‘I was spitting bone out’: Boxers-turned-cage fighters warn about the dangers of MMA as Mayweather considers going from the ring to the octagon ‘if the money is right’ | HO
‘Absolutely,’ he recently told Showtime about a potential move to mixed martial arts. ‘If the money is right.’
Mayweather’s retirement from boxing has not affected his priorities.
The man who refers to himself as ‘Money,’ and who recently scored a nine-figure payday for easily out-boxing the UFC’s Conor McGregor, is willing to try a new sport at the age of 41.
The problem is, no amount of money can make MMA safe – not even for a boxer who’s 50-0.
As good as Mayweather is with his hands, throwing punches is just one of a menu of skills utilized in MMA, making the transition from boxing all the more treacherous. And while he’s officially been knocked down only once in the ring, Mayweather’s unwavering defensive style could abandon him in the octagon, where he’d suffer gruesome consequences.
‘His boxing stance is so wide, a lead leg kick will make him fall off balance and then they’ll hit him with a knee and then he’s out,’ MMA trainer Rob Constance told the Daily Mail. ‘So he’s actually an idiot.’
Take the case Heather Hardy, who is trained by Constance at the popular Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan.
Heather Hardy had her nose broken in her second MMA fight and later required nine stitches
As is the case with many of his decisions, Mayweather will move to MMA ‘if the money is right’
UFC superstar Conor McGregor (left) could not hang with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (right) in the ring, losing a 10th-round stoppage in his boxing debut last August
Like Mayweather, Hardy is also undefeated as a boxer, but that fact was rendered insignificant as her nose was being obliterated during her second MMA match.
‘I could feel the bones going from nose to my mouth,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘I was spitting them out.’
A two-time, two-weight division champion as a boxer, Hardy added MMA to her resume in June of 2017 for the same reason Mayweather is considering the move.
‘I came over to MMA for the money,’ said Hardy, who continues to train for both sports.
While she did not receive the kind of seven-figure purse McGregor is accustomed to, the bump in pay was substantial for a single mother living in Brooklyn.
As Hardy explained without getting into specific dollar amounts, women’s MMA typically has the advantage of television exposure, and the accompanying sponsorship opportunities, not to mention bonuses for knockouts.
Heather Hardy is 20-0 in the ring, but confessed that her MMA debut paid twice as much as any of her boxing matches, only one of which was televised. Her MMA events have been on TV
Heather Hardy adamantly loves fighting, but admitted she came over to MMA ‘for the money’
So while she’s earned four and five figures for most of her boxing matches – only one of which was broadcast on television – Hardy’s MMA debut was twice as lucrative as her upcoming bout against Iranda Paola Torres at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 21.
‘I was in boxing for so long,’ said Hardy. ‘I was 20-0 and I made more in my pro debut for MMA than I ever did in a boxing fight.’
For Hardy, who gives boxing lessons when she isn’t training herself, jumping at the opportunity was a no-brainer.
But with only six weeks before she was to make her MMA debut at Madison Square Garden for Bellator 180, Hardy was woefully unprepared.
‘I definitely rushed into it,’ said Hardy. ‘I took [the fight] not knowing anything about jiu-jitsu or wrestling. I had a little experience in kickboxing, but not really too much. As much as I hate to say it’s for the money – I love to fight; like, I love to fight – but I was 35-years old at the time. I have a 13-year-old daughter. I was frustrated because I was working so hard and not getting paid for it.’
Hardy began to realize how truly unprepared she was moments before stepping into the cage.
Heather Hardy pose for photos at a weigh-in before her second MMA fight
Hardy would ultimately have her nose broken by an elbow from Kristina Williams (right)
After catching the eye of New York State Athletic Commission inspector George Ward, whom she knew from boxing, Hardy half-jokingly confessed to being out of her element.
‘I said, “George, I don’t know what I’m doing!”‘
‘It was at that moment right at my entrance into the cage that I realized, “there are so many things this girl could do that I don’t know about.”‘
WHAT IS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS?
