle are in full agreement with Haye, the boxer with just enough knowledge and foresight to stay away. “The techniques are totally different,” says Davis, 20-9 as a mixed martial artist. “I had to revamp my whole punching style to survive in this thing. If I was to just stand and punch the way I did as a boxer, grapplers would be taking me down left, right and center.
I literally wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
“As time has gone on, I've learned to punch on the move, set for shorter periods of time and always think about at least two things at the same time. You can't just think about hitting and not getting hit in MMA.
You have to think about hitting, not getting hit, not getting kicked, not getting taken down, not getting clinched, and so on.”
“Technical punching isn't as vital in MMA, because a fight rarely comes down to two guys looking to outdo one another with precise punches,” adds Lytle, 13-1-1 as a pro boxer and 31-18-5 in MMA.
“There are too many other areas the fight can be decided in.
The key for me is always to stay busy with my hands and to make sure I'm unpredictable, both with my punches and my movement.
If an opponent is unable to get comfortable with you in there, they won't take you down and they won't trade freely with punches.
Unpredictability is always the name of the game in MMA.”
A deadly combination
If it's unconventional you're after, how about Kimbo Slice?
One-time backyard brawler, YouTube phenomenon, The Ultimate Fighter reject and UFC flop, Slice now campaigns as a novice professional boxer, under the guidance of veteran fight promoter Gary Shaw. Since making the move earlier this year, Slice has won two bouts in a row, both via first-round knockout, and has perhaps already shown more promise with two fists than he ever did as a confused mixed martial artist.
“I've always wanted to box, but mixed martial arts overtook boxing when boxing became boring,” says Slice.
“Boxing has done all that mess to itself, and it just so happens that mixed martial arts was about to break out big at the time boxing started getting boring. Don’t get it twisted, I've always liked the idea of turning pro as a boxer, though. Boxing is a one-dimensional sport.
It involves punching and that’s it. But it also takes a lot more commitment on my part, and I realized I’d have to build up a way better defense when moving into pro boxing from MMA.
Although I like punching dudes, I still have lots of work to do to get where I need to be in the boxing game.
There might only be one dimension to boxing, but it's a dimension that people have been working with and perfecting for centuries.
These guys are experts at something I'm still learning.”
Slice will never catch up with Toney as far as boxing instincts go, and he's currently 82 fights down on the Michigan veteran in the experience stakes, but words and actions imply the 37-year-old street scrapper knows more about self-promotion and the intricacies of combat sports than the man he grew up idolizing in the '90s.
Neither fighter exactly flourished in the fastest-growing combat sport in the world, but, hey, at least Kimbo tried.
Boxing champions equipped to make the move to the cage…
Kermit Cintron
Before discovering boxing as a full-time outlet, former IBF welterweight champion Cintron was an accomplished high-school wrestler at William Tennent High School in Warminster, Pennsylvania.
He was even offered full wrestling scholarships at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ohio State University, but unfortunately an untimely knee injury halted his progress. In short, he's the most decorated wrestler in boxing, if that means anything at all.
When Floyd Mayweather was bizarrely offered a shot at former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk in 2007, Cintron stepped forward and declared his desire to take the challenge instead. “I can wrestle and I can box,” said Cintron. “I can beat those UFC fighters at their own game. Tell Mr [Dana] White to make me an offer and I'll take on his guy.”
Andre Berto
Mixed martial arts is in the Berto family, and former WBC welterweight champion Andre wouldn't exactly have to look far for knowledge or guidance. Father Diesuel competed at UFC 10, while brother James Edson is an active mixed martial artist with a record of 16-9-1.
Not only that, sister Nana Berto also competes as a mixed martial artist for the Real Fighting Championship. It's fair to say Berto comes from good stock. Often upright and rigid in his boxing stance, he resembles a hybrid fighter, someone utilizing the best of multiple disciplines and producing something all of his own. There are signs of his father's martial arts influence on his boxing style, yet Berto remains athletic enough to translate dad's knowledge into boxing success.
Vic Darchinyan
Former IBF flyweight and super-flyweight champion Darchinyan's father was an Olympic wrestling coach in Armenia and, before he found his potent left hand, a young Vic would practice Greco-Roman wrestling on a daily basis. With a combination of heavy-handed striking and rudimentary wrestling knowledge, Darchinyan has been one of many boxers who have articulated their plans to eventually drift towards a stint in mixed martial arts. “I would definitely like to fight in the UFC,” he says. “I want to prove there's more power to me that just what's in my hands. My father was a wrestling coach and I've grown up with that.
I'd just have to learn a few kicks. I think three or four fights would be perfect.”
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