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The world heavyweight boxing champion,
Tyson Fury, found time after claiming his title against Wladimir Kitschko to speak to Ariel Helwani on
The MMA Hour, and it appears his disdain for MMA hasn't changed since he challenged former
UFC champion,
Cain Velasquez.
Last week, Bellator president Scott Coker confirmed to
Sherdog that Tyson Fury's manager had contacted him early this year, looking to stage an exhibition bout between the heavyweight boxer and one of his promotion's fighters. Coker was keen on the idea, but shortly after the conversation, Fury received news that he would be getting a title shot, and the idea was put on hiatus.
Fury had previously panned the sport of MMA, claiming it was boring and for people who "couldn't box", before calling out Dana White and the then champion of the UFC heavyweight division, Cain Velasquez. With Coker's revelations, Fury was invited on the
MMA Hour, and its seems his views of mixed martial arts are little changed:
"....I think MMA is for people who can't box, basically. That's just my opinion on that. It's not really entertaining for me. The only time it's entertaining is when they stand up and punch each other. That's what I think fans like as well.
"I don't think anyone likes to see people roll about the floor. "I think people want to see the stand-up punching. Even the referee when they're on the floor to get up, get into it. I think I speak on behalf of a lot of people that the best parts of MMA is when they're standing up and trading punches."
"Me and Scott Coker's had many conversations in the past about coming to Bellator and fight. I'm the heavyweight champion on the world in boxing and I'd like to unify and switch. I'd like to fight the UFC heavyweight champion. I've been calling Cain Velasquez out for two years and then he got beaten, so it showed you what I said was about right.
"I just want to fight the best, the best stand-up fighter in the world. Whoever is the best stand-up fighter in the world, I want to fight him because I believe I'm that man. "I don't care if he wants to kick, whatever he wants to do. We can have an all-in fight because I believe I'm the best combat fighter on the planet."
However, much of Fury's bluster appears to be just that. Essentially conceding that- under MMA rules- he would swiftly be taken down by almost any mixed martial artist, he told Helwani would far prefer a 'hybrid' rules stand-up bout, rather than permit any grappling.
If this is the case, even with the amount of money potentially available, it is likely that Dana White and the UFC would be uninterested in such a spectacle, no matter how many challenges Fury would like to throw down. It is also questionable what MMA fighter would accept such an arrangement, whether in the UFC or Bellator:
"I'm not really interested in a 100 percent MMA fight because obviously, they're not going to stand up and bang with the heavyweight champion of the world, are they? They just want to take me to the floor. That's not my forte. My forte is full, action-packed fighting whether it's stand up, kick, punch - I call it 'everything goes' - or something like that. But not wrestling up and down the floor or whatever, rolling about. I'm not into that sort of stuff."
With a rematch with Kitschko next year and this seeming revision of the terms of his challenge, it's reasonable to assume MMA fans will not be seeing Fury step into the cage any time soon.
