Tag: Daniel Cormier

MMA stars know where to find money … against boxing counterparts

In recent days, the UFC’s Jorge Masvidal and Stipe Miocic have expressed interest in facing Canelo Alvarez and Tyson Fury, respectively.

MMA stars may get the earlier start times, but it’s the top boxers who take home the more gratifying paychecks.

Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s biggest attraction, was reduced to playing second fiddle in the combat sports world when DAZN decided to delay his title fight against Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 2 to accommodate the UFC main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz that took place that same evening.

Critics ripped the streaming service for making it appear as though boxing was taking a backseat to the UFC. However, in at least one respect, it’s the other way around.

In the days after his technical decision over Diaz, Masvidal has been busy beating the drums for … an Alvarez fight. And Stipe Miocic, the UFC heavyweight champion, has floated the idea of reneging on a third fight with Daniel Cormier to face heavyweight contender Tyson Fury in a boxing match.

Notice a pattern yet?

It’s always the mixed martial artist clamoring to fight the boxer and seldom vice versa. For good reason. As has been well documented, the top boxers earn far more than their UFC counterparts. And there’s something about the crossover appeal that gets people to take out their wallets, as the 2017 pay-per-view bonanza – all 4.3 million buys – between UFC’s Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather demonstrated.

If you’re Masvidal, why not push for an Alvarez fight? Crazier things have happened. A Canelo fight would represent by far the most lucrative opportunity in his career. Masvidal discussed a potential Canelo fight on the Dan Le Batard show on Tuesday.

“If he was to come to the MMA, it wouldn’t be a challenge,” Masvidal said. “I would throw 10,000 left high kicks and he hasn’t thrown one. It’s kind of the same thing in boxing, where if I’ve thrown a million jabs, he’s thrown 10 million because that’s all his focus is on, boxing.

“That being said, there’s still an element where I could put his ass to sleep. I’m actually bigger even though I may not hit harder, but definitely bigger, and I consider myself 10 times the athlete he is, just because of MMA in general, all the strength, speed that we have to generate. … I feel I could hurt this dude.”

Of course, Masvidal is dreaming … of the money.

 

Stipe Miocic wants to fight boxer Tyson Fury, not interested in Daniel Cormier trilogy

UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic expressed an interest fighting former heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.

Despite their series being tied at one fight apiece, UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] isn’t interested in a trilogy against former champ [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag].

Instead of facing Cormier (22-2 MMA, 15-2 UFC) for a third time, Miocic (19-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) wants to taken on a different former champion – one outside of the MMA bubble.

In an interview with ESPN on Monday, Miocic made it clear he wants to fight boxing superstar Tyson Fury upon his return.

“I saw Tyson Fury is coming into the mix now here,” Miocic said. “I like a new challenge… With DC, I didn’t fluke knock him out – I beat him. I decisively beat him. Our first fight, congrats to DC. But he caught me with a punch in the first round.

“There was a lot going on in my mind that night. No excuses, but he beat me. The second fight I won. There’s no taking it away from me. I didn’t get lucky, I just straight outworked him.”

Throughout the interview, Miocic praised’s Fury’s abilities calling him a “good fighter” and a “good dude.” However, Miocic believes he has what it takes to defeated him inside the cage – or the boxing ring.

“He’s a talented fighter, so he’s definitely going to have good striking,” Miocic said. “But anyone can make a (30-second) highlight reel. It’s still good, but I can do that too.”

“… Definitely if he wants to step into the Octagon, I’ll love it. I’ll step in the ring. I’d love to box him. I would love to box him. He’s a great fighter. He’s a good dude and we’d put on a good show.”

[lawrence-related id=461781,460929]

In fact, Miocic said the prospect of fighting Fury inside the ring was more intriguing to him than inside the cage. A new challenge, Miocic said, is what he’s striving for.

“It’s something new – something different,” Miocic said. “In mixed martial arts, there’s a lot more to go with. You’ve got a bunch of martial arts to work with. In boxing, we’d just go toe-to-toe and slug it out.”

Since he defeated Cormier at UFC 241 in August, Miocic underwent eye surgery. Miocic said he procedure was done to repair a retinal tear as a result of eye pokes sustained in the first two matchups against DC. He’s not sure exactly when, but he’s planning on a 2020 return.

“Probably multiple eye pokes from my last two fights,” Miocic said of why his eye was damaged. “Yeah, I mean it didn’t help my cause, but getting punched doesn’t help either.

“I got done with the fight seeing spots in my eye. I (saw things) I’ve never saw before. It just didn’t feel right. We actually went to the retinal doctor. He’s like, ‘Yeah, you have a tear in your retina.’ A little procedure will fix it up, so hopefully it’ll heal up and stay that way.”

Monday’s interview wasn’t the first we heard of Miocic wanting Fury in MMA. After Fury posted a video training elbows, knees, and takedown defense alongside former UFC title challenger Darren Till, Miocic issued a statement on Twitter.

[vertical-gallery id=329844]

Bellator 233’s Kyle Crutchmer happy to be compared to teammates Cormier, Khabib – if he has bank account to match

“If my bank account says what ‘D.C.’ and Khabib’s say, you can compare me to whoever you want to compare me to.”

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – With his strong wrestling background, [autotag]Kyle Crutchmer[/autotag] is happy to draw comparisons to his teammates – but not necessarily to their fighting styles.

Crutchmer (5-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, has a strong grappling background like former two-division UFC champion [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] and UFC lightweight champ [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], his teammates at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

Crutchmer improved to 5-0 Friday at Bellator 233 in his promotional debut with a unanimous decision win over Robert Gidron. He used his superior wrestling to control the fight and showed off some of his striking, too.

[lawrence-related id=461778,461145]

But with inevitable comparisons to his accomplished wrestling teammates at AKA, Crutchmer is more concerned with making similar paydays down the line.

“I don’t know how many people knock dudes down with spinning back fists, but I threw that (expletive) today – it landed, it knocked him down, so I’ve got a little bit different style from (them),” Crutchmer told MMA Junkie. “But listen, man, at the end of the day, if my bank account says what ‘D.C.’ and Khabib’s say – man, you can compare me to whoever you want to compare me to.”

His opponent, Gidron, stepped in on short notice for the fight. But the natural middleweight missed weight for the 170-pound bout by nearly five pounds. While Crutchmer is accustomed to being the smaller opponent, he says Gidron had an apparent size difference, a challenge he was able to overcome.

“My wrestling kind of speaks for itself,” Crutchmer said. “I think I would be dumb to not at least attempt it in the first, to see how hard or how easy it would be. Man, that guy was big. People don’t realize – he missed weight by five pounds. He’s never fought at (1)70, I don’t think, so he had some height on me, too. So some of those things, I was trying to get to. It took a lot more than people could see.”

And there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to accept the fight regardless, as he looks to begin his ascent in the Bellator 170-pound rankings.

“I’m in this to prove I’m the baddest mother(expletive) in the world, and if I’m turning down fights or I’m saying no to somebody, then why am I doing this?” Crutchmer said. “I knew it was going to be hard. You could see it, how big he was, and that does play a factor in fights. I had no hesitation. I told our coaches, ‘I’ll get paid a little bit more and we’ll roll with it.'”