BoxRec

"Andre Berto Tells Dana White to Call Him, Wants to Be 1st Boxing and UFC Champ"

Boxer Andre Berto has made a plea to UFC president Dana White to get in touch with him about a potential crossover to MMA.

Berto, who fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015, made it clear to TMZ he feels he has what's needed to become a world champion in both combat sports:

"Tell Dana to call me," he said. "I'll go to the UFC. I wanna be the first fighter ever to be a world champion in boxing and then go get a world title."

Talk of fighters potentially trading disciplines is likely to be a hot topic moving forward after Mayweather took on UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor on Saturday in a boxing bout.

Berto notes that his family have been involved in MMA for a while, suggesting a switch wouldn't be too strenuous.

Thoughts?

I didn't know he was a boxing champ?
In his last fight he looked slow and old.
How is that going to work?

Um he lost his hybrid wrestling boxing match with Shawn porter months ago. That was his first test and he failed.

Yeah Porter killed him. Does he have any previous martial arts experience?

KiwiRider wrote:I didn't know he was a boxing champ?

He's a former two-time world welterweight champion that has engaged in nine world championship bouts, losing only two of them.

Ossyrules wrote:Yeah Porter killed him. Does he have any previous martial arts experience?

One of his brothers was an MMA journeyman.

I tend to think a boxer switching to MMA has the potential to work better than the vice-versa.

I've asked before in the MMA threads (Most recently Cormier vs JJ 2) - why they can't box better, and universally the answer seems to be that they have limited time to spend on mastering a single discipline; as they need to reach a good level in several disciplines.... which is fair enough.

There's an old saying; 'A jack of all trades is a master of none'. That seemed to be the case with McGregor - as much as i thought he was a gamely competitor who learned a lot in a short time, he's the poster-boy for striking in the UFC and was clearly nowhere near 'a master' when limited to that single-discipline.

A world champion boxer however, is already a master in 1 area. It seems to me, that a boxer has a greater chance of becoming competent enough in the other areas of MMA with a couple of years training, than an MMA fighter has mastering boxing from an established background in another discipline.

The boxer keeps what he already knows, and adds more skills. The MMA guy though, ditches most of his arsenal completely.

I like Andre Berto... never really rated him too highly but he seems a nice guy - if he does make the switch it will be interesting to follow; i hope he can focus on the skill of defending against take-downs and win some fights standing up.

The biggest reason is because you can't stand like a boxer or you'll get taken down easily or get the dogshit kicked out of your lead leg. Neither would have anymore success switching to the other. Berto wouldn't come near what McGregor pulled off.

A Boxer would have a better chance catching lightning in a bottle against a top MMA guy. The MMA guy would have a better chance in lower level Boxing. Fighters way outside the realm of the UFC would destroy Lomachenko or Crawford.

Ricky_ wrote:I tend to think a boxer switching to MMA has the potential to work better than the vice-versa.

I've asked before in the MMA threads (Most recently Cormier vs JJ 2) - why they can't box better, and universally the answer seems to be that they have limited time to spend on mastering a single discipline; as they need to reach a good level in several disciplines.... which is fair enough.

There's an old saying; 'A jack of all trades is a master of none'. That seemed to be the case with McGregor - as much as i thought he was a gamely competitor who learned a lot in a short time, he's the poster-boy for striking in the UFC and was clearly nowhere near 'a master' when limited to that single-discipline.

A world champion boxer however, is already a master in 1 area. It seems to me, that a boxer has a greater chance of becoming competent enough in the other areas of MMA with a couple of years training, than an MMA fighter has mastering boxing from an established background in another discipline.

The boxer keeps what he already knows, and adds more skills. The MMA guy though, ditches most of his arsenal completely.

I like Andre Berto... never really rated him too highly but he seems a nice guy - if he does make the switch it will be interesting to follow; i hope he can focus on the skill of defending against take-downs and win some fights standing up.

From personal experience, Judo or Jujitsu are pretty challenging sports to master within a couple of years... and Andre is already past-his-prime and I don’t think he’d be able to acquire a competent skill level in either of those disciplines before he reaches his 36th birthday... and then there's kicking also.

Time is not on Berto’s side and he has already achieved as much as his body will allow him to in the sport of boxing, which is the reason why his proposal to join the UFC ranks reeks of a money grab.

....Holly Holm....

Enlightened-One wrote:

KiwiRider wrote:I didn't know he was a boxing champ?

He's a former two-time world welterweight champion that has engaged in nine world championship bouts, losing only two of them.

Right. Thanks for that EO The first time I even saw him was against Floyd. And my first reaction was Andre who?

EO's right though, it reeks of a money grab. Personally I don't want Berto, who pretty much is a shot fighter, still living off his fight with May, represting boxing in this way. But who the fk would listen to me, I'm not Al Haymon so looks like he will go ahead and do it, depending on the dollars.

Boxing Prospect wrote:....Holly Holm....

