I think this warrants a good discussion. Personally I think it would be HUGE for the sport, however with Mayweather's criticism of MMA part of me thinks it's all talk. IF he goes through with it, I don't see Cuban throwing a money maker like PBF to the wolves. He'd be fed guys that lacked ground game and were known for standup, thus giving him easy and spectacular KO's. That's my problem with the whole idea. I don't think there really is an argument about which is better, boxing or MMA. It's apples and oranges. However the media and fans like to make it into an "A vs. B" argument. I don't want to see this disintegrate into MMA v. Boxing.
Some interesting matchups for PBF
Faber
Penn
Stevenson
Pulver
Gomi

Cuban says Floyd in MMA is no stunt

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
December 22, 2007

There is no doubt that Floyd Mayweather could become one of the world's great mixed martial arts fighters.

The world's best boxer was basically bred to fight.

But whether he will become anything more than an expensive publicity stunt in MMA is impossible to answer at this stage.

Mayweather, who said after his Dec. 8 stoppage of Ricky Hatton that he plans to take a long vacation, is now mulling entering MMA. Mayweather hasn't spoken publicly about his intentions, but his best friend, Leonard Ellerbe, insists he's serious.

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And Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who developed a friendship with Mayweather when both were contestants on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, said Mayweather's notoriety would be a boon to the sport.

Cuban, who owns a fledgling MMA promotional company, HDNet Fights, is convinced Mayweather's stature in the sports world would extend to MMA.

"Floyd is well known well beyond just boxing fans and I doubt there are many, if any MMA fans (who) don't know who he is," Cuban said in an e-mail interview Saturday with Yahoo! Sports. "So I don't think there is any question that if he dedicated himself to the sport he could quickly become its biggest draw."

MMA has grown dramatically over the last three years, but it still lags behind boxing. The largest paid gate in an MMA fight in North America was $5.39 million for UFC 66, which featured Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

There have been 31 larger paid gates in Nevada alone, including the last two Mayweather fights.

So as far as MMA has come, it still has a long way to go to gain mainstream acceptance. It may get to that point in the near future, but it's not there yet.

A transcendent star like Mayweather would give it a huge shove in the right direction. "In spite of its growth, MMA is still in its infancy," Cuban said. "The UFC has done a great job of getting it this far. Someone like Floyd could help catapult it to even greater heights by introducing not just boxing fans, but general sports fans to MMA."

If he even fights once, he'll attract a huge audience and perhaps even network television exposure for a sport that was once squeezed off of pay-per-view because of concerns about its brutality.

Mayweather would be taking an extraordinary risk should he attempt to fight, because if he were to get choked out quickly, everything he built in boxing would be gone. He made more than $20 million in each of his last two fights.

To put that amount of money in perspective, consider that just Mayweather's haul from the Hatton fight, which figures to wind up somewhere slightly in excess of $20 million, would be more than every fighter combined on the last three UFC pay-per-view shows.

And if Mayweather were to agree to fight unbeaten WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, the 2007 Yahoo! Sports Fighter of the Year, sometime in 2008, he'd be looking at another $25-million-plus haul.

For him to turn his back on that to enter a sport where he's years behind the curve would require extraordinary courage.

Were Mayweather to have trained in the martial arts for several years, there's no doubt he'd be an elite MMA fighter. He's physically strong, incredibly quick, is a powerful striker and is one of the most well-conditioned athletes alive.

Other boxers have turned to MMA and done well. Marcus Davis, a UFC welterweight, is one of the sport's most successful fighters now. He began as a boxer and was essentially a journeyman, but has become a player in MMA.

It can be done. And have little doubt that with four-ounce gloves on, Mayweather would instantly become the best striker in the game, so long as his fragile hands could handle the shock that would come from landing blows with much less padding on them.

But the question is whether Mayweather will put the time into learning the sport that would be required.

Cuban, for one, believes he would. He wouldn't put a timeframe on how long it would take, but he has little doubt that a motivated Mayweather could learn MMA well enough to be successful.

"Hard to say (how long it would take him)," Cuban said. "He obviously would have to develop additional skills, but there are plenty of accomplished fighters who live off of being great at one particular discipline. Floyd understands he would have a lot to learn, but there is no one that would work harder."

Most likely what is going on is that Mayweather is trying to find his own niche as a promoter. In Cuban, he's befriended a master who has the deep pockets to help him get started.

If Mayweather trained in MMA for a year, he could fight a lower-level opponent to start and be successful. That would be a huge event and could be a vehicle for Mayweather Promotions, his company, to promote MMA cards.

