Do people realize how dominant a fighter like Roy Jones would have been in the UFC if cross trained?

Question

If you would have taken Roy Jones Jr. when he was 18 and cross trained him in grappling - defending kicks - he would destroy any non-heavyweight fighter in the history of UFC or Pride.

The best stand up guys in the UFC - Liddell, Gomi etc. look like they move in slow motion compared to Jones.

Or take a guy like Lennox Lewis, if he would have been cross trained early enough in grappling you think Fedor would have had a chance? If Lennox cross trained in MMA would have made Fedor look like a sitting duck as he eat jab after jab only to have his head crushed in by a Lennox right. Lennox punching power is on a whole different level then anything any UFC or Pride fighter has ever seen and that is a fact.

Bluto that is the problem. As more money flows to the UFC and it gains more popularity we may see this type of fighter coming.

Now as far as no gloves it means the handspeed of guys like Jones is going to be even faster. Imagine Jones with out gloves you could barely see his hands.

Mr. E no Jones Jr. wasn't big enough to take a kick from Cro-Cop.

Cross trained Lennox Lewis could. It is all speculation I know but these guys like Lewis and Jones are some of the best athletes in the world. If they could be world champs at boxing they have the physical gifts necessary to master any form of martial arts given training. The one thing though is the speed they have can not be duplicated by any other MMA fighter.

Shaq is a basketball player big difference. He doesn't know a fighting style. Boxers are half way there, they just have to develope a more complete game. If you took Tyson at 15 let him keep training in boxing and add in some Judo he would be unstoppable.

Answer 1

do you realize how that would never happen because Roy Jones or Lennox Lewis would realize how much less money they would make and laugh at the notion of making less money for no apparent reason?

Answer 2

Jones was a great boxer because he trained exclusively as a boxer. That's where the hand speed and quick foot work comes from. MMA is special because the are renaissance fighters, emploring techniques from a number of disciplines. I don't doubt that Roy & Lennox would have been a good MMA fighters, but not dominant. Your arguments also seem to ignore ground fighting all together. Don't forget that the pioneers in the sport were wrestlers and jiu jitsu practitioners. I've seen a number of boxers transition to MMA with mixed results, and the most successful "purebread" fighters to make the transition are kickboxers.

Answer 3

No. Your making incorrect assumptions without having enough data to back up your claims. Roy Jones Jr. is an exceptional boxer, but MMA is an entirely different game. It's like a real fight, just think of it like this. They say styles make fights. Every fighter has their own body type. He has the type of body and athletic abilities best suited for boxing, some other guys may have a body type and athletic abilities more suitable for grappling or ground and pound. Just because you can excel at one, does not mean you could at the other. Boxing is instinctual and reactionary, MMA is more cerebral to where you can strategize and plan. I think Roy Jones Jr. would have trouble against a really good Muay Thai guy, they would just have to kick him in the legs until he gave up. It takes more brains to succeed in MMA, like doing the right move at the right time, transitioning to and from different holds and submissions, some people might just not be good at it. Not many boxers have succeeded in MMA, you bring up Leddell and Gomi, they both used to be wrestlers also.

Answer 4

IF is a big word for two letters...
what IF you trained someone as athletic as shaq or shawne merriman or dennis rodman or tony gonzalez from the time they were young in mma???
i'm betting on any of those three owning roy jones, but again... who knows.
the only thing we do know is that ALL of these people chose a different profession to utilize their athletic abilities, and as the sport gains popularity and the money increases the probability that the finest athletes will wind up in mma will increase.

Answer 5

almost any athlete would have the capacity to become a UFC fighter with the right type of training especially if they have some type of martial arts training or background.depending on thier age of cause.and do you really believe there will ever be the sort of money in ufc as there is in boxing or a few other types of sports that would have people capable of becoming ufc fighters?
Other than the money why hasn't any of the good boxers become ufc fighters? a very popular misconception is a boxer can beat any martial artist?we all know thats not true,i just threw it in to make a point.anyway i consider boxing to be a ma.

Answer 6

No boxer in the entire history of the world would last 1 minute in the ring with someone like Fedor, Lidell,Hughes, Silva(all of them), or anyone in Pro MMA(any organization). Boxing is the weakest of all fighting styles. Jones would be taken down and CRUSHED. Lennox would get kicked in the head! HARDCORE like.

Answer 7

Boxing is totally different to MMA. World class kickboxers have tried to make the transition and failed. Stefan Leko comes to mind.

Jones maybe a great boxer, but that does not always mean success in all combat sports.

Answer 8

the SPECULATION that they would have been any good at those techniques is cute. just because you train at blocking kicks does not mean you would actually do a good job at it. maybe you are right, but then again, maybe roy jones would just be another block toward building a career for those who have all around game, like a hughes or st. pierre. and as for lewis, in the heavyweight division, do you really think he could take a kick from crocop or keep from being submitted by frank mir(pre injury?)

Answer 9

there has been others, yet Roy Jones in his best is definitely up there with ofcourse the all-time great Sugar Ray Robinson, and the longest reigning middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins.

Answer 10

Do people realize that Roy was only a good striker, not a good grappler. Only a few grapplers successfully transitioned into mma. Roy might have been good to bad.