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.

 Though plenty expected the fight to be a complete mismatch, McGregor acquitted himself well in the early stages against the unbeaten boxer. As the contest moved on, Mayweather started to pick holes in the Irishman's defence and earned a late stoppage.

Berto also found it tough against Money in 2015, as Mayweather put on a masterclass to earn a unanimous win. 

Indeed, as noted by journalist Thomas Duffy, over the course of the two fights against Mayweather, it was actually the UFC star who was able to land more punches:

The relative success of McGregor may prompt others into making the switch between codes, though it's clear the Irishman is something of a one-off in terms of his natural combat skills. To be competitive against Mayweather, all things considered, was extremely impressive.

Berto notes that his family have been involved in MMA for a while, suggesting a switch wouldn't be too strenuous. But given the variety of attributes required to thrive in the Octagon, changing codes from boxing to MMA would be much more challenging than the alternative.