Tyson Fury On Conor McGregor Boxing And His MMA Plans

There are certain athletes whose popularity spreads beyond their own sport. Tyson Fury is one of those athletes. In the last few months, ‘The Gypsy King’ has made almost as many MMA headlines as he has boxing ones. Ever since he stated that he planned to switch to MMA.

Despite the fact he has the biggest boxing fight of his life coming up on February 22nd, when he rematches Deontay Wilder, Fury has been teasing a move to MMA. The 31 year old even trained with UFC middleweight Darren Till last November. And just this past weekend, he was even in attendance at UFC 246.

While he was in Las Vegas for the Conor McGregor vs ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone fight at UFC 246, Fury was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN Radio, where the topic of McGregor boxing came up.

“If he wants to be a boxer, if he wants to do boxing, do it. I thought he’d done quite well against Floyd Mayweather. He’d done as good as anybody else has done, really. He was catching Mayweather with some good shots.

“I think it’s great for boxing and great for combat sports. If McGregor fights Pacquiao or Mayweather, it creates a big show in Las Vegas. It gives people the opportunity to come out and get involved in the entertainment and action. It creates jobs for people. It brings money to Las Vegas, money to America. It brings tourism to the country. I think it’s very, very good for sports in general.”

Fury went on to say that if McGregor wants to box again, he should absolutely box again.

“I’d like to see it, because it’s what people want to do with their lives. Who am I, who are you or who is anybody to say someone shouldn’t do what they want to do in their life?”

The topic then changed from boxing to MMA. In recent months, Fury has called out many UFC heavyweights, including UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou. In return, both Miocic and Ngannou called out Fury. Both saying that they would be interested in fighting the lineal heavyweight champion in boxing and MMA.

If Miocic or Ngannou want to get their hands on Fury now however, it looks like it will have to be in a boxing contest. Of sorts. Tyson told Helwani that while he doesn’t want to compete in MMA anymore, he would like to box a UFC champion inside the Octagon, with MMA gloves.

“I don’t want to go into an MMA fight, rolling around the floor and all that, no. But I would fight one of their champions in small gloves. Maybe in a cage, but with boxing rules. I think that would be very interesting. … With UFC gloves, the little 4-ounce gloves, that would be good for me.

“After I beat Deontay Wilder next month, I’m going to have a sit-down with Dana [White] and we’re going to go for it, run some numbers and see if the fight makes sense. Whoever’s available from that side, and whoever’s willing to get their ass kicked in the cage by the heavyweight champion of the world, he’s the one I want.”

While Fury may have gone off the idea of competing in MMA, the same can’t be said for Claressa Shields, the unbeaten two time Olympic gold medalist boxer, world champion, has said that she plans to make her MMA debut this year.

How do you think a fight between Tyson Fury and Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou would go inside the Octagon, wearing 4-ounce gloves?


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