Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury might be the latest combat sports athlete looking to cross over to a new sport.
Speaking to Sky Sports in England, Fury hinted a move to mixed martial arts sooner rather than later after he had previously engaged in a back and forth war of words with former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez a few years ago.
Now it appears the 31-year-old boxer is once again considering the move while currently preparing for his professional wrestling debut as part of a show coming up on Oct. 31 for World Wrestling Entertainment.
“I’ve got something big coming up after this. Even more bigger than this. We might see Tyson Fury have his MMA debut this year, too,” Fury said. “It’s different but like I said, Tyson Fury taking over.”
According to Fury, he’s been in contact with former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor to potentially take him under his wing to help him prepare for an eventual mixed martial arts contest.
“I’ve been speaking to Conor about it. He’s willing to train me and it’s going to be good,” Fury added.
“He just said any time you’re ready, when you get the time, let’s go. Come over to Dublin and we’ll start training. So can’t wait, going to take him up on the offer. Who knows we might be on a double header. “The Gypsy King” and Conor McGregor.”
As far as the transition goes, high-level boxers have traditionally not found much success when making the move to mixed martial arts.
James Toney lasted less than a round when he made his UFC debut against Randy Couture and Ricardo Mayorga posted a 0-3 record in his attempt to move into MMA. Holly Holm is the one glaring exception after she turned her focus from boxing to MMA where she eventually became a UFC champion.
Obviously, Fury, who is coming off a 12-round decision win over Otto Wallin in his last fight, is confident he can become the anomaly for boxers not only making the move to MMA but finding equal success.
“I come from a long line of bare knuckle boxing champions. Getting hurt, getting bloody, you saw in my last fight blood everywhere. Nothing new to me,” Fury said.
“All part of my heritage and upbringing and I’d love to get in there and smash someone up.”
Source: MMAfighting.com
