The landscape in combat sports has changed in recently years. There have been mixed martial artist accept professional boxing matches before; former UFC welterweight contender Chris Lytle for instance, or the inaugural UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver. It was rare then, but several former UFC fighters have made the transition from the cage to the ring since Conor McGregor famously crossed over to take on Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017.
In 2020, influencer Jake Paul made his professional boxing debut and he’d bring a different business model to the sport. In his third professional boxing match, Paul took on former UFC welterweight Ben Askren. He stopped Askren in under two minutes. Paul went on to face former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in back-to-back bouts. Paul won both matches and knocked Woodley out in the rematch.
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was Paul’s next opponent and the influencer-turned-boxer defeated Silva by unanimous decision. The Jake Paul era changed the game and opened the door for more former mixed martial artists to make the leap. After losing to Tommy Fury, Paul then took on The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner Nate Diaz.
The landscape changed so much by 2022 that former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou fought out his UFC contract to pave the way for boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley believes the UFC is ‘missing out’ by not putting on boxing matches between UFC fighters.
After all, Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal fought for the inaugural “BMF” belt at UFC 244 in November 2019. Their rematch took place this past Saturday inside the boxing ring.
“I feel like there’s only a few UFC fighters that can really get people that excited about boxing, but I’m like, bro, the UFC is missing out,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel.
“There’s something about watching to MMA guys box. That was a sick f***ing boxing match (Diaz vs. Masvidal 2). I feel like they (UFC) should. I would love to box certain guys,” O’Malley continued.
