John Gooden has provided color commentary on a host of UFC events, last being heard alongside Dan Hardy at UFC Fight Night 107.
The color commentator believes that UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor can defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match and he knows just how he could get the job done.
“I think that McGregor would come out hard early on,” Gooden said on Submission Radio. “He clearly has ridiculous power. I mean, I don’t think we need to question that anymore. The way that he sets his shots, his technique and his precision, he’s able to deliver knockout blows. But it is boxing and you are going up against the very best defensive boxer that potentially we’ve ever seen.”
Gooden has yet to provide color commentary on any of McGregor’s fights in the UFC. As far as Mayweather Jr. goes, the UFC employee also knows just how he can defeat McGregor.
“So for my liking, Mayweather’s gonna want to drag that fight out and Conor’s energy systems over 12 rounds. If he tries to take out Mayweather early on, is he going to be able to sustain it? I really don’t know. It’s got to play into the favor of Mayweather. He’s so used to the length of the rounds, the weight of the gloves, the ring. All of these things. Whereas Conor has been playing at a different game with many more things to consider. So there’s a lot of muscle memory in these things when you get tired, and for me, I just think that you’re stepping slightly away from your world there and it’s even harder because you’re constricted by a defined rule-set taking away a lot more weapons. The other way around is slightly different,” Gooden continued, “but Conor is a fantastic – what does he call it? An unarmed combatant, hand-to-hand fighting – he’s fantastic. But there’s a lot more rules in boxing. He has a very different target area with heavier gloves. But if he’s gonna do it, I think he has has to go in there and try and take him out early and look for the knockout. I don’t think he outpoints Mayweather over the distance.”
While the UFC will return with an overseas card with UFC Fight Night 109 in Sweden, the on air personalities next date with the promotion has yet to be revealed.
