No Masians, I ask you, what are your thoughts about Floyd Mayweather’s potential jump into the octagon? It’s a revolutionary concept, and certainly ironic that the news was floated to the media on the very same day that we crowned him as The No Mas Fighter of the Year.

As for myself, I will offer just a few thoughts. I like MMA and consider the growth of the sport to be good for boxing – I’ve always thought the pissing-contest debates about the octagon versus the squared circle were just so much keyboard-tapping and gum-flapping. I don’t follow MMA with any regularity and I admit that when I do watch it, my enjoyment does not begin to approach my enjoyment of a good boxing match. But I’m not sure that fact is even relevant – I don’t enjoy most movies as much as I do a good boxing match either, but I still go to the movies. A good MMA fight is an awesome sight and I have no doubts that the sport is here to stay and only will continue to grow in leaps and bounds until it is a money-making enterprise to rival and even surpass boxing. To that end, as most of you remember, I was very invested in having regular coverage of it here on No Mas, and all-too-briefly that was the case with our crack correspondent, The Franchise. Chise, however, now has his own site, jarrypark.com, devoted to the combat arts of all stripes, a site that is pretty quickly getting a lot of attention as one of the best fonts of MMA and wrestling information on the web, not to mention a place where one can hear one Mr. Large flap his gums on a regular basis.

Basically, though I am far too much of a dilettante to call myself a fan, I am definitely an MMA supporter, and so, unlike many boxing purists I suspect, I have no problem with the idea of Floyd making the jump to the octagon. In fact, it makes perfect sense to me. The only thing that bothers me about it is that there’s one more huge fight left for Floyd in the ring, and as far as I’m concerned, after he takes that bout he can go out on the pro arm-wrestling circuit for all I care. But RIGHT NOW is the time for Mayweather/Cotto, while Floyd is still reasonably close to his prime and Cotto is at his best. That is the most perfect “styles make fights” match-up of undefeateds that I can think of since, Christ, since Meldrick fought Chavez. I have no reservation in saying that it would be this generation’s Ali-Frazier, and as a boxing fan I literally salivate at the prospect.

And yet I fear it is never going to happen, or if it does, it will happen in three years, when the skills have deteriorated and the excuses are rampant and we are all left to watch and wonder what might have been if only it had gone down when it should have gone down. Of course, Floyd’s rationale for ducking the fight is clear to me and anyone paying attention. Cotto is a punishing fighter of great skill and force who does not have anywhere near the drawing power of Floyd’s previous two opponents. It won’t be the marquee mega-event that he has become accustomed to, and he very well might lose.

A jump to MMA, on the other hand, is almost guaranteed to be a stratospheric spectacle. Cuban evidently is talking 30 mill cash money for Floyd’s MMA debut, and if indeed Money’s just got money on his mind, well, get ready octagon, cause here comes Money May.

But beyond the interminable Onslaught of Bling, there has been another recurrent strain to Floyd’s self-promotional hype machine over the last few years, and that is a desire to claim for himself the mantle of the greatest boxer ever. It’s a preposterous boast, something that is unachievable really to a fighter in this day and age when one considers the accomplishment of, say, a Sugar Ray Robinson (let alone a Kid Gavilan). But nevertheless, I want you to listen to me Floyd, because you need to get this straight right now while you are weighing your various options. If your place in the history of the sweet science occupies even a tiny part of your diamond-encrusted mind, you should be persuaded in no uncertain terms of a single, undeniable fact: There is a boxer on the scene right now who is undefeated, who has a legitimate claim to the welterweight crown, and who will give you the fight of your life, a fight that will make your Ricky Hatton square dance look like the glorified sparring session that we both know it was. In short, if you duck this fight, Floyd, true boxing fans will know exactly why you did it – you were afraid to get hurt, and you were afraid to lose. It’s your prerogative, of course, but it’s not exactly the path to all-time greatness.

(p.s. – For all of you Franchise fans out there, I just received news from him that No Mas should be receiving his thoughts on the Floyd/Octagon question before the day is out. Stay tuned…)