Unlike boxing, where combatants are limited to using only their hands, mixed martial arts allows for a combination of disciplines, such as judo, wrestling, Muay Thai kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu in an effort to win by a judges’ decision, a stoppage, or a submission. Some former boxers have had success after moving to MMA, such as Holly Holm, but the sport’s diversity requires that competitors be proficient in a number of areas:
Boxing: In the ring, boxers typically fight at close distances with one foot placed in front of the other. However, in MMA, fighters stand back and square their shoulders up to their opponent to prevent the other fighter from diving at their legs and tackling them to the mat – a move known as ‘shooting.’
And because fighters typically stand further apart, complicated punching combinations are rare, as are many power punches like hooks and uppercuts.
‘It’s more long punches at a distance,’ explained Jordan Maldonado, who trains his boxer wife Cindy Serrano and her boxer-MMA fighter sister Amanda.
New York-based Jordan Maldonado (left) trains boxer-mma fighter Amanda Serrano (right) and his wife, Amanda’s sister, Cindy
Muah Thai kickboxing: MMA fighters typically aim to kick below the knees in an effort to destabilize their opponent. But unlike karate, which features high leg kicks, cage fighters can’t raise their feet too far off the mat for fear of being taken down themselves.
‘You start to kick somebody in the waste or stomach or things like that, those kicks are easier to grab,’ said Maldonado.
Judo: Unlike Olympic judo, where competitors earn points for throwing the opposition, MMA fighters use the Japanese martial art to get their opponents on the mat, where they can pummel them into submission.
Wrestling: Whereas Olympic wrestlers need to pin their opponent to earn points, MMA fighters need grappling to control the ground, which is where many cage fights are won and lost.
Floor striking: Boxers punch with their knuckles facing forward. MMA fighters do the same when they’re standing, but on the mat, it’s difficult to find the room for a proper punch.
‘Floor striking, you have to use overhand punching, like hammer firsts, which is with the side of your hands because you don’t have the leverage to throw knuckle punches,’ Maldonado said.
Fortunately for her, Hardy looked solid while beating Alice Yauger by technical knockout.
Still, she was hardly any more experienced four months later for her second MMA bout, when her nose was effectively broken twice by challenger Kristina Williams.
‘I got an elbow right here,’ Hardy said, pointing to the bridge of her nose, where she would ultimately get nine stitches. ‘The [fight] doctor said [in between the first and second round], “I’m going to let you fight, but one more bump and it’s done.”‘
Known in boxing circles for having a strong chin, Hardy tried to continue fighting but Williams ended the bout in the second round with a kick to the face.
Hardy had one MMA match and a little more than five months of training before her bout against Kristina Williams (pictured), where she suffered her first defeat as a pro fighter
‘So when the kick broke my nose, I kinda knew [it was over],’ Hardy laughed.
Undeterred, the Brooklyn native returned to the cage in February, when she beat another converted boxer, Ana Julaton, by a unanimous decision.
Now Hardy has about a year’s worth of MMA training and experience to go with her 2-1 record. She isn’t ready to leave boxing (‘it’s like a bad girlfriend – she’s abusive, she cheats on you, but you always take her back’) but because women’s MMA currently has more television exposure, she has more earning potential in the cage.
‘I’m 36,’ Hardy said. ‘I maybe want to have another kid. I don’t know how long I’m going to be fighting. For me, it looks like MMA really is where I need to put most of my energy right now.’
Heather Hardy typically spars with men when preparing for an upcoming MMA bout
MMA trainer Rob Constance (in back) doesn’t bother teaching Hardy how to strike, because she spends most of her week boxing on top of her work in the cage
Heather Hardy (red gloves) takes on Kristina Williams (blue gloves) in a Flyweight bout on October 20, 2017 at Bellator 185 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut
Conversely, Amanda Serrano is in a more fortuitous financial situation – one that lends itself to a safer transition from boxing to MMA.
