Mayorga wants to move into MMA [Archive]

tlongII

09-21-2009, 06:19 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=4493036

MIAMI -- Former welterweight and super-welterweight world champion Ricardo Mayorga will venture into mixed martial arts.

In a news conference Monday, Mayorga said he anticipates his first MMA fight early next year. Mayorga, of Nicaragua, currently is in a legal dispute with promoter Don King and seeks a release from his boxing contract for an opportunity at an MMA career.

"I am a fighter by nature, I learned to fight on the streets of Nicaragua before I learned to box," Mayorga said. "For many years, I have wanted to try MMA. Now I hope to get my opportunity."

Still, Mayorga, 35, will need a crash course if he is to make an impact in a sport which has expanded its fan base the past five years.

As with previous boxers who have tried the move to MMA, including ex-heavyweight champion Ray Mercer, the toughest adjustment is fighting an opponent while on the ground.

"I have had a few training sessions and once I get the approval that I can start doing MMA, I will learn even more quickly," Mayorga said. "I consider it easier than boxing in that you can use your legs to kick your opponent. The idea of using smaller gloves also has me very anxious to try it.

"Boxing has many more rules."

Mayorga said he has not retired from boxing. In addition to pursuing his MMA aspirations, Mayorga would like to box again once he settles his legal dispute with King. Mayorga's last fight was a 12th-round knockout loss against Shane Mosley in September 2008.

Mayorga, whose boxing record is 28-7-1 and 22 KOs, won the World Boxing Council welterweight title with a third-round technical knockout over Vernon Forrest in 2003 and lost the belt against Cory Spinks in a title unification fight the following year.

In 2005, Mayorga defeated Michelle Piccirillo for the vacant WBC super-welterweight belt but lost the title in his first defense against Oscar De La Hoya.

Evan

09-21-2009, 07:31 PM

"I consider it easier than boxing in that you can use your legs to kick your opponent. The idea of using smaller gloves also has me very anxious to try it.

"Boxing has many more rules."

he clearly has zero idea what he is talking about...

MMA is where he will get every ligament in his body shredded once the distance is closed by a barely average Jiu Jitsu trained fighter.

imagine how silly he will look if he meets someone with Judo throwing. also can't wait to seem him breaking a shin bone or blowing a knee getting those easy kicks checked.

BlackSwordsMan

09-21-2009, 07:52 PM

mma- if you previous career is over come join this one

tlongII

09-21-2009, 08:42 PM

he clearly has zero idea what he is talking about...

MMA is where he will get every ligament in his body shredded once the distance is closed by a barely average Jiu Jitsu trained fighter.

imagine how silly he will look if he meets someone with Judo throwing. also can't wait to seem him breaking a shin bone or blowing a knee getting those easy kicks checked.

Could be interesting. A JJ fighter would obviously mess him up on the ground, but if he catches the dude with a punch it's lights out.

cornbread

09-21-2009, 11:07 PM

Hopefully he trains TD defense and anti-bjj all day, everyday.

cornbread

09-21-2009, 11:20 PM

MMA fans seem to have no respect for prize fighters.
It all goes back to a pro boxer wearing one boxing glove who got dominated by a skinny guy wearing pajamas.
http://img174.echo.cx/img174/2636/artjimmerson9rv.jpg

Evan

09-22-2009, 06:52 AM

MMA fans seem to have no respect for prize fighters.

Simply not true.

I noticed over here in the states, most fans don't care for Jiu Jitsu.

Not true again. I think its like appreciating defense in football, basketball or other sports...its the aspect of the game that fans understand last.

In fact, they'd much rather see the fighters go toe to toe, more of a kick boxing style fight is what they prefer.

still wrong...if thats the case why hasn't kickboxing caught on? It used to be all over ESPN and FOXSports.

LEONARD

09-22-2009, 08:32 AM

"I consider it easier than boxing in that you can use your legs to kick your opponent. The idea of using smaller gloves also has me very anxious to try it.

"Boxing has many more rules."

:lol

So he'll be able to step right in and add kicks to his arsenal?? hahaha

I really don't think boxing has many more rules. Probably about the same number of rules. This guy has no clue about MMA...lot to learn.

tlongII

09-22-2009, 09:42 AM

I do agree with lakaluva that the fans here prefer more striking. I think that's pretty obvious.

