Anthony Joshua Open to MMA Crossover Fight in the Future
Anthony Joshua has already vaulted himself into the upper echelon of boxing's elite with his win over Wladimir Klitschko, but he may be ready to try his hand at another sport sometime in the future.
As the bout between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. draws near, Joshua has revealed that he's open to doing a boxing/mixed martial arts (MMA) crossover bout as well. There is one condition, though. He's only willing to enter the Octagon if there's a no-submissions rule in place.
"I can't beat a guy (via submission). That takes a lot of time to learn the skills and submissions, which I don't have the time for, but when it comes to pure aggression and fighting rules, I can definitely fight, so I don't mind that," Joshua said, via the Telegraph.
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Joshua understands that he can't learn how to defend against submission attempts in a few months, so he may as well look for a way to level the playing field. But perhaps he should add a "no takedown" rule as well because whoever he faces in the cage will likely look to take him down and beat him up with ground-and-pound.
UFC heavyweight title holder Stipe Miocic has been calling out Joshua for months now and he actually wants to face the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) heavyweight champion in a boxing match. That would be an interesting matchup since Miocic happens to be one of the division's most feared strikers.
Of course, any crossover match probably won't happen anytime soon because Joshua will have to face mandatory IBF challenger Kubrat Pulev and mandatory WBA challenger Luis Ortiz in the boxing ring. World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is also waiting for his turn to fight Joshua.
