Tag: Ricardo Mayorga

10 Boxing Champions Who Fought In MMA

Speculation about a money-spinning mega fight between MMA superstar Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. has only been intensifying in early 2017, but it remains to be seen whether the sides will ever be able to jump over all the hurdles necessary to make this dream match-up a reality. Even if a deal

The post 10 Boxing Champions Who Fought In MMA appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Speculation about a money-spinning mega fight between MMA superstar Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. has only been intensifying in early 2017, but it remains to be seen whether the sides will ever be able to jump over all the hurdles necessary to make this dream match-up a reality.

Even if a deal could be reached, it’s already clear there’s no chance Mayweather would risk his undefeated 49-0 boxing record by agreeing to fight ‘The Notorious’ under MMA rules, but there are examples of other boxing champions in the past who threw caution to the wind and put their reputations on the line by testing themselves in the cage.

Of course, that’s led to some well known boxing stars being handed humbling defeats over the years, and that’s no great surprise given that MMA is such a multi-faceted sport with kicks, knees, and elbows bringing a completely different dynamic to striking, while grappling disciplines like wrestling and jiu-jitsu are the stuff of nightmares for the untrained.

That being said, as you’ll read in the pages to follow, there are also a few boxing champions who have successfully managed to compete in the sport of MMA, whether it’s due to having had previous martial arts experience in the past, having benefited from favorable match-ups, or simply being in the right place at the right time to land a fight-ending punch!

James Toney

A three-division champion who held IBF titles at middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight, James Toney is considered to be one of the best boxers of his generation.

In fact, famed boxing coach Freddie Roach once stated that Toney had the most natural ability of anybody he’d ever trained, and with more discipline could have been the best of all-time.

Toney has always been known for being outspoken and supremely confident, two attributes which led to him talking Dana White into giving him a fight in the UFC back in 2010 despite him being 42 years old and having no prior MMA experience at the time.

White paired Toney up against 47 year-old UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, who was only too eager to disprove ‘Lights Out’s’ pre-fight boasts that MMA fighters were “inferior” and that he’d become a UFC world champion.

Within seconds of the fight commencing at UFC 118, Couture had effortlessly managed to take the boxer down and from there, he toyed with him for several minutes like he was a small child before forcing him to tap out due to an arm triangle choke.

Toney earned $500,000 for what would prove to be his only MMA fight, though the IRS confiscated his fight purse that same night due to the fact he was under investigation by them at the time.

The post 10 Boxing Champions Who Fought In MMA appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Ricardo Mayorga Suffers First MMA Defeat, Learns That Guillotine Chokes Are the Worst [VIDEO]

(Props: ZombieProphet via Reddit_MMA)

Boxing/MMA crossover maniac Ricardo Mayorga returned from his sort of meaningless suspension on Saturday in Managua, Nicaragua, when he faced off against street-fighter Rene “Level” Martinez in the main event of World Series of Fighting: Central America*. And just like the last time a boxer and a well-known street-fighter threw down in a cage, Mayorga had no answer for the gilly.

Wisely, Martinez closed the distance and shot in as soon as the fight began, hauling Mayorga to the mat after a brief clinch against the fence. Mayorga temporarily controlled Martinez’s head with a broke-ass guillotine attempt of his own, but Level pulled out of it and started working on Mayorga from the top. When ‘El Matador’ tried to escape to his feet, Martinez wrapped up a choke and finished it immediately, earning the submission victory at 1:45 of round 1. The win bumped Level’s pro MMA record to 5-0-1, and sunk Mayorga’s to 0-1-0 w/ one no-contest.

This is usually the part where I’d say something like, “MMA isn’t for everybody, and Mayorga should go back to boxing before he embarrasses himself again.” But actually…this is kind of fun. Keep it up, Ricky!

* Yes, WSOF now runs fights in Nicaragua. The promotion has quietly been buying up local MMA promotions around the world and re-branding them, which is how ‘Omega MMA’ became ‘Word Series of Fighting Central America.’ We hear that they’re working on a more notable acquisition in Canada. Stay tuned.


(Props: ZombieProphet via Reddit_MMA)

Boxing/MMA crossover maniac Ricardo Mayorga returned from his sort of meaningless suspension on Saturday in Managua, Nicaragua, when he faced off against street-fighter Rene “Level” Martinez in the main event of World Series of Fighting: Central America*. And just like the last time a boxer and a well-known street-fighter threw down in a cage, Mayorga had no answer for the gilly.