Evan

09-22-2009, 10:08 AM

tlongII

09-22-2009, 11:25 AM

Fans understand striking more it but it doesn't mean they like it better. And mma fans shred mma fighters that claim they can go to boxing and easily succeed. Just look here at the arlovski thread at how bad we lit him up.

I disagree. You only have to see the frequency that the refs stand up fighters now to understand that striking is more popular.

cornbread

09-22-2009, 10:44 PM

Nah, Chuck and Tito and were able to dominate because of their college wrestling backgrounds. Without wrestling, neither one of them would have gone far.

I'm not aware of too many top pro boxers besides Kermit Cintron who are also accomplished wrestlers. A boxer without wrestling and bjj is a one-trick pony that's one takedown away from being dominated or one punch away from winning.

dbreiden83080

09-22-2009, 10:50 PM

I think the top fighters in boxing would have no problem crossing over and dominate MMA. Not saying this about Mayorga, but come on, if Tito and Chuck can become champs...

I don't get the Tito and Chuck comparison, your saying they are not great fighters?

You have any idea how long it takes for someone coming from one background of fighting to master all the skills that make MMA fighters elite? Dude's like Dan Henderson that are elite MMA stars wrestled in the Olympics for god's sake.. And how many truly great fighters are left in boxing?? There's a millions scrubs holding belts, in the 8 million weight classes..

dbreiden83080

09-22-2009, 10:53 PM

Tito, Lidell, Rampage and many others seem to have done well

All great wrestlers and Tito actually has very good JJ..

polandprzem

09-22-2009, 11:23 PM

You can disagree, but I've seen way too many MMA fights where they've booed guys while jockeying for position on the ground. In China, they praised this. You also see the refs constantly in the picture threatening the guys to get going or else he's standing them up. And when he does, the fans all cheer. Personally, I think the top fighters in boxing would have no problem crossing over and dominate MMA. Not saying this about Mayorga, but come on, if Tito and Chuck can become champs...
I think you ment Japan :lol

And no way a guy with only one great style (esp. stand up style) can be a decent mma fighter.

dbreiden83080

09-23-2009, 01:23 AM

Huh!!!

He had Machida in a Triangle, and almost finished in his last fight. He lost bad to Randy by being outwrestled but took no real damage in the fight on the ground. He only has one loss in his career by a submission hold and it came in just his 2nd ever fight.. He made a career out of beating people up with top position and staying out of submissions, not easy to do.. Tito has very under-rated JJ..

Its plainly obvious that the best fighters in MMA are the multi-talented ones, Silva, GSP, Henderson, so on and so on.

Agreed..

At the same time, guys like Tito had absolutely no stand up game, with a very suspect chin, and he dominated the game for a stretch, and he was basically a wrestler

Tito's stand-up is not fantastic, he used it mainly to set up takedowns but to say "He has no stand-up is not right either. The first fight he had with Shamrock, back when Shamrock was still a good fighter, he whipped him on the feet horribly. Knees, punches, kicks, clinch, Tito can do those things well, what he has never had is great KO power, like some of the heavy hitters in his weight class. But he's never lacked the technical ability to find his man with strikes.. Also watch his fights with Forrest and Evans, his standup was good in those fights.. Plus we have to understand that MMA is still a pretty new sport and when Tito was carrying the belt, he was not facing the level of great diversified MMA fighters of today..

Chuck is a straight bar brawler, no other way to look at it. He'd rather give up his back just to get back to his feet before he stays on the ground. Rampage is another fighter that is mainly a stand up fighter, with some ground and pound mixed in.

Chuck has an extensive kickboxing background, he actually became too one dimensional with punches late in his career, Page loves to brawl but is freakishly strong and a great wrestler.. The Wrestling is the biggest area the boxing guys would struggle with..

You could easily take a guy like PPF, Hopkins, Hatton, Calzaghe or Roy Jones and train them, and with time they could become top fighters, or even champions in my opinion.

If they had years to train, yes some of them could make it in MMA and do very well, conversely guys like Anderson Silva if they, dedicated themselves to just boxing, could have made it over there as well.. GSP spars with champion boxers and apparently holds his own with some of them..

polandprzem

09-23-2009, 10:44 AM

Chuck, Tito, Hughes, Rampage. They were champs.

so?

If a boxer got no idea about takedown defense and tasting the jj or legkicks he won't do much in mma arena.

