Who could beat Tyson? (Prime v Prime)

Archie Goodwin

Archie Goodwin

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Assuming both fighters were in their prime, what UFC fighters could beat Mike Tyson in a standup match (UFC gloves)?

Francis? Gane? Jones? Other? None?
 
Midget Boxer said:
Tyson would kill someone in ufc gloves
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A lot man. Gane, Francis, Jon, Jan, Rakic, Ankalev.

Tyson is a boxer. They cannot defense against leg kicks, body kicks, and head kicks. Not to mention the clinch too. Look at Usman, he is a very good and experienced mma fighter but he made a bad mistake defending a simple technique against Leon.

Can't imagine what Gane's or Francis' kick will do to Tyson
 
But the guy lost to Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield

Beat a lot of B level competition

He wasn't that good
 
Stand up match, as in kickboxing/muay thai? There are likely many that would destroy him if kicks were involved... Obviously Tyson would have always have a legit puncher's change, but any elite HW striker (Fedor, Cro Cop, Overeem, JDS, Gane, Francis) would be big time favorites over him.
 
Midget Boxer said:
But the guy lost to Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield

Beat a lot of B level competition

He wasn't that good
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He was really fucking good man, an all time great HW Champion with tons of abilities (im not saying I have tyson in my top 10 HWs but top 20 surely). He'd obviously lose standing to some guys in MMA or kickboxing but Tyson was an amazing HW boxer and it's truly a shame we didn't get to see him carry out his prime with Cus and Rooney, that he went to prison and got sidetracked by success so badly.
 
With kicks and knees involved and him being short and making himself even shorter with his head movement, I could see him losing to a fair few people, but of course he'd also always be one good shot away from winning too, especially in 4oz gloves.

Under full MMA rules he might have actually been quite hard to wrestle given his low center of gravity, his speed and explosive power and how quick and nasty his uppercuts and hooks were. You wouldnt wanna be sloppy and lazy closing distance on him thats for sure.
 
HuskySamoan said:
He was really fucking good man, an all time great HW Champion with tons of abilities (im not saying I have tyson in my top 10 HWs but top 20 surely). He'd obviously lose standing to some guys in MMA or kickboxing but Tyson was an amazing HW boxer and it's truly a shame we didn't get to see him carry out his prime with Cus and Rooney, that he went to prison and got sidetracked by success so badly.
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I have always wondered, why did he fell out with Rooney and never even mention him in any interview at all? Rooney was the one guiding him to a beast after Cus died
 
DS66 said:
Stand up match, as in kickboxing/muay thai? There are likely many that would destroy him if kicks were involved... Obviously Tyson would have always have a legit puncher's change, but any elite HW striker (Fedor, Cro Cop, Overeem, JDS, Gane, Francis) would be big time favorites over him.
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Crocop would probably be the worst match for him as he could really punish forward movement with kicks well, I think just slowly throwing lowkicks at Tyson from range would not be easy with his ability to get inside fast.

MMA would be different from K-1 in that reguard, in K-1 people could have shelled up more when he got close/
 
Nobody. LOL. Of course there could be puncher's chance meaning a fluke shot but Tyson would have killed any MMA heavyweight ever if it were only pure stand up.
 
Crazy Librarian said:
I have always wondered, why did he fell out with Rooney and never even mention him in any interview at all? Rooney was the one guiding him to a beast after Cus died
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I always heard when Mike got with Don King and the Brotherhood they wanted him to be trained by black coaches and surround himself "with his people" so he left Rooney. I probably heard more about it, i remember looking into it years ago,but honestly I forget. Rooney has spoken on it, says Mike knows how to reach him and that he still lives in the same place he did in the 80s when they worked together.
 
Tyson is rare. Teach him some kick defense and he's good to go. People underestimate Tyson, he's a rare breed. Thinking he wouldn't be able to learn how to defend kicks when people that are lower caliber in terms of athleticism/skill than Tyson are able to learn it. There is a reason why even today no one can really imitate his style of fighting. They don't have the skill and athletic ability to do. We are talking about prime version of Tyson. Cus D'Amato version of Tyson.
 
Archie Goodwin said:
Assuming both fighters were in their prime, what UFC fighters could beat Mike Tyson in a standup match (UFC gloves)?

Francis? Gane? Jones? Other? None?
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No one could trade punches with Tyson with 5 oz gloves.
 
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The only correct answer is someone who can take him down and control him. So you gotta go with a great wrestler, Francis can kinda wrestle, but he likes to strike, so you shouldn't bet on Francis in that one. Modern day, I think the safest bet would be someone like a Jon Jones.

Not even kickers would want to stand with him. It's like that fight where Randy Couture fought James Toney. He ankle picked him from half the octagon away, which most MMA fighters could've sprawled. But he took the safe route. The safest way to fight an all-time great boxer is to outgrapple them.
 
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This was a guy that for most of his career did coke/alcohol/escorts/junk food for months, then couple of weeks before a world-class fight would suddenly start running 10miles at sunrise, do from total inactivity thousands of squats/pushups/situps, show up to the fight looking like a beast and demolishing most opposition.

Some 1-in-a-billion genetics combined with incredible striking mechanics ingrained by spending his teens doing nothing but that with Cus.

Tyson in his prime and with a slightly more disciplined lifestyle would have slept all MMA heavyweights of any era in the first round (striking only rules obviously).

In fact, I’d give last year’s >50yo Tyson, when he was back to training quite seriously, still a fair chance against most of them.
 
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