Wisely, Martinez closed the distance and shot in as soon as the fight began, hauling Mayorga to the mat after a brief clinch against the fence. Mayorga temporarily controlled Martinez’s head with a broke-ass guillotine attempt of his own, but Level pulled out of it and started working on Mayorga from the top. When ‘El Matador’ tried to escape to his feet, Martinez wrapped up a choke and finished it immediately, earning the submission victory at 1:45 of round 1. The win bumped Level’s pro MMA record to 5-0-1, and sunk Mayorga’s to 0-1-0 w/ one no-contest.

This is usually the part where I’d say something like, “MMA isn’t for everybody, and Mayorga should go back to boxing before he embarrasses himself again.” But actually…this is kind of fun. Keep it up, Ricky!

* Yes, WSOF now runs fights in Nicaragua. The promotion has quietly been buying up local MMA promotions around the world and re-branding them, which is how ‘Omega MMA’ became ‘Word Series of Fighting Central America.’ We hear that they’re working on a more notable acquisition in Canada. Stay tuned.

Freak Show Alert: Crazy S.O.B. Ricardo Mayorga to Face Street Fighter ‘Level’ in Nicaragua, Because Hell, What Else Is He Gonna Do?

(Feel free to skip past the first 35 seconds of bullshit. / Props: OFFICIALLEVELPAGE)

Ricardo Mayorga‘s second-life as an MMA fighter has been colorful, to say the least. The batshit crazy, nicotine-addicted former boxing champ is coming off his no-contest for an illegal knee to the spine against Wesley Tiffer at Omega MMA: Battle of the Americas in May — a bout for which he weighed in 20 pounds over the contracted 165-pound limit, no big deal — bringing his official MMA record to 0-0-0 with one no-contest. (Prior to that, Mayorga’s only MMA action consisted of karate chopping Din Thomas in the neck at a press conference for a fight that never happened.)

The Tiffer incident garnered Mayorga a three-month suspension from the Nicaraguan Cock-Fighting and Shave-Ice Commission (loose translation). Apparently he got his sentence reduced for good behavior, because the same Nicaraguan fight promotion, Omega MMA, is booking El Matador in another match in his hometown of Managua, just two months after he tried to paralyze his opponent. Hey, I’m sure he’s learned his lesson, right?

MMAMania passes along the news that Mayorga will face Rene “Level” Martinez in the main event of Omega MMA 9 on July 27th. Though Martinez has an official record of 4-0-1 in MMA, he’s perhaps best known for the bareknuckle backyard fights he had in South Florida as part of DADA 5000’s crew. (I’m personally fond of the one where Level first-punch-KOs the hapless martial arts instructor who clearly did not know what he was getting into. Good times.)

It’s unclear which weight class Mayorga vs. Martinez will be held at, as if that matters. I’m guessing they’ll just come into the fight weighing whatever, tie some razor blades to their feet and beaks, and go to work. And if you say you’re not interested in this fight, please turn in your CagePotato I.D. Card at the front desk, because clearly you don’t appreciate a great freak show, you maricon.


(Feel free to skip past the first 35 seconds of bullshit. / Props: OFFICIALLEVELPAGE)

Ricardo Mayorga‘s second-life as an MMA fighter has been colorful, to say the least. The batshit crazy, nicotine-addicted former boxing champ is coming off his no-contest for an illegal knee to the spine against Wesley Tiffer at Omega MMA: Battle of the Americas in May — a bout for which he weighed in 20 pounds over the contracted 165-pound limit, no big deal — bringing his official MMA record to 0-0-0 with one no-contest. (Prior to that, Mayorga’s only MMA action consisted of karate chopping Din Thomas in the neck at a press conference for a fight that never happened.)

The Tiffer incident garnered Mayorga a three-month suspension from the Nicaraguan Cock-Fighting and Shave-Ice Commission (loose translation). Apparently he got his sentence reduced for good behavior, because the same Nicaraguan fight promotion, Omega MMA, is booking El Matador in another match in his hometown of Managua, just two months after he tried to paralyze his opponent. Hey, I’m sure he’s learned his lesson, right?

MMAMania passes along the news that Mayorga will face Rene “Level” Martinez in the main event of Omega MMA 9 on July 27th. Though Martinez has an official record of 4-0-1 in MMA, he’s perhaps best known for the bareknuckle backyard fights he had in South Florida as part of DADA 5000′s crew. (I’m personally fond of the one where Level first-punch-KOs the hapless martial arts instructor who clearly did not know what he was getting into. Good times.)

