Tyson Fury has accepted UFC President Dana White's challenge to come to the UFC and face Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez in a mixed martial arts bout. Fury: "I'm definitely interested but the money'd have to be right." Fury, 25, is the WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion. At 6'9" with an 85" reach, he'd have an 8" height and reach advantage over Velasquez.
The precedent has been set with the UFC offering a fight to former champ James Toney vs. Randy Couture.
Ray Mercer had more success against Tim Sylvia, both former champs. And Ricardo Mayorga just won his MMA debut. [video=youtube;HF3c_B6CzBM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF3c_B6CzBM[/video]
Ray Mercer had success because Sylvia was the champ in a weak era of heavyweights(At least in the UFC. All the top heavies were in Pride at the time) and Sylvia, while good at MMA standup, was stupid enough to stand with a pure Boxer. His style was good at the time in the UFC, but Sylvia left himself wide open for shots his entire career. A pure boxer, especially former champ, will see those gaping holes in standup and exploit them in seconds. All they do is look for those holes to punch. Fedor saw the same holes in Sylvia's standup and pounced on it.
Funny thing about that fight was they had a gentleman's agreement not to kick and the first thing Timmay did was kick Mercer in the shin. Karma.