Ryan Garcia is one of the biggest, young stars of the boxing world. At just 22 years of age, “KingRy” has amassed an astonishing amateur record of 215-15, accompanied by 15 national amateur titles. In his pro career, Garcia has already knocked off top lightweights from across the globe including Romero Duho and Luke Campbell.
With unquestionable skill, Ryan Garcia’s future only seems to be getting brighter.
What If Ryan Garcia Transitioned to MMA?
“The Flash” is known for one thing—his hand speed. Garcia rose to fame because of his lightning-fast hands. His social media presence quickly grew with every video that featured his feats of speed. Garcia’s ability to strike, and strike quickly, has earned him victories in the boxing ring, and would certainly be the greatest skill he would bring into the MMA cage.
How Ryan Garcia Would Fair
In his last bout, Garcia weighed in at 135 lbs., boxing’s lightweight division. In MMA, Garcia would land in the bantamweight division. This would pit him against the likes of Aljamain Sterling, Petr Yan, Juan Archuleta, James Gallagher, Cory Sandhagen, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Cody Garbrandt—certainly, a tough crowd.
However, Garcia is a skilled striker. There is a reason he TKO’d his last opponent to become the WBC interim lightweight champion. There is a reason he is the fourth-ranked lightweight boxer in the world according to ESPN. He strikes fast and with precision, packing powerful force behind each strike.
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The Verdict
In his transition to MMA, boxing’s biggest young star would use his speed, power, and striking ability to knock out opponents and move through the ranks. Quickly, Garcia would fight better names with greater skills. He would be challenged by those who implement wrestling and jiu-jitsu. At this point, Garcia’s greatest hope would be taking lessons from “The All-American Wrestler” Derrick Lewis on counter-takedown uppercuts, which might not be so bad of an idea.
Like this article? This is the third article of the series What If? where we will take top athletes from various combat sports and place them in a different environment.
Note: This is not a serious article. By no means do we suggest that Ryan Garcia will be transitioning to MMA. The article is for entertainment purposes only.
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