Holly Holm took up the sport of kickboxing when she was 16 years of age (engaging in eight bouts, whilst winning several titles).

She then made her pro boxing debut at the age of 20 and competed in 38 fights.

She was 29 years of age when she made her MMA debut, but it took her three years to make her first appearance on the UFC (after previously engaging in seven MMA bouts), having already retired from the sport of boxing the 18 months prior.

So how does Holly Holm’s background in MMA resemble Andre Berto’s (who will be 34 years of age in a week’s time)? What point are you trying to make?

lazboy wrote:EO's right though, it reeks of a money grab. Personally I don't want Berto, who pretty much is a shot fighter, still living off his fight with May, represting boxing in this way. But who the fk would listen to me, I'm not Al Haymon so looks like he will go ahead and do it, depending on the dollars.

Don't worry, Dana wouldn't bring in Berto. I think that's a big reason why there was no MMA on the undercard. He let Toney badger him into a fight and he said he'd never do that again. Obviously money talks, but Berto isn't money.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

lazboy wrote:EO's right though, it reeks of a money grab. Personally I don't want Berto, who pretty much is a shot fighter, still living off his fight with May, represting boxing in this way. But who the fk would listen to me, I'm not Al Haymon so looks like he will go ahead and do it, depending on the dollars.

Don't worry, Dana wouldn't bring in Berto. I think that's a big reason why there was no MMA on the undercard. He let Toney badger him into a fight and he said he'd never do that again. Obviously money talks, but Berto isn't money.

Good, I'm sick of Berto.

I could see GingerHead giving it a shot if he loses to 3G. That would be a money grab.

Enlightened-One wrote:

Boxing Prospect wrote:....Holly Holm....

Holly Holm took up the sport of kickboxing when she was 16 years of age (engaging in eight bouts, whilst winning several titles).

She then made her pro boxing debut at the age of 20 and competed in 38 fights.

She was 29 years of age when she made her MMA debut, but it took her three years to make her first appearance on the UFC (after previously engaging in seven MMA bouts), having already retired from the sport of boxing the 18 months prior.

So how does Holly Holm’s background in MMA resemble Andre Berto’s (who will be 34 years of age in a week’s time)? What point are you trying to make?

That she was Boxing and UFC champ already. Enlightened lol.

Jaywheel wrote:

Enlightened-One wrote:

Boxing Prospect wrote:....Holly Holm....

Holly Holm took up the sport of kickboxing when she was 16 years of age (engaging in eight bouts, whilst winning several titles).

She then made her pro boxing debut at the age of 20 and competed in 38 fights.

She was 29 years of age when she made her MMA debut, but it took her three years to make her first appearance on the UFC (after previously engaging in seven MMA bouts), having already retired from the sport of boxing the 18 months prior.

So how does Holly Holm’s background in MMA resemble Andre Berto’s (who will be 34 years of age in a week’s time)? What point are you trying to make?

That she was Boxing and UFC champ already. Enlightened lol.

Ahhh... OK, well spotted. I was only thinking of Berto wanting to be the first male to achieve that feat, but that he was unlikely to do so, given his lack of MMA experience!

Boxers who tried MMA at its early stages were taken down and submitted by judo/jiu jitsu/sambo/etc. wrestlers. Berto would need a couple years to learn that part, but there is also kick technique.

I have actually done 14 mma fights ad a lot of them was before Missouri would sanction a pro mma fight only amateur mma. I am 12-2 with that being said the 2 guys I loss to in mma are like 0-7 combined record in boxing. I have a wrestling background also from high School I was 117-18 as a colligate wrestler,and had 3 full rides to go to college but my wife now was pregnant in highschool so I took up fighting in tough man won money and turned pro. With all that being said my last mma fight the guy kicked my front leg until it was black for a week IMO no fighter is going to become champion of both sports at same time unless the fight less than the best in both. For example when Charles Martin was champion a mma fighter like John Jones could have switched and probably been champion at both just my opinion as I don't follow mma very good at all.

He'd get destroyed.... The UFC, with the exception of CM Punk and Kimbo Slice, only brings in guys who have extensive experience in the amateurs and pros to compete (unless it's one of those one time only deals like when Toney fought Couture).

Boxers have had moderate success in K-1 (kickboxing) in the past, but this is a whole other animal. It's not just strikes, it's wrestling and submissions along with throws and elbows and knees.

Boxers, almost always, get thoroughly beaten quickly I'm such contests. Outside of Ray Mercer (who also lost to Kimbo) I can't really think of a mainstream boxer beating a world class MMA fighter. A scrub maybe, but even in those cases the boxer looks ordinary.

If Berto was interested in doing this he probably should've tried it before he was past it. Especially considering his skills left a lot to be desired in the first place.

I don't see him getting any more significant wins anywhere in Combat Sports.

I also came here to point out that Holly Holm was the first.

Andre is dreaming. He could end up getting badly embarrassed pursuing such a ridiculous dream!!

I cant help but think of James Toney getting embarrassed in his ill-advised experiment.