Before Mayweather vs McGregor, Muhammad Ali Fought a Martial Artist in the Ring
Muhammad Ali didn;t know how to deal with a Martial Artist
Floyd is lucky that the fight with Conor will be using boxing rule
The fans have always fantasized about dream fights, so it's not the first time that the world has seen an event such as Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor.
Outside of the sports industry, these types of things happen every time, when Batman fought Superman, when Aliens fought the Predators, when Shaq fought Oscar Dela Hoya and a lot more. Even the boxer who is regarded as the greatest had a piece of mix martial arts action in the past.
June 26, 1976, Muhammad Ali participated in an exhibition bout in Tokyo against Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist Antonio Inoki. The fight was highly anticipated and garnered a lot of publicity and like Mayweather vs McGregor, the press conference of Ali vs Inoki was very entertaining. Unfortunately, the entertainment did not follow them inside the ring.
Antonio Inoki was luring Ali to fight on the ground right away but Muhammad Ali was not obliging and wanted to have a stand-up fight instead. Inoki was limited to throwing leg kick all through out the night, while Muhamad Ali was unable to do any damage as well. It was a boring fight that ended in a draw.
While the event did not live up to expectations, it garnered a lot of attention and may have given a glimpse of what the future holds in fighting. That fight was basically one of the first highly publicized Mixed Martial Arts event.
Watch it here! Muhammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki, Boxing vs MMA Fight