Back in August of 2010, the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts came together when former three division world champion James 'Lights Out' Toney crossed over to the UFC for a showdown in the octagon with one of their legends, Randy Couture.
Before a packed crowd at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, Couture easily took down Toney and made him submit in the opening round.
Nearly seven years later to the date, the worlds of boxing and mixed martial will come together once again.
The biggest star in the UFC and their current lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, will make his professional boxing debut against the biggest name in boxing, former division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather, now 40 years old, is coming back from a two year retirement stint.
Because of McGregor's inexperience, most observers view the contest as a mismatch - with a lot of experts predicting a stoppage within the first six rounds.
Couture believes McGregor will do a lot better than many expect.
"McGregor won't get knocked out," Couture told Sky Sports. "He's younger, he's bigger, he's unorthodox as a southpaw. He won't throw things that Mayweather is used to seeing."
A lot of fans view Mayweather vs. McGregor as a battle of Boxing vs. MMA - although the fight takes place under normal boxing rules, at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds and with 10 ounce gloves.
Couture reflects back, that his fight with Toney had the same "Boxing vs. MMA" storyline, and that placed additional pressure on his shoulders to bring home the win for his respective sport.
"Comparing boxing and MMA has been going on since the creation of mixed martial arts, but they're apples and oranges," Couture said. "I absolutely had the entire burden of the question pitting MMA against boxing. I began fighting in 1997 and those comparisons were being asked, so I felt pressure. It's something I took seriously because I was happy to represent MMA in that match. I was proud to get the job done."
"The real question was: how much MMA would he be able to learn in the four months that he had to prepare? That was answered pretty quickly on fight night. I wasn't silly enough to test James Toney's hands while wearing 4oz gloves. That would have been ludicrous. I needed to avoid getting caught by James Toney as I tried to shoot in and get my hands on him. The transition that would have been the most horrible for me was if he rolled his shoulders, threw a hook, or caught me with an uppercut.
"I fashioned a game-plan to put him in as many MMA positions as possible, and to keep him away from the boxing part of MMA. I certainly respected him as a boxer, he had tons of skills."
