By Trey Dennis
New news from the man with a name so appropriate for a fighter that I thought it was made up. The new Heavyweight boxing champion known for out-spoken and showman-like personality doesn’t think much another fighting sport known as MMA. The man who defeated Wladimir Klitchsko has made comments critical of MMA fighters in the past, and apparently isn’t changing his tune.
In 2013, Tury was quoted as saying “I would take Cain Velasquez out. MMA, to me, is bulls—. It’s for people who can’t box and like wrestling on the floor. It’s rubbish.” Some people may thought his opinion might changed after training with Glory Heavyweight Kickboxing Rico Verhoeven.
Ariel Helwani had asked this question The MMA Hour today, and Fury responded.”Not really. 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,” he continued. “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.”
“I don’t disrespect what anybody does,” Fury said of MMA fighters and kickboxers. “If they’re achieving something positive in their life, that’s very good and they deserve credit for it. Anybody that can do something good in sports or life in general deserves lots of credit. What I’m saying, where I’m coming from is, the best part of MMA to me is when they’re standing up kicking each other and punching each other. Stand-up combat, you see.” Ironic, since what Fury said earlier certainly can sound like disrespect.
Fury continued with saying,”Anything that’s stand-up, one-on-one combat, for me, I’m into. As soon as they start going up and down the floor and scoring points – not too sure how it works – but what I see, I’m not really too interested in. Sometimes they can stay on the floor quite a while before the referee says gets up before anything is going on. I just like to see the strikes getting blowed: punches, kicks, knees, whatever you like. All stand-up action.”
Fury has expressed interest though into moving the MMA field through Bellator or UFC, but not making any drastic decisions anytime soon. “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.”