It’s unclear which weight class Mayorga vs. Martinez will be held at, as if that matters. I’m guessing they’ll just come into the fight weighing whatever, tie some razor blades to their feet and beaks, and go to work. And if you say you’re not interested in this fight, please turn in your CagePotato I.D. Card at the front desk, because clearly you don’t appreciate a great freak show, you maricon.

Nick Diaz Gives Up His Boxing Dream For a Cage-Fight Against Some French Dude; Ricardo Mayorga Calls Everybody ‘Maricon’

Nick Diaz triathlon ironman race mean muggin MMA photos
(If triathlons allowed you to punch other racers, and the participants got paid millions of dollars to do it, well, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Props: CombatLifestyle.com)

Despite that totally official press release claiming that Jeff Lacy had already signed for the fight, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz will not be facing Lacy in a boxing match. In fact, Diaz will be sticking to the sport that he seemingly can’t stand — and it’s becoming very obvious what’s convincing him to stay.

According to a new press release, Diaz will continue pursuing his MMA career instead of professional boxing, “as it has been deemed that it be in Nick’s best interest to focus on his primary combat sport and profession…an opportunity arose for Nick to make a different sort of history in his primary field of fighting.”

Nick Diaz triathlon ironman race mean muggin MMA photos
(If triathlons allowed you to punch other racers, and the participants got paid millions of dollars to do it, well, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Props: CombatLifestyle.com)

Despite that totally official press release claiming that Jeff Lacy had already signed for the fight, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz will not be facing Lacy in a boxing match. In fact, Diaz will be sticking to the sport that he seemingly can’t stand — and it’s becoming very obvious what’s convincing him to stay.

According to a new press release, Diaz will continue pursuing his MMA career instead of professional boxing, “as it has been deemed that it be in Nick’s best interest to focus on his primary combat sport and profession…an opportunity arose for Nick to make a different sort of history in his primary field of fighting.”

Diaz’s coach Cesar Gracie previously made it known that “unless GSP is offered up as a sacrifice [by the UFC], Nick will fight Lacy.” At the time, Gracie/Diaz’s well-publicized interest in a new boxing career was interpreted by many to be a leveraging strategy, to convince the UFC to step in and offer Diaz a welterweight title shot against Georges St. Pierre. If that’s the case, it worked like a charm. Still, Gracie wants everybody to know that the boxing thing wasn’t just a ruse. From the press release, again:

“There are some people that have said we were just posturing to go into professional boxing and they don’t understand that this thing is something we had been working on since 2009. It wasn’t just out of nowhere but at this point in time, there’s a certain chance that comes along once in a very long while and it only makes sense to stick to MMA as of right now. Nick’s been working really hard to get to this point in his MMA career and it wouldn’t make sense for us to make that transition into boxing right now. If this were a couple months ago or if certain fights had played out differently, we’d definitely be ready to go into boxing, but that’s not how it played out. Don Chargin is a great boxing promoter and he understood our dilemma completely and I thank him for that.”

Chargin added:

“Nick is a good kid and a very exciting fighter. Right now he has an opportunity of a lifetime as it pertains to his MMA career. While I don’t doubt that Nick and his team were serious about taking the big step into boxing, it only makes sense for him to finish what he started and see how far he can go in MMA before he does anything in boxing…I’ve had a long promotional career filled with numerous big events dating back the 1960s. Taking Nick Diaz into boxing would have undoubtedly been a big one but this is Nick’s career and his legacy as a MMA fighter needs to be solidified now. I wish him all the luck going forward and know that Zuffa will have itself one very exciting fighter for many years to come.”

Rumor has it that the fight between Nick Diaz and Georges St. Pierre will be announced sometime this week. GSP is already a hypothetical 4-1 favorite against his next challenger.

In a related story, former welterweight/junior middleweight boxing champion Ricardo Mayorga is trying to get a piece of that sweet boxing vs. MMA action the only way he knows how — by calling everybody the Spanish words for “faggot” and “whore.” Mayorga, who was scheduled to fight Din Thomas last May in a Shine Fights MMA bout that imploded in spectacular fashion at the last minute, has been blasting folks on Twitter lately. Here a representative sample, via MiddleEasy:

Also? “@bjpenndotcom after I KO you, I will put a hawaiin dress on u fatty and make u do hula hula dance- remember Im a real fighter puto.” Follow this man right now.