Mike Tyson: No way I would have beaten Royce Gracie in 93

Mike Tyson appeared recently on UFC Tonight, and was asked how he felt an MMA fight with Royce Gracie would have gone in 1993, when the modern version of the sport debuted.

Royce would have taken the fight. His father tried to get Joe Louis to agree to a mixed rules bout, and Tyson was the most feared fighter on earth at the time; a win over him would have been incalcuably large.

Indeed, Royce would have fought anyone.

“I would fight the devil himself if he stepped into the Octagon,” said Royce during this period.

If they had fought, Tyson does not like his chances.

“Well, in ’93, I was in prison, so there would not have been a fight,” said Tyson speaking practically. “But there is no way I would have won. I had no idea what was going on with that type of fighting and would’ve been taken by surprise. I would have had to train in that particular art of fighting for that to happen. That’s a particular art. You are not going to go in there with your just your hands, you need to have a great ground game as well. You also need a great wrestling game to be successful. You have to have both skills, wrestling and boxing. That’s the truth.”

How do you think Tyson would have done in MMA with some sprawl training?