Those guys were great because thay could utilize other guys strenghts and make their own effective in mma.
Boxing not necessarily translates to mma

Evan

09-23-2009, 12:31 PM

Before you guys get defensive..........

Nobody is getting defensive.

To write off some of the top boxers, and assume they would have no chance of crossing over is just bias.

Nobody says he has no chance...I think people just get frustrated when he says how easy it will be because he can kick.

You're making a lot of assumptions about how people are reacting and I don't think you're reading very closely to all the replies.

Evan

09-23-2009, 12:36 PM

You can disagree, but I've seen way too many MMA fights where they've booed guys while jockeying for position on the ground. In China, they praised this.

In America they boo stale mate grappling where neither fighter is doing anything...in Japan they stay dead silent. Same thing different way of expressing it due to culture. And don't give us the weak argument that they appreciate the pure sport more when Japanese MMA is a freak show half the time with highly suspect results to push through their assigned stars.

http://nightmareofbattle.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/20081222-00000012-spnavi-fight-view-000.jpg

and for the record...MMA is dying a slow death in Asia faster than you might think. Its on life support so don't go overboard praising a small group of clapping fans.

You also see the refs constantly in the picture threatening the guys to get going or else he's standing them up. And when he does, the fans all cheer. Personally, I think the top fighters in boxing would have no problem crossing over and dominate MMA. Not saying this about Mayorga, but come on, if Tito and Chuck can become champs...

Not sure what you mean here.

dbreiden83080

09-23-2009, 05:03 PM

I think the day will come in the near future when professional boxers will be earning a living in both sports.

The day may come when pro-boxers are mainly pro-boxing and earn a little bit of money fighting in tiny shows against bad MMA fighters but they will never be in the UFC beating top level MMA competition if they are half assing their MMA training. 10 years ago sure but not now.. Your kidding yourself if you think that is even possible..

tlongII

09-23-2009, 05:09 PM

Who is PPF?

Evan

09-23-2009, 05:09 PM

You have no idea how he's going to come prepared. There are plenty of fighters in MMA that are very weak in BJJ, and vice versa when it comes to stand-up, yet they've made a career of it. Baroni is a classic example, even though he gets his ass kicked, people are still intrigued by that one punch knock-out. I think the day will come in the near future when professional boxers will be earning a living in both sports. Anderson Silva could do it right now if he wanted to, and I think PPF and Hopkins could do it also.

You're arguing in unclear circles.

Evan

09-23-2009, 05:16 PM

Who is PPF?

Pretty Boy Floyd mayweather

Evan

09-23-2009, 05:20 PM

dbreiden83080

09-23-2009, 05:26 PM

No, I'm not kidding. First of all, it wouldn't be for a little money, because most top prize fighters can draw huge PPV numbers alone. The idea of them crossing over would not only draw the boxing world, but the MMA world as well. Second, if you have young prospects in boxing today, and were managed and trained in MMA as well, who's to say they can't be good in both?

A part time MMA fighter is never in a million years beating a GSP or an Anderson Silva ever, i'd lay the deed to my house my car and every cent in the bank on that.. I don't care how great they are at boxing.. There are guys in the UFC that are great kickboxers, that would KO a Floyd or a Hopkins easy.. So maybe a Floyd can make headlines and some nice cash as a circus side-show fighting some scrub in Strikeforce but if he came to the UFC and fought anyone in the LW division with a decent ground game and they all have that in the UFC top tier, he is getting tapped out fast or KO'd by a more diversified striker.. Boxers can't half ass MMA training and expect to be anything special in the sport anymore than MMA fighters with little boxing skills could half ass boxing training and expect to do anything over there..

Evan

09-23-2009, 05:29 PM

lakaluva...you need to post more...good stuff even if we don't agree with everything...

tlongII

09-23-2009, 05:30 PM

Pretty Boy Floyd mayweather

Wouldn't that be PBF instead of PPF?

tlongII

09-23-2009, 05:31 PM

lakaluva...you need to post more...good stuff even if we don't agree with everything...

Yah, keep him here instead of the NBA forum. I pwn him over there! :lol

dbreiden83080

09-23-2009, 05:39 PM

But if RJ had switched 10 years ago, he would have become a champion.

RJ is a good example because he was an amazing athlete in his prime but say someone like Lennox Lewis who as good as he was, was a plodder without much quickness, i don't love his chances in MMA..

