Gennady Golovkin talks grappling and 'maybe' making a UFC debut one day
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Gennady Golovkin is more than an undefeated middleweight boxing champion -- he's also a former grappler who is a fan of MMA and the UFC. According to Kazakhstan-born fighter, he grew up with a lot of wrestler friends who brought him along to the gym when he was a youngster.
"Yeah, I can [wrestle]," he recently told FightHubTV.
"A lot of my friends wrestled. [I trained grappling for] five, seven years. Just a little bit of practice. I just went with my friends to the gym -- grappling, just wrestling.
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"I love judo, I love grappling, I love jiu-jitsu."
As an elite boxer with an appreciation for grappling, Golovkin's choice of a favorite UFC fighter seems fitting.
"Cain Velasquez," he said, when asked to name some of his favorite MMA athletes. "He is a good puncher. He is very compact. He's strong. He's very smart. He's a good fighter. He's a warrior."
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Golovkin, 33, says he also admires former bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, though the Rowdy one may not be a good training partner for the boxer. "Ronda is too strong for me," he said, with a smile.
"She's powerful."
Given his top-notch boxing and at least passing familiarity with grappling, Golovkin wouldn't rule out his one day competing in MMA and the UFC. "Maybe," he concluded.
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Golovkin next fights April 23 against Dominic Wade at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.