Excerpts from Pensacola News Journal interview with Roy Jones, Jr. with regards to MMA:
(full interview at: http://pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070705/SPORTS/707050316/1002)
PNJ: What do you think of the mixed martial arts craze that's sweeping the scene?
Roy: It's good because it gives those types of guys a way to earn money. I don't think mixed martial arts is going to take over boxing because boxing's a skill. Not many guys can come up and get to be 27 and say, "OK, I want to go fight in the boxing ring." But (in MMA) you can do that. All you gotta do is go learn to grapple, learn to wrestle or some submission moves and be tough, you can do that.
All those guys on "Pros vs. Joes," maybe they have a chance to do that. But they don't have a chance in that boxing ring for 12 rounds. Endurance, stamina, discipline. Those three things make what it takes to be a professional athlete.
Those guys in the UFC, some of them are good athletes, too, don't get me wrong. But most of them are just tough guys who like to fight.
PNJ: That's not something you would even look at or consider, right?
Roy: No, because that's not something I trained at for all these years to be out there for a quick fix. I don't go out there to knock you out in the first round. I go out to dissect you, use my art and skill to break you down and defeat you.
PNJ: Floyd Mayweather Jr. came out and said he could knock out any UFC champion.
Roy: He can go ahead and try it. He might can, who knows? If he can get to them first, he probably knock them out. But he'd have to keep them from getting him to the floor in a submission move, because if they do it's all over for him.