At 29, Serrano has enjoyed the success that comes with winning boxing titles in a record five weight classes and she’s eyeing a sixth in the near future. The native of Puerto Rico lives rent-free on the Queens-Brooklyn border with her older sister Cindy, another decorated boxer, and Cindy’s husband-trainer Jordan Maldonado.
Holly Holm (left) started as a boxer before moving to MMA. While shooting a movie, she and Miesha Tate (right) helped convince Amanda Serrano to move to the cage
Serrano doesn’t have any children, and likes to brag that she’s never had a boyfriend or even a cell phone, so her cost of living is relatively low.
That’s why Serrano didn’t rush into MMA when she first got the notion of trying the sport while filming a movie called ‘Fight Valley’ in 2015 with the UFC’s Miesha Tate and Holly Holm, another converted boxer.
‘Having a conversation with Holly Holm, she said her biggest regret was not going to MMA sooner,’ Serrano told the Daily Mail.
Without recklessly diving into the new sport, Serrano took Holm’s advice, carving out two whole years to prepare for her MMA debut on Friday night in Los Angeles.
And even with all that preparation, Serrano – who is 45-1-1 as a boxer – could only muster a draw against Corina Herrera.
Amanda Serrano (left) trained for two years before earning a draw in her MMA debut on Friday
Amanda Serrano will make her MMA debut on Friday night in Los Angeles
Her first result aside, Serrano’s debut could have been much worse were it not for her exhaustive preparation.
The entire first year was spent learning to kick.
‘Practice makes perfection,’ she said. ‘I’ve gotten a lot better, a lot more comfortable with my kicks. It’s still not as [good] as my punching, but the kicking is coming along.’
In 2017, while successfully defending her boxing titles four times, Serrano started adding wrestling- and counter-wrestling techniques.
Along the way she’s admittedly worked hard to resist her boxer’s instinct in the cage.
Whereas Serrano likes to crowd her opponents in the ring, MMA dictates she stand back and fight from a distance for fear she can be tackled to the mat, where her punching power would be neutralized.
‘I have to keep that in the back of my mind,’ she said. ‘This is not a boxing match because in boxing I just want to go out and knock your head off and put you through the ropes and just stay on you. MMA is a little different.’
Fortunately for Serrano, her MMA trainers, including Maldonado, have used her punching power as the foundation of her strategy in the cage.
Whereas someone with a jiu-jitsu background might try to force the action to the floor, she’s been encouraged to keep her feet and dictate the fight with her hands.
‘Everything is going to lead back to striking,’ she said. ‘They always tell me, ‘Remember, MMA always starts on your feet. Striking is first.”
Unlike in boxing, Serrano has learned to fight from a distance in MMA
Amanda Serrano spent an entire year focusing on kicking before moving to grappling
Serrano has boxing titles in a record five weight classes and she’s eyeing a sixth
The move has not been an easy one for Serrano, who trains at a small dojo in Ridgewood, Queens.
She typically spars with larger men, and while she says she’s not in pain when her adrenaline is pumping, Serrano is growing accustomed to the lingering soreness that follows a day on the mats.
It’s somewhat sad. I have to leave the sport that I’ve dedicated every year of my life to and go to a different sport
Boxer/MMA fighter Amanda Serrano
The good news is that Serrano started strongly in her debut on Friday, connecting with several strong punches in the first and second round before losing her edge in the final frame.
Regardless, she didn’t suffer any significant injury, which is a victory in itself.
‘I was able to get away from several [possible submissions] and it felt good, but there is work to be done,’ she told reporters afterwards.
Were it not for the fact that her remarkable success as a boxer has gone relatively unnoticed, Serrano wouldn’t have bothered reinventing herself professionally.
‘It’s somewhat sad,’ she said. ‘I have to leave the sport that I’ve dedicated every year of my life to and go to a different sport.’
As Serrano is quick to point out, the women of MMA are ‘on TV constantly,’ which is why her debut was broadcast nationally on Univision. So if she has to take her lumps in the cage to get that recognition, then that’s what she’s willing to do.
