For years, fight fans have debated how elite athletes from other combat sports—especially boxing—would perform inside the UFC octagon. Boxers, of course, remain confident that their skills would translate, often believing their striking ability would be too much for MMA fighters to handle. But former UFC star and analyst Chael Sonnen isn’t convinced.
Sonnen, during an episode of the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’, broke down why even the best in the world—like Floyd Mayweather in boxing or Gordon Ryan in jiu-jitsu—would struggle in a UFC fight.
While the UFC has been around for a while it is important to learn that the sport itself is less than three decades old. This means that the sport is naturally evolving at a rapid pace much like any others did during its adolescent years.
Therefore, it is no longer fine to just be good at one aspect of the sport, fighters are becoming increasingly well-rounded to improve their chances of winning championships. Sonnen asserts that this is the reason why the fighters from Dagestan do extremely well is because they approach training from day one preparing for MMA and not a discipline in particular.
“The conversation about who is the most complete fighter is such a moving target because one thing about this sport is that we’re still finding out in its infancy.”
Elaborating further, he added, “If you were a wrestler and it did not matter how good, it’s not enough. If you were a boxer and it does not matter how good, you could be Floyd Mayweather… If you were a ground fighter, it does not matter how good, you could be Gordon Ryan, it’s not enough.”
Interestingly, Floyd had previously showm a lot of gravitation toward fighting in the octagon. These were the days he was beefing with former UFC double champ, Conor McGregor.
Mayweather once flirted with the idea of a UFC fight
Back in late 2017, the combat sports world was buzzing with rumors that Mayweather, fresh off his boxing victory over McGregor, was contemplating a move into mixed martial arts. The idea of Mayweather stepping into the UFC octagon seemed both thrilling and improbable, sparking debates and excitement among fans and analysts alike.
The speculation gained traction when UFC President Dana White mentioned that discussions with Mayweather about a potential deal were genuine.
Mayweather himself hinted at the possibility, suggesting that he could make more money than the rest of the roster combined if he chose to fight in the UFC.
“If I chose to get in the UFC and fight three fights or fight four fights and then fight Conor McGregor, I could make a billion dollars, which I can.“, he had stated.
UFC analysts like Joe Rogan even took to their podcasts claiming that should he fight Conor, Floyd would get merced inside the octagon.
“I think they might give him an ungodly sum of money — and I think they should. They should give him everything they can get their greasy paws on, to get him to fight Conor in an MMA fight.” he had said in a 2018 episode of the JRE.
Explaining how the fight would go, Rogan claimed, that the range would just be alien to him and Floyd would pieced up by Conor’s kicking.
“Whenever Floyd goes in, he’ll get front kicked to the stomach — boom! How many of those can you take?… Floyd is phenomenal at what he does, but if you put takedowns and kicks into that it changes everything. He’d be fuc***!“, he had surmised.
However, as soon as the gossip began getting media traction, Mayweather began to distance himself from the idea. He clarified his previous statements, emphasizing that while he could potentially make a billion dollars by fighting in the UFC, it wasn’t something he was planning to do.
He remarked, “I’m not doing it—but I’m saying what I could do to make a billion dollars quick if I wanted to do that.“