Evan

09-23-2009, 05:53 PM

dbreiden83080

09-23-2009, 05:58 PM

Just because you can box and are an amazing athlete doesn't mean ANYTHING for MMA.

Just like BJ Penn doesn't have good chances at boxing.

Its like saying a stud point guard can become a good cornerback in the nfl.

I simply don't agree the argument is a valid one.

Well the 2 best pd for pd fighters in the world GSP and Silva are also 2 of the best athletes to ever compete in MMA.. Brock is a crazy athlete. It means a lot in terms of picking things up fast..

Evan

09-23-2009, 06:08 PM

Well the 2 best pd for pd fighters in the world GSP and Silva are also 2 of the best athletes to ever compete in MMA.. Brock is a crazy athlete. It means a lot in terms of picking things up fast..

I guess my argument becomes stronger the older the athlete gets. If they start in their mid 20's then my argument isn't as strong.

cornbread

09-23-2009, 08:08 PM

There are plenty of fighters in MMA that are very weak in BJJ, and vice versa when it comes to stand-up, yet they've made a career of it. Baroni is a classic example...
Baroni was an All-American wrestler in college. Just sayin.

dbreiden83080

09-23-2009, 08:58 PM

^^^ He can get a 2-4 mil payday for one fight with Roy, and only get maybe 500k in MMA, if that. Eventually MMA will be able to pay its top fighters millions per fight, but even at that point, boxing will still have a forum. Boxers don't view themselves any less talented as the MMA fighters, of course they will have to evolve just like the early MMA fighters did just to survive. Eventually some freakish boxer is going to cross over and surprise everyone like Brock did, and that's going to open the door, and hopefully evolve the sport even more.

Actually UFC is paying these guys more than people know, although it is starting to come out. Randy was embarassed by the UFC when he lied about his salary during his walk-out. They released the figures that showed he made close to 2 mil on each of his last 2 fights and was making almost 200 grand as a commentator. He was saying he just made his base and a small PPV cut, he lied.. The money the big guys make in bonuses, is pretty big. Fedor was rumored to have been offered a 6 fight deal worth roughly 30 mil just a few months ago by the UFC.. And i think more and more boxing guys when they are young, are just going to head the MMA route, rather then become pro-boxers. The sport keeps getting bigger. Boxing has the same problems today it had 10 years ago. They don't have cohesive marketing, too many fighters/promoters out for themselves..

polandprzem

09-24-2009, 06:02 AM

^^^ This is true.

You kind have to understand the condition that boxing is in to understand where I'm coming from. Unless you are ranked top 10 in boxing, you're not eating, mainly because of the these crooked promoters that also manage the fighters. A lot of talented boxing prospects are looking at MMA right now, and will eventually become MMA/Pro Boxers. Its not half-assing if you're dedicated. The reason you see Silva trying to get a match with Roy is because of money. He can get a 2-4 mil payday for one fight with Roy, and only get maybe 500k in MMA, if that. Eventually MMA will be able to pay its top fighters millions per fight, but even at that point, boxing will still have a forum. Boxers don't view themselves any less talented as the MMA fighters, of course they will have to evolve just like the early MMA fighters did just to survive. Eventually some freakish boxer is going to cross over and surprise everyone like Brock did, and that's going to open the door, and hopefully evolve the sport even more.

Imagine a guy with the hands of Mayweather with the ground game of Gracie. This is possible, and it will only come if the fighter is dedicated to both sports.

Being great at bjj and best at boxing dos not equal the best mma fighter.

And thinking that a boxer can easily learn all the ground game and other mma techiques is thinking wrong. and now especialy talking about boxer over 30.

LEONARD

09-24-2009, 08:26 AM

Baroni was an All-American wrestler in college. Just sayin.

lol...don't worry about that so much... :lol

dallaskd

09-24-2009, 07:48 PM

Brock has actually been training in mma for 4 years in 2010. So your wrong again. Note, he trained full time for a year in a half with out ever fighting his first fight.

dallaskd

09-24-2009, 08:01 PM

Possible for what? Mayorga could be a successful MMA fighter if he spent 2 years solely on training and fought his first 3 or 4 fights in a small org before coming to the UFC. I'm just saying Brock didnt do it over night.

dbreiden83080

09-24-2009, 09:04 PM

Lets see. An amateur wrestler decides he wants to fake wrestle for a career, and becomes champion. He then quits, to play pro football, but was cut, so he goes back to fake wrestling. He then leaves fake wrestling again to become a pro wrestler. He then quits pro wrestling to train to become a MMA fighter at the age of 30, and is now the UFC champion. I know, I know, he has a wrestling back ground, right? But, this is MMA, and no way a guy at the age of 30 who has been fake wrestling/amateur wrestling/pro wrestling should be able to come in and defeat one of the best heavyweight JJ fighters with less than two years training.