‘It’s like day and night, MMA and boxing,’ she said of the transition. ‘It does entail a lot of work, but the pay is good.’
Were it not for the fact that her unparalleled success as a boxer has gone relatively unnoticed, Serrano probably wouldn’t have bothered attempting to move to MMA
DOES MAYWEATHER STAND A CHANCE IN THE OCTAGON?
By Alex Raskin, Sports News Editor for DailyMail.com
For a 41-year-old retiree hoping to make it as a cage fighter, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is unusually confident.
Not only does he think he can compete in the octagon, but he also assumes his debut will be the highlight of the MMA calendar.
‘The money is going to be crazy,’ he told Showtime. ‘I can do whatever I want to do. I’m Floyd Mayweather.’
But it’s not as though Mayweather is an aging shortstop moving to first on the baseball diamond or a golfer graduating from the PGA tour to the senior circuit. The undefeated pugilist is trying to move from one combat sport to another; and as UFC star Conor McGregor proved in their highly-publicized and underwhelming boxing match last August, MMA is something entirely different.
UFC star Conor McGregor (right) illustrated just how different boxing and MMA are when he fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. (left), who cruised to an easy 10-round stoppage
Mayweather’s own trainer father admitted his son didn’t even prepare before beating McGregor with a 10th-round TKO, which illustrates the difficulty combat athletes face navigating between the two sports.
Now that he’s the one switching sports, Mayweather, wisely, plans on training.
He previously told TMZ Sports that he has been in contact with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who would theoretically train Mayweather for six-to-eight months.
Amanda Serrano gave herself two years to learn MMA and transition from boxing
‘I’m going to start soon,’ said Mayweather, who once boasted he could make $1 billion in the UFC. ‘We’ve been texting back and forth. We talked a couple times, so we going start working out real soon.’
Naturally, some within the sport are skeptical he can make the transition.
‘He’s an idiot if he does because at the end of the day, he has great boxing skills, but he’s a purist,’ MMA trainer Rob Constance told the Daily Mail. ‘You’re 41. You’re not going to get anything, unless you’re fighting a fish (a term for an unskilled fighter).
‘I can take any three amateurs we have in the gym right now, put them in a ring with Mayweather, and they’d kill him,’ Constance said, motioning to fighters training at Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan. ‘If he does well, it’s not going to be legit, because [MMA] takes years to [learn].’
But some within the sport do believe Mayweather could win a legitimate MMA bout.
‘He’s working with Tyron Woodley, who is a great MMA fighter,’ said decorated boxer Amanda Serrano, who earned a draw in her cage fighting debut on Friday night. ‘He knows who he’s working with.
‘Patience, that’s number one,’ added Serrano, who spent two years making the transition to MMA. ‘You can’t take anything for granted.’
Mayweather claims he’s going to give himself between six and eight months to prepare for his MMA debut, but is quick to add that he’s already a proficient wrestler, whose kicks are rapidly improving.
Heather Hardy (left) believes Mayweather can compete because he’s not an average 41-year old, but one of the most accomplished athletes on the planet
That bodes well for him, according to Heather Hardy, an undefeated boxer who is 2-1 in MMA.
To her, Mayweather is not just any 41-year old off the street, but an extraordinary athlete whose natural ability can compensate for his lack of experience.
‘I do think it’s realistic for someone to train in eight months and still be successful,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘One, because 41 is not the same in 2018 as it was in 1978. He’s not smoking a pack a day. His body is probably in the shape of most 25-year olds.
‘Having said that, he doesn’t have a full-time job on Wall Street where he’s cramming training in and around work,’ she continued. ‘He’s able to dedicate his whole day to this.
‘A third thing is that he has reached the highest level that boxing knows. No one’s better than him. I’m a really accomplished boxer, but I’m not on his level yet, and it’s still such an advantage. That guy wouldn’t say he was going to do something and not be totally ready.’
Regardless of whether he’s ready or not, UFC fighters will undoubtedly be lining up for the chance at a lucrative fight against an untested challenger like Mayweather.
