Former martial arts and MMA world champions who've transitioned to boxing?

Are there many? Off the top of my head: Matt Skelton, 28-9 (23 KO) Skelton won the British title outright, also holding the English, Commonwealth (British Empire), EBU (European), the WBU and challenging for the WBA World. Skelton went 63-8 (57 KO) as a kickboxer, winning the IKF World title. He also went 0-1 in MMA, 10-7 in K1 and competed in professional "shoot" wrestling. His biggest wins in boxing are beating Danny Williams on points and stopping Paolo Vidoz in Italy to win the European title. He lost on points to Ruslan Chagaev and got stopped by Kubrat Pulev and Anthony Joshua.

Comments (16)

Outworn

I think quite a few Thai boxers have Muay Thai backgrounds. Ruenroeng was some kind of Muay Thai champion too Yeah I think all of the boxers have some sort of Muay Thai training in their life time. Thats where they get their conditioning from and you can see some of them can be a really tough nut to crack when they box like Srisaket against Roman. Ruenroeng is a little different he got a slick style to him. Too bad he's not a world amateur champ.

8y ago

NEETzsche

Khaosai Galaxy I think quite a few Thai boxers have Muay Thai backgrounds. Ruenroeng was some kind of Muay Thai champion too

8y ago

Outworn

Khaosai Galaxy

8y ago

Hyperion

I think Nobuo Nashiro was a kickboxer who became champion in boxing in under 10 fights....but i think he had always wanted to box more, he just did both boxing and kickboxing..tbh, in women's boxing and the lighter weights, it's easier to do that......mistakes and bad habits don't cost you much there and the talent pools are shallow...plenty of muay thai stars turned to boxing in thailand

8y ago

Outworn

Lomachenko was a combat phenom.

8y ago

W1LL

The first post and thread title stipulates: World champions from MMA or martial arts Transitioned to boxing, TO boxing, from MMA/martial arts So just spouting random names of mediocre boxers who have little martial arts background doesn't count.

8y ago

sicko

Currently Lipinets, Jarrell Miller, Izuagbe Ugonoh, Tyrone Spong are the only guys I know of but I'm sure it is more!

8y ago

North_Star

IIRC, I think Jens Pulver had some limited success in boxing in his heyday.

8y ago

Vegemil

the only time you'll ever see vitali klitschko knocked out. he was honestly never even badly hurt in his pro boxing career. also checked out that fabio guy you mentioned in that other post. never seen such a bad 25-0 record :lol1: Lol 25-0 96% KO rate 1.5 stars on boxrec.

8y ago

New_England

Didn't one or both of the Klitschko brothers do some pro kickboxing? the only time you'll ever see vitali klitschko knocked out. he was honestly never even badly hurt in his pro boxing career. also checked out that fabio guy you mentioned in that other post. never seen such a bad 25-0 record :lol1:

8y ago

_JSFD26_

Conor McGregor after he beats Mayweather

8y ago

HanzGruber

Algieri did kick boxing

8y ago

TheBigLug

No MMA fighter or UFC fighter has transitioned into boxing successfully and become even a top contender. Only one World Champion boxer has become a World Champion in UFC: Holy Holm. There will never be a UFC champion who could become a boxing champion. I agree. It's much harder to go into a sport where they are dedicated to one craft and skill. It's a little easier to become highly skilled at one art and go into a sport where they're just ok at a few different things.

8y ago

Lomadeaux

8y ago

Hatesrats

Vitali Klitschko

8y ago

TheBigLug

I think Dillian Whyte was a champion kickboxer when he was a bit younger? not a world champ though, maybe European K1 champ or something. He was 20-1 in kickboxing. Whyte also has an MMA record of 1-0, he won his one and only fight in 12 seconds.

8y ago