Cuban, who flatly said he could never envision himself promoting a boxing match involving Mayweather, clearly is smitten with the idea.

And it makes sense on a number of levels.

If he wants to prove he can do it and win an MMA fight, he's clearly gifted enough to do so. If he wants to delve into MMA promoting, it's a great launching pad for that bid. But if he plans to try to become the best MMA fighter in the world, that's an entirely different story. At nearly 31 and with a body that he says is beginning to break down from a lifetime of boxing, time is his enemy.

Boxing and MMA striking are very different. There are many techniques in boxing that will get you KO'd in MMA, so I really have my doubts about Mayweather. All of the top 20 LW's would easily be able to defeat Mayweather with just basic wrestling and BJJ.

Joe Stevenson responds:



"Daddy" doesn't like Floyd in MMA

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
December 25, 2007





Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. dropped a bombshell last week when he said he was considering becoming a mixed martial arts fighter.

One of the world's finest MMA fighters said Mayweather wouldn't be good for the sport and said he's deluding himself if he thinks he can become an elite fighter in a short period of time.

Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, who will fight B.J. Penn for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 80 on Jan. 19 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, said Mayweather "wouldn't be good for our sport."

"He represents himself in a different manner and it's not the way I think is correct for our athletes," Stevenson said. "You don't brag about how much money you make. That's totally disrespectful. I've seen him in clubs and I've seen the way he treats people and I can tell you, that's not the kind of a guy we want representing this sport."


And though Stevenson praised Mayweather's boxing skills and his athleticism, he said becoming a world-class MMA fighter takes years of training. He sounded skeptical of the nearly 31-year-old Mayweather's ability to make the transition.

Clearly, Stevenson said, Mayweather would be a dangerous striker, but he would struggle in the other aspects.

"It's moronic for him to think he can cross over and do this at 31," Stevenson said. "It's like me saying I could be the best in golf. It looks easy, but I'd sound retarded to say I could go out there after a couple of months and win. The pressure, the coordination, the ability to play the greens, there are so many things involved.

"Boxing and MMA are different sports. He's a great boxer. He's the best. I was rooting for Ricky Hatton and I have to give Floyd credit for doing what he did. But he'd be in an entirely different sport. And yeah, his strikes would be intimidating, but I'd take him down. He'd have to be able to defend a takedown and that sounds a lot easier than it is." Mayweather hasn't spoken publicly on his plans yet. Stevenson said he'd bring attention to MMA, which is good, but said the sport is growing on its own.

"I don't think we need that kind of attention," Stevenson said. "We have a great sport and a lot of people are beginning to realize that, more every day. We don't have to bring in the best boxers just to get people to pay attention to us, because they're realizing what a great sport we have already."

I highly doubt Mayweather will enter MMA but if he does,I'd love to see Marcus Davis take him to pieces.

The symbolism of that fight in itself,would be good for MMA.

I think champion strikers from other martial arts or boxing have done well historically in MMA but have not been the best. I mean some French Savate guy beat everyone's ass until a Gracie stopped him? Still, if they're willing to train other techniques and learn takedown defense if they want to strike mostly, I think they'll do well.

I'd like to see Dana White pay him big bucks to take a fight against a top competitor...just to have him lose..just to make a strong point on the talent needed to fight world class MMA.

It's been mixed results. There have been a lot of K-1 champs that have crossed-over to MMA, but, outside of CC and Hunt, there has been moderate success.

He will probably never fight in MMA, atleast not serious fights...Mayweather has too much to lose in reputation, his legs would be kicked or shot right out from underneath him. He would have to take a large paycut for a fight he will probably lose, not a smart move on his part but then again he runs his mouth maybe he will TRY to back it up. He would need to train for some time till he becomes comfortable on the ground with a simple and effective sprawl but even then he will need to learn how to continue to defend from that sprawl if the other guy really is accustomed to the ground game and knows how to continue on from being spawled upon, he might jump into the guard before Mayweather even sees in coming. My prediction, if he takes on a real fighter, will end in a complete and humiliating loss...IMO

Mayweather would do pretty well against lower level competition, where he stands a good chance of knocking them out before they take him down, but at higher levels, no way.

There is a lot of talk that it is more of a publicity stunt. Mayweather and Cuban became friends on Dancing with the stars, and now they have been talking about using Floyd's name to promote, but not neccesarily to fight.

As far as how he'd do if he did fight; if he just went in with the skill set he has, he would fair about as well as every other straight boxer did in the early days of the UFC. Anyone with any grappling would manhandle him. However, if he trained and made a buch of adjusutment s in his game, he could be pretty good. I doubt he could compete at top level however, especially startin at this age.