Iron Mike Tyson admits he would not have been prepared for Royce Gracie in 1993

Private Whatley said:
Well prime Iron Mike was more than just a good boxer for starters. He’d also hold a 40 lb. weight advantage over Royce, who was never a high level wrestler. I don’t think anyone would argue that Mike would be fucked the moment the fight hit the ground. It’s just no guarantee that Royce would be able to get it there. Ironically, I’d be much more certain that Shamrock and Severn, two guys whom Royce submitted, would easily dispatch Tyson as they had both the size and takedown acumen to plant him on his back.
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If you don't have takedown defense, size advantage doesn't help. Royce, while not an amazing wrestler, took down anyone who couldn't wrestle with ease.

Once again, Royce should be favored in this matchup.
 
Sdeaf said:
Watch the first 4 ufc events then come back. The ignorance of new fans on this forum is astounding.

Simple as this: If you don't know how to defend takedowns (which he couldn't), or how to stand back up (which he couldn't), jiu-jitsu or wrestling wins.
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This any gracie brother wins

Royce was one of weakest too
 
Sdeaf said:
If you don't have takedown defense, size advantage doesn't help. Royce, while not an amazing wrestler, took down anyone who couldn't wrestle with ease.

Once again, Royce should be favored in this matchup.
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I agree, but how much prep do you think it would take for an athletic freak with a 40 lb. weight advantage to fend off takedown attempts against a smaller, inferior athlete?

All I’m saying is that if the organizers of the early UFC’s were seeking to make a statement while minimizing risks, they’d pair Tyson against Severn or Shamrock.
 
They said Kimo was a Taekwondo black belt but in reality he was some bare knuckle Street fighter.

Just look at what a sloppy Kimo did to Royce. Now imagine what Iron Mike would have done.
 
All I see here is a bunch of newbs that have never actually rolled with a high level grappler. They don't understand that even a monster of an athlete like Tyson would get taken down every time by a guy like Royce unless some serious preparation was put into a training camp.

The problem is that back in the early 90's, a guy like Tyson and even his trainers would most likely have been just as ignorant about this stuff as some of the dumbshits posting on this thread. They wouldn't know how to even prepare for a guy like Royce just like Severn didn't. Severn admitted in later interviews that he though as long as he was in the dominant position with the much smaller fighter that he wasn't in any trouble. Royce knew that taking Severn's back was going to be a little different than anyone he had faced to that point, so he set a trap, and big Dan took the bait like a dumb bass. The entire thing was set up for Royce to win.

Tyson would have looked like a fish out of water against Royce. A lot of people remember old man Royce getting smashed by Hughes, but Royce wasn't just some bumb with no athletic ability in those first UFC tournaments. He both stronger and more aggressive than a lot of you are giving him credit for.

The first 20 seconds of this fight tells you everything you need to know in order to understand that someone with zero grappling experience would not have stood a fucking chance in this fight. Tyson would have been on his back within seconds of the first contact made.
 
Private Whatley said:
I agree, but how much prep do you think it would take for an athletic freak with a 40 lb. weight advantage to fend off takedown attempts against a smaller, inferior athlete?

All I’m saying is that if the organizers of the early UFC’s were seeking to make a statement while minimizing risks, they’d pair Tyson against Severn or Shamrock.
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Yea, but UFC 1 was specified at the beginning of the thread, and we all know that the UFC kept grappling hidden from the other fighters. Tyson would have had no idea what to prepare for.

That's what I think people are missing. No one thinks that Mike Tyson, with some good preparation and knowledge of mma, wouldn't have done well in the ufc. We're just saying that all odds point to Royce winning at UFC 1.

And I agree, a wrestler would fare even better.
 
If Hélio Gracie had found Mike Tyson before "Cus" D'Amato.....
Mind blown...
 
Do me a favour, Tyson knocks him out in brutal fashion inside 5 seconds.

And you all know it deep down.
 
Cold Front said:
Truly embarrassing for anyone at a MMA forum to believe that Tyson had a legitimate shot of beating Royce in the early 1990s, let alone that it would've been easy for him to do so.
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You tell em' old timer.
Royce was very good at keeping his head back and using his height to avoid being hit, then throwing some front kicks and going for the clinch. Watch the Pat Smith fight.
Tyson is very short, too.
Someone said he had no wrestling. Jeez. What a bunch of stupid noobies lol...waiting for the ones that say Tyson would have arm barred him with 5 minutes instruction in the locker room.
 
sdss said:
Mike Tyson had a very famous street fight where he landed a bare handed clean punch to another person's face, and the guy didn't die, and Mike fucked up his hand arguably worse than he hurt the other guy.

It would be easier to take the Tyson crowd seriously if there wasn't so much hyperbole.

At least most of the Royce side isn't saying, "He'd choke Tyson and hold it until he was brain dead."
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It was Mitch Green who happens to be another HW boxer and he actually fight Tyson in an actual boxing match. It's safe to say he has a pretty good chin. Royce Gracie on the other got stopped by Matt Hughes. MMA/BJJ fighters cannot take punches as well as boxers, let alone against arguably a top 3 hardest HW puncher.
 
bopbopbbe said:
It was Mitch Green who happens to be another HW boxer and he actually fight Tyson in an actual boxing match. It's safe to say he has a pretty good chin. Royce Gracie on the other got stopped by Matt Hughes. MMA/BJJ fighters cannot take punches as well as boxers, let alone against arguably a top 3 hardest HW puncher.
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Royce Gracie getting beaten by Matt Hughes in 2006 has no bearing on what would happen between Royce Gracie and Mike Tyson in 1993.
 
Rapid Counter said:
They said Kimo was a Taekwondo black belt but in reality he was some bare knuckle Street fighter.

Just look at what a sloppy Kimo did to Royce. Now imagine what Iron Mike would have done.
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He wasn't a bare knuckle street fighter either. He had a wrestling background and was a very good college athlete. And all Kimo really did to Royce was last longer than most of his other fights.
 
Sdeaf said:
Yea, but UFC 1 was specified at the beginning of the thread, and we all know that the UFC kept grappling hidden from the other fighters. Tyson would have had no idea what to prepare for.

That's what I think people are missing. No one thinks that Mike Tyson, with some good preparation and knowledge of mma, wouldn't have done well in the ufc. We're just saying that all odds point to Royce winning at UFC 1.

And I agree, a wrestler would fare even better.
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This is what people don't understand. Back then, the entire thing was a huge unknown to basically everyone involved. The rules were blurry at best. Refs didn't have a damn clue what they were supposed to be doing. Royce could literally have dove at Mike's legs and wrapped them up, tripping Mike to the floor and basically ending the fight once Royce wrapped himself around a neck or limb. Or, maybe Mike is quick and has good enough reflexes to instinctively land a hammer fist to the side of Royce's head as he does that and knocks him out cold.

Basically, the fact that Mike would have zero clue what he was even getting into would mean advantage to Royce. He wouldn't even necessarily need a "traditional" takedown. Hell, think about it this way: What if Royce just immediately flopped to his back? Would Mike even have a clue that trying to dive on top of him to smash him would be a giant mistake that would get him submitted? Nobody had seen it. If Mike got in a streetfight and got on top of some guy, there was no bjj to deal with back then. He just wouldn't know what was coming.

Yeah, if he had some clue what to prepare for that's a different story. But he'd be completely flying blind.
 
Holyfield out-wrestled Tyson twice. I bet a HS HW wrestler would.

FFS people this question already been answered in UFC 1.0. Tyson would stand zero chance.
 
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