Interesting -

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“I’ve gotten hit a lot in my life,” said Morton, who spent 12 seasons going over the middle against N.F.L. safeties. “But I’ve never gotten hit like this.”

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He admired the fighters, mainly because they were the only athletes who seemed more fearless than football players.

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In Detroit, where Morton spent eight seasons, he was the kind of player who did not get tired even during two-a-days. He can bench press 400 pounds. His body fat is less than 5 percent. But during a sparring session Wednesday, he could not summon the energy to get off his hands and knees. Joker and Gun had to drag him to his feet.

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“Football players are looked at as the biggest and baddest guys on the planet,” Glazer said. “People see them as superheroes. But football players also need someone to look up to. They view mixed martial arts as something even they are unwilling or unable to do.

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Actually I was waiting for this article to get posted.

NFL players admire the courage and raw battle of the MMA, this is true, I would say the same thing.

But this is a PR piece about a guy about to enter the sport, hardly objective.

Keep in mind he seems to think he can compete with almost no formal training.

Ask NFL players if they like watching the battles of MMA, they will say yes, football is very war like itself.

They are in awe of the danger and the risk, the concept that the MMA guys are crazy, even crazier then them, is very appealing.

But no way they are saying the MMA guys are better athletes, or even their equals. They may be in awe of the danger, the courage and respect that, but that's a long way from saying these guys are athletes on the same level.

"I’ve gotten hit a lot in my life,” said Morton, who spent 12 seasons going over the middle against N.F.L. safeties. “But I’ve never gotten hit like this.”

UMM yea right Johnnie, he might not have felt the same pain due to the pads, but not hit as hard, please.

"Wednesday, he could not summon the energy to get off his hands and knees. Joker and Gun had to drag him to his feet."

It's a different sport, you need to be in shape for your sport, this is not surprising at all, and no one ever said MMA wasn't hard.

This was a nice piece for MMA, but like I said before proof of the pudding is in the eating. What I love most about this thread is in the end we will have real world examples to prove us right or wrong.

I do however find it interesting that you are not concerned that a retired NFL player is fighting professionally after only 2 months.



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Morton only trained for two months for his MMA debut, but Guymon said Morton was ready for the fight.

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The fact that after 2 months of training he was able to get a professional fight is a bit of a joke IMO.

I also never said people with no training could be competitive. My comments were directed at the caliber of athletes.

Interestingly enough, I went to a bar with some friends to watch UFC 71, and one friend who is not really a sports fan of either MMA or football, leaned over and said to me, "I would think these guys would be in better shape".

I stand by my position, but this has been debated. Lets move on.

He doesn't know what he's trying to prove, same with the other thread. He just likes to talk then change the subject, then eventually nobody is speaking about anything worthwhile, which is probably what will happen with this thread since everyone here is just childish and is willing to talk about a whole load of nothing to get their point across.

Isn't Bob Sapp a ex-football player? I guess someone did mention they don't have the skill, but he does have the mass and has beaten some good MMA fighters with sheer mass and power, but he has rarely looked good in thoughs fights.

he listed his fighting style as "nfl"

lmao. what a legend