Mike Tyson was one of the boxing greats in attendance during the record breaking boxing match which occurred on August 26th this year. Leading up to the fight he had said that he did not think Conor McGregor had a chance, which was the consensus among most of the boxing community. Floyd Mayweather showed supreme confidence leading up to the bout and this confidence was shared by most of the boxing community. However, in the aftermath of the match, in which Floyd knocked out the MMA champion in the 10th round, he had a lot of praise for McGregor.
In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, he stated that he thought it was a great fight and was surprised by how well McGregor fought. He went on to say in another interview that he gives him an A grade for his performance.
Chris Eubank weighs in
The former British boxing champion Chris Eubank had much to say before and after the fight. He had heaped praise on McGregor and the nation of Ireland as a warrior nation leading up to the fight. In an interview with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, he had predicted that if McGregor were to make it a fight rather than a boxing match, as he asserted Tyson had sometimes done, that he could potentially win. Post fight he stated that he admired the fact that McGregor had stepped into the Lion’s den with the undefeated boxing legend and that he gives him props for doing so.
Other MMA fighters express interest in boxing
With Mayweather now on the verge of becoming a billionaire athlete and McGregor have made more money in one fight than any MMA fighter ever, this fight has set a trend for others athletes in both sports.
Jose Aldo, the former UFC featherweight champion has stated his intention to fight out the 4 remaining UFC fights on his contract and to then box professionally.
He expressed interest in boxing Miguel Cotto. Anderson Silva, the former UFC middleweight champion has for a long time expressed his interest in setting up a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr.
Champion boxers address potential MMA fights
Tony Bellew, the British champion boxer has discussed the possibility of fighting current middleweight UFC champion and fellow Brit Michael Bisping.
This is likely to be welcomed by Bisping who has expressed his desire to pursue money fights. Bellew was in attendance for the Mayweather McGregor fight Las Vegas and was interviewed by Fighthype.com. He stated that in a hypothetical boxing fight between the two, Bisping would be knocked out in “the worst highlight reel you’ve ever seen”. He stated he would prefer to go “in the cage”, referring to the octagon used in MMA as opposed to the boxing ring.
Current heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua has stated that he would be open to an MMA fight, given that there was a no submission rule. He stated that "I can't beat a guy [via submission]. That takes a lot of time to learn the skills and submissions, which I don't have the time for, but when it comes to pure aggression and fighting rules, I can definitely fight, so I don't mind that.”
It certainly appears that the mammoth event that was Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor will not be the last time we will see a boxer take on an MMA fighter.
