Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli has admitted he would have accepted an offer to turn to MMA and join the UFC.

But the Welshman also stated that he would have only signed with Dana White’s company had an offer been made in the aftermath of his loss to David Haye.

“Everyone knows I’m interested in the sport,” he told Setanta Sports News. “I think people saw me talking to Dana White in Birmingham a few months ago and I said a couple of things.

“I do a lot of the ground game, I’m not brilliant but I’m picking my level up on the ground and jiu-jitsu. I’m trained by Simon Davies who’s trained by Pedro Bessa who is number three in the world.

“It’s something I’m interested in, but I had an offer not so long ago, a big offer, but it didn’t come at the right time. If it had come six months earlier when I was disinterested with how the sport (of boxing) was going for me I would have taken it up.”

After his loss to Haye last Spring, Maccarinelli endured a largely unfruitful 2008, but believes his future is still in boxing.

He added: “I am a boxer, I still think it’s the best sport in the world and I want to achieve what I can in boxing and then maybe think about the MMA world.”

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com