Brock dealt with some of the same arguments that you guys are using right now. He's the heavyweight champ of the UFC in less than 2 years training.

I'm getting the sense that you think that MMA is somehow an easy sport to master here.. IS that what you think? IF your a fan like you seem to be i hope you don't think that. Just because someone has great hands does not mean they will ever develop great JJ, wrestling, and other forms of striking. It's impossible to pro-rate a great boxer into MMA and say, he'll be great in a few years time, we can't know that..

dallaskd

09-24-2009, 09:19 PM

True, just because you train something for 2 years doesnt mean you will ever be good at it. I could train in bowling everyday for 2 years and i couldnt be a pro. (maybe a bad example)

polandprzem

09-25-2009, 02:19 AM

stand up is a diferent animal to ground in mma

By wrestling you can survive more, you have great balance and power. And not necessery you need to be a great striker to develop th skill of demolishing other guy when you have wrestling adventage and go down with the opponent being on top of him.

as a boxer for all the career he was not aware of opponents that can take him down. So all what he has learned is not worthy as far as defense goes. Stick and move does not work in mma when a wrestler wants to take you down all the time.
Also boxer is not using legs and that changing the techinique of striking again.
So basicly right now in mma (as it envolved) he would have to change a lot and leave his old habits, which is not easy at all.

polandprzem

09-25-2009, 02:30 PM

Wtf?

10-2 record in boxing it's just scratching the sport, and the guy is not top level fighter

The situation we were talking was different.

dbreiden83080

09-25-2009, 03:12 PM

For all the fighters like Koscheck, Hughes, Brock, etc that had great wrestling backgrounds and turned it into big MMA careers, there's obviously countless others that had big wrestling/grappling backgrounds and were never able to fill out the rest of their game's to have successul careers. Look at a guy like Dean Lister, amazing JJ career, look at this resume

"two-time U.S. National Sambo champion, a four-time U.S. Machado National Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion (weight class and open classes), and a National Gracie Jiu Jitsu champion,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Lister

Yet he has had a mediocre MMA career at best, just 11-6 record, not one big win on his resume.. It's so hard to put it all together and i don't believe boxers training part time will ever be able to do it..

dbreiden83080

09-25-2009, 06:17 PM

True, but why do you say part-time? Its just adding more techniques to your game on a full time basis, but using them separately in two different, but similar sports. I'm not assuming this will be easy at all, but the gifted athletes seem to make it look that way.

If your still a pro-boxer and are fighting as a pro-boxer but trying to transition your game into MMA that takes so much time and effort that your boxing skills will begin to erode. More MMA training less boxing. Thus your boxing career will suffer. So a choice would have to be made for a boxer looking to go MMA. Hang up the gloves and work on everything MMA wise needed to have a full game or stick with just boxing. Trying to do both is a load to handle and expect huge success.. It would be like Roger Federer trying to get his golf swing right enough to join his buddy Tiger on the PGA tour yet still being active on the ATP Tennis tour.. Something's gonna suffer..

polandprzem

09-26-2009, 06:26 AM

Only slightly different. There were two points being made in this thread. You're right, he's not a top level fighter, but he took care of two top level MMA fighters with ease. Well, Edwards is no longer tops, but Nick was at the time. Guys like KJ are the future of MMA and Boxing, making money in both. You may feel different, but all the young boxers I know are gaining interest in MMA, while still holding onto to their dreams of becoming boxing champs.

Well mostly it starts with one combat sport then in can envolve into mma if you want to.

The case disscussed was diferent. We were talking about a long time boxer who is trying to be mma fighter and saying it's easy.
As I said before- it's not just adding new techniques but changing everything you've been doing for many years and you muscles got used to it.
It's not just - ok - I will add some leg kicks to my game. But all in all he never was kicking his opponent and it changes his all stand up (his standing and distance, balance), also you need to be aware of other aspects you never been aware of. He's going into diferent envoirment he never was in.
It's hard to change your habits esp. when you dealing with so many aspect of mma.