UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has advised Tyson Fury to make the switch into MMA, telling him that his skillset could work in the cage.
The world heavyweight boxing champion has been engaged in a war of words with his UFC counterpart Jon Jones over the past few weeks, with the pair both issuing callouts for the other to come into their sport. However, when Fury and Adesanya met in Australia at Joseph Parker's recent fight, the Brit insisted he would never enter the octagon.
But having himself experienced the crossover when he moved from kickboxing, Adesanya believes that Fury's size could prove to be a huge factor, particularly if he can learn even the basics of grappling. The heavyweight champion has previously flirted with the idea of a crossover, and promotional boss Dana White has offered him a bout with Jon Jones.
"I saw Tyson in Melbourne," Adesanya said during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour. "It was cool, he's a cool guy with big energy. Motherf***er tried to roast me about my shoes as I was leaving he was like 'what are those?' I said 'they're yeezy's' - I had the yeezy slides on.
"He's a cool guy, good energy, very bubbly and a big dude. But even when we were talking s*** I have him a little sneaky knee in the gut just to let him know. Right after [we took a picture] we were talking s*** but I think if anybody can do it, he can. He can jump in the cage."
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But Adesanya feels that he would need to learn the basics of the game and treat MMA with the requisite respect in order for such a crossover to work. Historically, the crossover goes the other way given that boxing is one of the martial arts used in the cage making a transition slightly easier in theory, although it generally is favourable for the boxer.
"Look, all this s*** about 'come to boxing', I don't know why everyone does that," Adesanya continued. "Even [Tony] Bellew was saying 'don't f*** around with these MMA guys because we all know what real fighting is'. As a kickboxer I wouldn't have just jumped in the UFC without learning other martial arts to learn how to counteract or beat them at their own game.
"So let's not be silly here - in a fight we know what would happen if, for example, I fought some big-time boxer. We understand in a fight. Tyson, he's got good skills, the gloves are different. If he learns how to sprawl, he could do some damage."
