Michael Irvin dead serious about wanting to do celebrity MMA
Michael Irvin: “It’s just you, and all that you are deep down inside. And I can hit you any kind of way. I just love the sport.”
If Conor McGregor can cross over to boxing, can other world-class athletes cross over to MMA. Retired NFL star Michael Irvin, 51, spoke recently with TMZ and said he would like to try celebrity MMA.
I train MMA, I want to do it, said Irvin, as transcribed byMookie Alexander for BE. I want to get in there one time. My wife says I’m her mule. She can’t have her mule out there getting hurt! I got to go bring her her money, so I can’t see her letting me.”
I train sometimes over at the Guy Mezger gym doing some MMA. I actually wouldn’t mind getting in and having a fight. Oh my God, I would love to take a fight. What I wish they would do is some amateur MMA fighting: celebrity style. Let this celebrity go up against that celebrity, get in the ring, and let’s do something. Let me find me a couple of dudes that may have said something that I don’t like and we get up in that ring. Man, I would whoop somebody up. I would enjoy that.
“I would enjoy that. I just love the sport. It’s so difficult. There is no, ‘I’m going to play defense while you play offense.’ … It’s just you, and all that you are deep down inside. And I can hit you any kind of way. I just love the sport.”
Irvin did compete in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars in 2009, and was the 9th contestant to be eliminated. But no one on DWTS was trying to hurt him. Former Cowboys teammate Herschel Walker competed successfully in MMA twice, although he has a lifetime of experience in traditional Asian striking martial arts. Matt Mitrione made the transition from the NFL to the UFC with no stops. Football is a full-contact, collision sport with carryover to MMA. If Michael Irvin can find another retired athlete of a similar age, with some extra CT scans, the state commission might approve it.