Mike Tyson To MMA Heats Up After Octagon Sparring Video Surfaces

Would Mike Tyson actually consider taking a mixed martial arts fight inside an octagon? That's been a question Iron Mike has considered going back to May 2020, when he started training for an eventual boxing match against Roy Jones Jr. Tyson has never said no to MMA. All he has said is "anything is possible."

Fast forward to the first weekend of 2021, and now there's a video, posted by Mike's trainer Rafael Cordeiro, of the heavyweight legend bodying around a sparring partner at the Kings MMA training facility in Huntington Beach, CA.

If Tyson, 54, is indeed thinking of an MMA fight, Cordeiro is a great trainer to have in his corner. Cordeiro has trained Anderson Silva, Mauricio Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Fabricio Werdum, Rafael dos Anjos, Cris Cyborg and Lyoto Machida. All are former UFC champions.

Tyson has called MMA "exciting and sexy," but he knows that the real money to be made is in the boxing ring. "MMA will always have more views and stuff than boxing, but boxers will always make more money than MMA fighters," Tyson said in October. "I don't know. They don't make enough money, in my perspective. It's exciting and sexy, but don't make enough money."

Conor McGregor claimed in 2020 that he banked $50 million for his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov and predicted an $80 million payday for UFC 246 when he knocked out Donald Cerrone.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. reportedly banked $275 million for his fight against McGregor in 2017.

Why would a 54-year-old Tyson be thinking about another fight, whether it's in a boxing ring or an octagon? There's money to be made. His exhibition match against Jones Jr. generated $80 million in pay-per-view buys. He earned a share the PPV buys.