Anthony Mundine respects the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) but has no plans to enter the sport like fellow Australian boxer Vic Darchinyan.
Mundine said he is not a “major fan” of UFC but watches it “every now and then”, nominating Rampage Jackson as one of the MMA fighters he follows.
“It’d have to be a big fight,” he said. “I respect their art. I’m not a fanatic.”
UFC rolls into Sydney again tomorrow, with a crowd of around 15,000 expected to attend at Homebush.
The main event on the card is a welterweight tussle between Martin ‘Hitman’ Kampann and Thiago ‘Pitbull’ Alves, while there will also be the introduction of a flyweight division.
Mundine said he isn’t interested in competing in UFC in the future, unlike Darchinyan who has publicly stated his desire to fight in UFC this year, and even if he was he couldn’t because of the arthritis he suffers in his hip
“I’m more the artist,” Mundine said. “Boxing’s my science. But I respect UFC.”
A lot has been made in recent years of the tussle between boxing and UFC, but Mundine believes when boxing is at “it’s best, pound for pound, you can’t match it”.
“UFC can’t match it, nothing can,” the 36-year old said. “When boxing is at it’s highest points today, that’s where it’s at.”
Mundine nominated the likes of seven-time world title holder Floyd Mayweather Jr as one at the top, but also believes UFC can be viewed separately to the sweet science.
“UFC can be judged in a different light,” he said. It’s more of a technical street fight. It’s not as artful as boxing.”
Damien
Roar Guru
You're right UFC isn't a sport. But its not a glorified brawl either, Its actually a company that promotes MMA fights. You must be trolling for an argument with the ignorant comments you made towards MMA..
Tuapou
Guest
Ufc is not a sport. Its just a glorified brawl. Its distasteful. The fights degenerate into structureless and boring and predictable grapples on the canvas. Its an event for the lowest common denominator type folk. Trust the country that brought us wwe, nascar etc to bring us this unseemly fad.
chocs...
Guest
anthony has had problems getting a big fight now thats why he deleted his twitter account i heard he is retiring because of his hip cant wait for mayweather jr vs cotto cant wait to see who anthony fights if hes ranked below anthony at 11 at light middleweight hes kidding himself
steve b
Guest
I dont know if i refer to boxing as poetic but it is definitly superiorr to a refereed street brawl they call cage fighting
amazonfan
Guest
I agree. I love boxing, however martial arts IMO is one of the most beautiful and poetic things in the world.
jonnny
Guest
hey choc how about letting all your fans know who your fighting next???? why delete your twitter account for!!!??? your fans are getting madder by the day you cant do that to your fans...im getting over waiting on your next fight
Jon
Guest
Ju Jitsu is more of an art than boxing. But I respect his views somewhat, it's fair enough that he prefers boxing of course. It's his sport.