There is almost no one who knows anything about fighting and doesn’t love Mike Tyson. Including, of course, current and former UFC fighters. ‘Iron Mike’, after all, is cherished in the UFC from the top to bottom in the Las Vegas-based promotion. This is why so many UFC stars were so concerned when Tyson decided to box Jake Paul last month at the age of 58.

And it seems many of their concerns were indeed justified as Tyson put up a horrendous, underwhelming performance in their eight-round boxing match. However, UFC legend and former heavyweight champion Mark Coleman disagrees. Speaking to Andrew Whitelaw in an EssentiallySports exclusive interview a day after the Tyson-Paul fight, the ‘original’ ground-and-pound pioneer, who is a year older than Tyson, felt that there was never really any danger about ‘Iron Mike’s health.

“What he did yesterday [in the fight against Jake Paul], you know, everybody’s so worried. I was not worried about his health and all this stuff. He got to do what he did to come back like this and find out. He went eight rounds with a young f***ing stud. And be proud, leave it at that everybody,” the first-ever UFC heavyweight champion said.

To be fair, ‘The Hammer’ would know better than almost anyone else about how much danger Tyson was in, being not only the same age as Tyson but also having lived life to the fullest like the beloved boxer. Not to mention, Coleman is still fighting and is scheduled to face promoter Jon Nott on Fight Circus 12 on November 17.

Of course, he isn’t taking on a young and hungry athlete like Jake Paul, but he is still competing nonetheless, which would give him an idea about Tyson’s situation and the type of toll training would have taken on the latter’s body. ‘The Hammer’ also couldn’t help but express his heartfelt respect and love for ‘Iron Mike’, along with speculating what could have been if they had fought back in the day.

Mark Coleman explains how a fight between him and Mike Tyson would have panned out

Mark Coleman witnessed Mike Tyson in his imperious prime. Unsurprisingly, he idolized the boxing champ and wanted to emulate him, but in MMA. “I love him, he’s been one of my heroes all throughout. I wanted to be Mike Tyson, you know back [in the day]. [We’re the] same age, I wanted to be what this guy was doing in boxing, but boxing wasn’t my route,” he said.

But he wasn’t content at just watching Tyson from a distance, ‘The Hammer’ wanted in on the action. The UFC legend told us in the Exclusive ES interview that he had wanted to fight Tyson in MMA back when both men were fighting, and was pretty confident what the result would have been.

“MMA started and as soon as I wanted it, everybody called out Tyson. Well, I legitimately would have been neat. Can you imagine fighting that guy in MMA back then? It’d have been fun. Relatively, I don’t want to use the word simple, because he would have got mean and dirty, but I think I just smash and ground and pound him,” he added.

Of course, it is not a stretch for Coleman to say that he would have beaten Tyson in the octagon. After all, Tyson would have been doing an entirely different sport, where no matter how good and powerful his punches were, he would have been easy prey, primed for being taken down and mauled there, especially for an Olympic-level wrestler like Coleman. What do you think about Mark Coleman’s take on the Tyson-Paul fight?