Billy Joe Saunders Comments on Conor McGregor, Wants Crack at MMA Fight

Commonwealth middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders has revealed he’d quite like to follow in the footsteps of Conor McGregor one day, insisting MMA is something he’d love to try once his boxing days are done.

Saunders, who has won all 22 of his professional fights, is set to fight Andy Lee this weekend for the WBO middleweight title in Manchester. Ahead of the fight he expressed his admiration for McGregor and is already looking forward to the future it would seem, per The 42:

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McGregor, I ain’t really took a lot of notice of him, but he’s doing his job. I’m not really into MMA but after I finish boxing, I would love to get in and have a go at that.

I’d love to get a go of fighting in the cages, love it.  It’s just standing there in the cage, just having it out. Boxing is a skill, an art, but cage fighting, people can argue different, but cage fighting is rough and tumble and I’d like to have a go at it.

"

McGregor cemented his status as the face of the UFC with an emphatic win over the legendary Jose Aldo at UFC 194 last weekend. It took the Irishman just 13 seconds to end the fight with a thunderous left hand, clinching the UFC featherweight title in the process.

Here’s a reminder of the remarkable end to Aldo’s unbeaten run, which stretched back over a decade, per BT Sport:

Boxing and MMA are completely different disciplines, and if Saunders did want to cross over from one to the other, he’d have plenty to learn.

Indeed, the very best fighters in the UFC are multifaceted in their approach, capable of using and defending against a variety of different martial arts, something which Saunders won’t have come up against previously.

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However, there are definitely some transferable skills. As sports writer Jack Rathborn noted after McGregor’s win over Aldo, being a clean striker seems to be becoming more and more important if you want to be a big success in the UFC:

Indeed, Holly Holm, a former world boxing champion, shocked the world when she beat Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 last month, using her superior punching to nullify any attempts made by her judoka opponent to engage in other martial arts.

McGregor has also shown the value of being strong when it comes to upright fighting with knockout wins over Aldo and Chad Mendes.

As we can see here, Saunders is a clean striker in the ring:

Still, the world title challenger has plenty to accomplish before he even considers making a move to MMA. Saunders has masses of talent, plenty of heart and should he beat Lee, it’d ensure a fair portion of his glittering potential was fulfilled. But there's still more to come.

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The fact someone like Saunders is even considering a switch to MMA is testament to the manner in which the sport has ascended in recent times.

McGregor’s box office persona has helped expedite that process and given how successful stellar punchers seem to be at the sport’s top level, perhaps a few more boxers will be keen to try their hand inside the Octagon in the future.