Former boxing and kickboxing champion Tyrone Spong was a hot commodity in the combat sports space in the 2010’s, training with UFC stars at fBlackzilians and considering a move to MMA to join the UFC. He went 2-0 in the sport under the World Series of Fighting umbrella, but opted to pursue other avenues in kickboxing and boxing instead.
A decade later, as he prepares for his Karate Combat title match with Sam Alvey in Dubai on May 2, Spong reflects on what his career could have been.
“At that time, I had a good contact and meetings with the UFC, with Dana White,” Spong told MMA Fighting. “I love what Dana’s doing. I think by far he’s the best promoter in combat sports. But at that time I was the man in town. I had so many options, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time because it makes you indecisive.”
Spong won 12 of 13 kickboxing matches in a span three years, the same period in which he won two MMA bouts. The one kickboxing loss was a leg injury that kept him on the sidelines for almost a year before he transitioned to boxing in 2015. Spong then won 14 boxing matches in a row with 13 knockouts. He paused his career in 2019 and only returned three years later, giving MMA another try but losing to longtime veteran Sergei Kharitonov at Eagle FC.
“I was fighting MMA, boxing, kickboxing, all together,” Spong said of the time he had conversations with the UFC. “I think if you want to go into the UFC, you have to solely focus on that. One, because the level of competition. And two, I didn’t want that at that time because I had these other great options, goals and achievements. And when you sign there, you’re stuck on that contract. At that time, the money and being stuck there was not worth it for me. But like I said, if it makes dollars, it makes sense, and the challenge is right, why not?”
If the price is right, Spong would consider going back to MMA in the future, but he’s now focused on competing for Karate Combat.
“My last MMA fight I did from a long layoff, very short preparation time,” Spong said. “If it’s interesting, why not? Like I said, I’m all about challenging myself and defeating the odds. That’s the story of my life. I’ve defeated the odds plenty of times and that’s the red line in my life and my drive. We’ll see.”
Fellow kickboxer Artem Vakhitov was the latest pure striker to consider leaving GLORY for MMA, chasing fellow opponent Alex Pereira to the octagon. He had a chance on Dana White’s Contender Series, and came out victorious, but turned down the contract offered to instead return to GLORY to face their superstar Rico Verhoeven.
“I understand the UFC runs their company according to a certain business model,” said Spong, who trained with Vakhitov before his DWCS fight. “I do think that there are some [exceptions], they do some stuff differently for certain people. Artem is a guy that accomplished a lot. I think he beat their champion — or their ex-champion — once or twice. Very good fights, close fights. He wins the Contender Series and then you want to give him a contract on the same value of just every other guy? I mean, the guy has a name. I don’t know his business, I don’t know his life situation, but if he turns it down, it was probably not interesting for him.
“So I think he stands by his decision. Was it the right call? Only he knows, I can’t answer for him, but if you made that decision, it was probably the right decision for him.”
Spong, who turns 40 in September, doesn’t think that would have happened with him.
“I’m pretty sure I would get a better offer from the UFC,” Spong said. “I believe so because I know what was offered to me years ago. It was not a bullshit offer. I won’t go into details, but it was not a bad offer. Not at all. It was not bad, but like I said, I had so many options where I could do more and had more challenges and cement my legacy in combat sports in general that I opted not to take it at that time.
“Do I regret it? What ifs don’t count. It happened. I didn’t do it at that time. If you go and think, what if I had done it? If you look at certain guys, and the successes that they have while I know that, as a fighter you’re confident, where I know that I could beat those guys. Maybe I made the wrong decision, maybe not. Who knows? We’ll never know.”
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