Manny Pacquiao Reveals Interest in Fighting MMA

Are there any MMA fighters out there willing to call him out? Jose Aldo? lol

Not even worth talking about.

I’m guessing the man doesn’t want to take 18 months off and then make 20% or less of his boxing purse. Maybe if he can hold the Fertittas up for $20 million. Otherwise, it makes zero sense.

you managers are smart people manny, you should thank them

Make it happen.

this would be epic if he entered the cage, pure awesomeness…

If BJ was still on top of his game, aka still training with Marinovich and he could cut to 145 imagine how big that fight would be?

the UFC pulls in the lighter weight classes, and pays him at least 10 mill. plus gives him a cookie cutter first fight.

I dont see it happening though

Might be worth noting that at the end of the original article they said it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. I’m guessing he said this with a chuckle and a big grin…as great as it would be to see Pacquiao try his hand at MMA…it won’t ever happen.

But if it does feed him Brandon Vera ’cause you know….Pacquiao could win that.

“It’s too violent for me but it’s a sport that should be recognized. It’s a great sport but not the sport for me.” – Manny back in May. With these quotes only a few months apart, it’s hard to really grasp what Manny’s feelings in actual MMA competition are. The “Boxing vs. UFC” debate seemed to end when the MMA universe watched James Toney’s head nearly pop off, and we learned that aside from not learning any TDD, Toney did not learn how to tap out. Manny is a different story however, he’s a man that seems to have not even reached his full potential with wins over tough, tough competition. He is also a fine tuned Thai kickboxer, which would obviously carry over nicely.

I don’t expect Manny to come into our sport anytime soon or anywhere near his prime but with his limited options left in boxing, where can he go? Mayweather would rather make racist rants about Manny, than sign on the dotted line. He is expected to walk right through Margacheato in a few months (lolseewhatididthere?), and who else is left? He knocked out Cotto seemingly without too much problem, yet a rematch was in the works. Let’s cross our fingers and hope he doesn’t care about the money anymore and wants to prove he’s afraid of no man, cares more about the competition than his record, and shows what a real fighter is (looking at you, Floyd)

If Manny announced a UFC/WEC debut, Manny wouldn’t be the only person to make this face:

by Flesh Into Gear

I’m sure that Pacquiao’s promoters would never let him near a UFC cage except for one thing — there really aren’t many big money pay days left for Pacquiao in boxing. Floyd Mayweather seems bent on ducking him and blowing the biggest boxing bout of the young century. Manny is already reduced to fighting Antonio Margarito, a man who has been caught loading his gloves — the most dangerous cheat in boxing.

He’s fighting a guy in his promotion’s stable. I mean, I hate the fight but it wasn’t that there were no options left.

Every fight for Manny for the rest of his career is a big money pay day and there are plenty more fights for him to take.

I’d like to see Brock Lesnar in K1

If he started training BJJ right now, he would have a good chance of doing well. BJJ, some effective kicks, knees and elbows…..2 years of training would be good for a entry level gig.

Pacquiao is on that A-side meth. You can’t just take down a man who is on A-side meth!

Two words: outside single.

Love,

I don’t even know what to think

Toney failed miserably but he was a stationary boxer whose biggest weapons was his ability to stand in front of opponents, avoid their power and counter. Plus he is well past his prime and obviously did not have any respect for the sport.

Pac has great movement and footwork to go with his excellent punching power. If any boxer was going to come and have success without any MMA training, looking to apply only his boxing skills, Pac has the best skill set to do so.

Pac has the speed to avoid takedowns with his footwork and he has the strength and power to get opponents of his size off of him when they clinch him up. He doesn’t need a ground game, he just needs to avoid the ground. Anderson Silva went years without being taken down and he primarily used speed and footwork to do it. Pac could be very similiar to him. In fact I think his best chance of success would be to train for two years with Silva, Machida and the Nog brothers. I think they’d give him the tools he needed to acquit himself very well in the sport.

If the Pac Man ever did decide to cage fight, he would have the best sparring partners available. All the top MMA guys train or want to train with Freddie Roach. He could spar with Benivedez, Cruz, Torres, Faber, Aldo etc. Practically any fighter would love to work with Manny. Roach knows the people who can get Manny in the best possible position both in terms of training and promoting. I’m sure he would put together a first rate MMA training camp centered around Manny. Then find him a bum.

I doubt it will ever happen. I don’t think there’s any real motivation for Pacquiao to try MMA, but if he did, it would be anything like James Toney’s ‘attempt’.

and then take a few fights outside of the UFC (like Lesnar did) then if it works bring him to the UFC.