The rising star in the world of boxing, Ryan Garcia is aiming to make history after he is done with his boxing career. In his recent podcast with Ben Askren, Garcia confessed that he is going to make his MMA debut after he retires from boxing at 26 years.
One of the most intriguing questions in the MMA world has been how would an elite boxer do inside the octagon. We have already seen the former UFC two-division champion, Conor McGregor takes on Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring. At the time, McGregor was at the peak of his career and he certainly did have some moments against arguably the greatest boxer of all time.
The only elite boxer to compete in UFC was Tony James who was dominated by Randy Couture in his first MMA fight. No one from the boxing world has tried to conquer the MMA world while still being at the top of their game. And that’s what Ryan Garcia wants to change.
Talking about his MMA plans, Garcia stated: “Let me tell you something Ben, I have never said this on air. I have always said I am gonna retire at 26, everybody looks at me like I’m crazy. But I’m doing it to go into the MMA ring. So I’m gonna need you to teach me some wrestling technique before I even start dive in there. So little wrestling and we will go from there.”
“Yeah, I plan on beating everybody that I want to beat in boxing as quick as I can, get out. Of course, I can dive back for big opportunities, but I want to show the world I not only can box I feel like I can be the best warrior in the world. Nobody has ever dominated boxing and then try to dominate UFC. They have done it later later later on their career when they are already done. But never when they are still fresh they still have some juice left in them.”
Ryan Garcia has some concerns about his MMA debut
Ryan Garcia is confident that he will be able to transition into MMA with proper training. However, he does have some concerns about fighting under MMA rules. Ryan Garcia is still clueless about how does someone defends the leg kicks, how to defend the takedowns. Garcia stated:
“I wouldn’t do it unless I knew that I could compete. I wouldn’t go in there with a blind eye and just thinking there that I am just gonna lay my hands on them and they are gonna go to sleep, which can happen, but I need to know how to either get away from a takedown, take a leg kick, cause my biggest thing is your leg is right there to get kicked at all times. I have seen what happened to Conor McGregor and he is a very experienced MM fighter. He go this leg kicked. I don’t understand that. That leg is just right there how do you get away from that.”
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But it’s needless to say that for someone as elite as Garcia the transition into MMA won’t be that difficult. He will certainly have to put years of effort before he becomes truly world-class inside the MMA ring. But, his boxing prowess is going to bring in a whole another striking into the octagon.
