Video: Could Anderson Silva's boxing crossover success end up hurting MMA?
This past Saturday in Mexico, we saw Anderson Silva step inside the boxing ring and put on a vintage performance as the former UFC middleweight champion, at 46, not only held his own but outshined Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to win a convincing split decision.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, all the rage right now is for MMA fighters (older ones, for now) to cross over into boxing for more lucrative paydays. We’ve seen it with Ben Askren, now Silva, and Tyron Woodley and Vitor Belfort are still to come. Meanwhile, a growing number of current, younger MMA fighters under contract with the UFC can’t stop talking about their desire to compete in a boxing ring.
That being said, was Silva’s success good for MMA or not? Which is to say, if “The Spider” is showing a crossover isn’t an impossible assignment, could we lose key years of MMA fighters’ careers while they pursue boxing matches? Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Nolan King, Danny Segura and Matthew Wells weighed in with host John Morgan in this week’s episode.
You can watch the discussion in the video above or check out the full episode below.