Perhaps in a sign of overreach on Floyd Mayweather Jr’s part, he is considering moving to compete in MMA fights, according to the latest boxing news from ESPN. Apparently, Mayweather, now 30, is in discussions with billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, among other things. Mayweather met up with Cuban while on the “Dancing with The Stars” show and the two became quick friends. Cuban also owns the HDNet Fights, a MMA promotional company, which has it’s fights shown on HDNet, owned by Cuban. By signing on Mayweather, Cuban would be getting a huge boost for his company, even if Mayweather never amounts to anything in the sport.
For Mayweather to take on such a venture, he would likely be looking to get paid in the tens of millions, as he is risking a lot by competing in a sport of this nature. Much of the fighting in MMA involves wrestling and submission holds, the type of skills that take a considerable amount of time to learn.
Even then, it doesn’t guarantee a fighter is going to be any good at it, as wrestling, like boxing, is a sport that some athletes just have a natural ability in. For the most part, boxers generally do very poor in trying to adapt to the world of MMA fights, often quitting rather quickly after getting beaten down once or twice.
Much of Mayweather’s skills – his handpeed, foot movement and defensive ability – would very likely be quickly neutralized by a MMA fighter with good grappling skills. That is, unless the rules of the fight were changed to protect Mayweather. Unless I miss my guess, that’s probably what will happen in Mayweather’s case. They’ll set up rules in which his opponent isn’t allowed to take out his legs or wrestle him, forcing the fight to take place standing up where Mayweather would have all the advantage.
In that sense, you hardly could call it a MMA fight, but that’s something that would not be discussed with the buying public. If Mayweather were forced to fight a traditional MMA fight, he would no doubt lose to almost any fighter for lack of any knowledge of wrestling or submission holds.
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