Ah, yes — boxing vs. mixed martial arts (MMA). The debate that will never die.
If you’ve watched combat sports long enough, you’ve probably argued with someone about who wins a “real fight” — a boxer or an MMA fighter. We’ve seen what happens in a cage (Randy Couture vs. James Toney) and what happens in a ring (Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor).
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Still, the back-and-forth never ends.
The latest flare-up started when WBC Lightweight champion — and newly crowned WBO and The Ring Junior Welterweight king — Shakur Stevenson appeared on a podcast with Adin Ross and claimed boxing and MMA aren’t “even close,” adding that “the skill level is different.”
That didn’t sit well with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley.
Buckley took to social media and unloaded.
“You boxers are so disrespectful towards us athletes, bro,” Buckley said. “Shakur, I’m on you. Even though you beat Teofimo and all the trash he was talking… yeah, you beat him, but you should have knocked his ass out cold. But you were worried about your little record because you don’t want to get embarrassed. You blame it on, ‘Oh, it’s the art of boxing,’ or ‘I just wanted to show my jab all night.’ You a hoe.”
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Buckley didn’t stop there.
“With that being said, stop disrespecting us. We are way more entertaining than y’all. It just is what it is. When we watch you guys fight, it’s predictable who is going to win. In the UFC, you don’t know who is going to win… How are you the real fighters? If we came outside where I am right now, I could kill you. I’m not saying I want to kill you or want to take you off this earth, but realistically, I would kill you if we fought.”
Strong words.
It didn’t take long for Stevenson’s mentor and longtime ally, Terence Crawford, to jump in.
“Who’s even fighting in the streets anymore?” Crawford wrote on social media. “Talking about who he can kill in the streets. He must’ve forgot they make switches for them kind of tough guys.”
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Crawford then added, tongue firmly in cheek, “I’m old and retired y’all I can’t be fighting in the streets. Especially if I don’t have the advantage. Come on y’all know I’m scary.”
A relatively measured response — especially considering Crawford has previously said he’d “break someone’s neck” in a street fight.
Stevenson hasn’t responded to Buckley — and likely won’t. There’s a good chance he doesn’t even know who the UFC contender is.
As for Buckley, the outspoken Welterweight hasn’t competed since dropping a main event to former champion Kamaru Usman last July. Apparently, the boxing vs. MMA debate has got him wound up in the meantime.
