Yahoo Sports Astros star Carlos Correa says he he'd like to try fighting in UFC
At 25 years old and as a key player on the contending Houston Astros, Carlos Correa still probably has plenty of baseball left to play in his career.
However, he already knows one other sport he’d like to give a shot.
Carlos Correa would love a UFC shot
Long a fan of mixed martial arts — he even hosts an MMA podcast with teammate Lance McCullers Jr. called “The Walkout” — Correa told MMA Junkie that he would love to step into the UFC Octagon:
“It would be me,” Correa said on a recent MMA Junkie Q&A when asked which MLB player would make the best UFC fighter. “I would love to cross over into the UFC. I grew up boxing and I loved it, but I realized, ‘Man, in baseball, you don’t get hit as much.’ In boxing I’m going to have to be constantly getting hit in the face and stomach in the ribs and that hurts. I stuck to baseball and it worked out well for me. But definitely I would love to try.”
Ambitious words from a man who once claimed to crack a rib while getting a massage, but not ridiculous given past decisions by the UFC.
The promotion showed it would eagerly welcome prominent athletes from other sports when it signed disgraced NFL pass-rusher Greg Hardy and immediately pushed his contests to near the top of its fight cards.
Correa said he already knows what weight class he’d be looking to join: the 205-pound light heavyweight (he’s officially listed at 215 pounds by the Astros). He is under no illusions about what would happen if he faced that division’s top dog.
“Jon Jones would kick my ass,” Correa said, via MMA Junkie.
As for what Correa would be looking to experience, his first response was an odd one:
“Getting KO’d, I would love to know what that feels like in the octagon,” Correa said. “But also getting a KO. It’s hard to speak about it and talk about the adjustments fighters need to make when you’re on the sidelines. But when you’re actually in there feeling the power from your opponent, it’s tough to make those adjustments. It will be a different perspective if you’re able to get in that octagon.”
You would imagine the Astros would have thoughts on one of their star players taking part in an MMA fight, so this might be more of a post-retirement plan for Correa.
In a season shortened by the rib injury, Correa was effective at the plate with a .279/.358/.568 slash line and helped the Astros reach the World Series, where they fell to the Washington Nationals in seven games. Set to hit what could be a lucrative free agency after the 2021 season, it could be a while before Correa can pursue such an extracurricular activity.
Trying to pull a Madison Bumgarner probably wouldn’t work out so well here.
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