WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury is no longer entertaining the idea of stepping inside the MMA cage.
Fury has been known to tease trying his hand in the MMA world. He’s even given MMA fighters such as Conor McGregor praise. Last month, footage was shown of Fury training with former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz inside an MMA cage.
Despite the chatter, Fury has come to the realization that MMA just isn’t for him. Here’s what he told talkSPORT.
“No, I’ve got no real interest in grappling up and down on the floor and all that sort of stuff. I’m a stand-up fighting man, I don’t wrestle up and down and grab each other’s arms and sit on each other and all that.
“I’ve no interest in all that stuff; I like to stand up and fight so would I ever compete as an MMA fighter? Hell no! Would I compete with small gloves on in a cage in a fight? Yes. But no gripping and grappling. The noble art of standing up and what men have been doing for centuries; I don’t see any noble science in wrestling up and down the floor.”
Fury insists his words are meant to be a jab at MMA or the athletes who compete in the sport.
“No disrespect to any of those guys who do that, but it’s none of my interest. Nothing that I would ever want to do. In my world, when a man goes down, you stand back and let him come back up again because you don’t want a rock or a fall to spoil your victory.
“I’m not going to let someone say, ‘I tripped over and he beat me that way.’ I want him to get back up and fight fair. When a man goes down, you get in and give him a ten count and let him fight on if you can. That’s how we fight, that’s how it’s been going on for thousands of years.”
Fury is preparing for a trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder on July 24. Fury’s team hoped for an undisputed heavyweight title showdown with Anthony Joshua. That plan was derailed when Wilder won an arbitration case, granting him the legal right to a third fight with Fury by September.
