Hopkins goes from critic to fan of MMA

NEWS FLASH: WBC light-heavyweight boxing champion Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins still is not a fan of former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. No surprise there, huh?

News flash No. 2: Hopkins has been converted from sneering critic of mixed martial arts to, well, something approximating a fan of that other combat sport. And that is about as pronounced a turnaround as President Obama suddenly announcing he's switching parties and becoming a Republican.

"Not a little. A lot," Hopkins, when asked if he had changed his mind about mixed martial arts, said yesterday at the hot 'n' humid Joe Hand Boxing Gym, where he shared the spotlight with Tito Ortiz, Jorge Rivera, Vitor Belfort and other fighters who will appear in UFC 133 bouts Saturday night in the Wells Fargo Center. "I'm kissing [UFC] butt all the time now."

Maybe peace in our time really is possible, and the staggering national debt can quickly be whittled down to zero without tax hikes or laying off half the federal workforce. The always-loquacious Hopkins is known for three things - staying on top longer than anyone his age (46) has a reasonable right to expect; making loads of controversial and/or outrageous statements; and not backing down when the inevitable negative responses to his more inflammatory words come pouring down like rain in a summer thunderstorm.

It is that seeming intractability - a disinclination to publicly reverse a previously stated opinion - that stamps B-Hop's sudden endorsement of mixed martial arts, and MMA fighters' gushing support of him, so surprising. The same MMA guys who 20 months ago wanted to sew Hopkins' lips together are now praising him as a standard-bearer for fighters of all stripes.

"He's been one of my inspirations. He's the type of fighter I admire," Belfort, the 34-year-old Brazilian who takes on Japan's Yoshihiro Akiyama in Saturday night's co-feature, said of Hopkins. "It's great to see a guy 46 years old inspire not only my generation, but all generations. He's part of the past, he's part of the present and he's a part of the future."

"It was great to meet Bernard," Ortiz, after posing for the obligatory photographic faceoff with Hopkins, chimed in when asked about the ageless legend from North Philadelphia. "I think a lot of him."

Well, now. That wasn't the case 20 months ago when Hopkins, preparing for a bout against Enrique Ornelas on Dec. 2, 2009, at the Liacouras Center, made this scathing assessment of MMA.

"I don't want to watch two grown men with panties on, wrestling. I'm from the 'hood. We don't play that. It's not me," said Hopkins, who described the grappling part of MMA as a "gay porno show."

"To compare the UFC and MMA to boxing is ridiculous," he continued. "They call that a sport?"

Mixed martial artists everywhere rose up to protest, as did members of the gay community, denouncing Hopkins as a misanthrope whose views had no place in 21st century America, or anywhere. A few MMA types even challenged him to enter the Octagon with them, the sort of gantlet Hopkins refused to pick up just as the MMA guys would decline to meet B-Hop in a boxing ring and under boxing rules.

"[Three-division former boxing champion] James Toney got his butt kicked in, like, 10 seconds [by Randy Couture]," Hopkins noted.

(The end of that apples-and-oranges matchup actually came 3 minutes, 19 seconds into the first round of UFC 118, on an arm-triangle choke hold, with Toney tapping out.)

"Same thing when Ray Mercer lost to Kimbo Slice. I'd get my butt kicked in maybe 5 seconds.

"Name a successful boxer who ever beat an MMA guy [under MMA rules]. Hasn't happened. But the MMA guys couldn't beat good boxers under boxing rules. It's two different things, man."

Hopkins' negative vibes toward MMA began to soften when his strength and conditioning trainer, Danny Davis, began working with Kensington's Eddie Alvarez, currently the Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight champion. Being around Alvarez and seeing how hard he worked at his craft impressed Hopkins, whose longevity owes to similarly strict professional discipline.

"Vicious little dude," Hopkins said of Alvarez. "Tough. Strong. I got a lot of respect for that guy. He helped show me what [MMA] is all about."

And don't think Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KOs), who defends his WBC 175-pound title against Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KOs) on Oct. 15 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, isn't also impressed by the large, enthusiastic crowds that turn out virtually everywhere the UFC sets up shop.

"They put 17,000 to 20,000 in there for, like every show," Hopkins said with obvious appreciation. "That's nothing to sneeze at. How can you knock it? You'd be a fool to try.

"Yeah, some of [MMA's burgeoning popularity] has taken away from boxing, but boxing is a diehard. It's survived everything. It's going to continue to survive. But let's face it, MMA has taken a lot of [boxing's] younger fans. They're wearing those Tapout shirts. You see them everywhere. It's like wrestling, but legit.

"It's the real deal. You're getting punched in the mouth and kicked in the head for real. It's not like guys are biting into a capsule with fake blood in it."

So B-Hop has made his peace with the MMA crowd. But you have to figure he's now incensed aficionados of the pro rasslin' circuit.