it is quite unbelievable that you think prime tyson didn't have good footwork, especially when compared to anything you've seen in mma comps, which is like comparing fillet mignon to burnt barbecued sausages.
you mention his lack of skill in 'lateral movement'... lmfao...seriously, you must be joking, right?
obviously you have never competed in an mma comp. at least of any great importance, because to underestimate stand-up is suicide. think logically about this abd. if it was so easy to shoot in on a prime striker, why doesn't everyone just do that? why do fighters spend more time standing up than shooting in? how many opponents did you see just shooting in 'easily' on a prime belfort (who wasn't a great sprawler at his peak. his prime weapons were hands, footwork and, to a much lesser extent, bjj)? there are many many ufc fighters that are much better wrestlers and grapplers at lt. heavy than chuck, so why don't they just shoot in??? wouldn't they win easily due to their superior wrestling skills?
now, take chuck and belfort at their respective primes and x 1 million = prime tyson. i still can't get over your comments on tyson's footwork and lateral movement. you really have no idea do you? i once thought you were knowledgeable. seems all you know is bjj.
yes, lennox lewis did get taken down in sparring as anyone would ie couture, fedor, ANYONE that thought they were boxing sparring.
lewis was grabbing on and working inside (a little lazily too...might have been late in session). of course, merely some judo skills would do the trick in that instance. again, you show your ignorance of mma by even mentioning this. btw, prime tyson didn't like sitting inside at all and he wasn't particularly good at it. he needed to create medium distance to allow his crisp uppercuts and left hooks, overhand rights, body rips, etc to take effect. of course NO ONE ever in ufc or pride has ever seen or, more importantly, felt the speed, power, timing and precision that these shots are going to detonate on their person and, with 5 ounce gloves....
Tyson used Cus patented peek a boo style, hands up, chin down, elbows in the ribs bobbing and weaving. He used his jab as a probe, would slip inside or outside and throw BODYSHOTS. What made his peek a boo defense sooo effective was the size of the gloves (sixteen ouncers are better than five), the strength of his neck and how tight he could keep his elbows glued to his ribs. Where was Mike's great circular or side to side footwork when he fought Mitch Green? Exposed, hardly, just didn't match up well with Blood.
Chuck is hardly what I would consider an elite MMA striker. I used him simply because someone pontificated how Tyson's sprawl and takedown defense could be as good as him. Hardly. Just like Chuck would get killed by Iron Mike in a boxing match. Apples to oranges. Who was the great heavyweights Mike beat? Razor Ruddock? Trevor Berbick? Terrell Biggs? When he finally fought a boxer who could box, keep him at range, we saw him stuffing his mouthpiece into his mouth and loopy. That fighter was champ for only one year, and was embarassed by a juiced up light heavy.
Did Tyson have power in both hands, yes. Could he have transitioned to MMA as easily as you pontificate? No. Never fought MMA, did a couple of smokers and have had the opportunity to train with a lot of top guys. Egan could take Kaheke Alexio down at will, and he was not, nor is not top drawer wrestler. Kevin Randleman would have no trouble getting Tyson into the clinch, and take him down to GNP him for a TKO. ANY top wrestling based MMA fighter would love to have a shot at a stand up only fighter like Tyson. BTW, how well did Melvin Manhoef do when he crossed over? Peter Aerts? Stephen Leko? Mo Smith won the UFC title, but he is a .500 fighter. If he didn't learn the half guard game from TK he prolly would have a .250 win percentage. His game was to stall for the stand up. Name me one top fighter in MMA who relies strictly on his stand up game, and then to top it off, have no takedown defense, or clinch skills. That would be Iron Mike.
The reason so much time is spent in the stand up is because all fighters have takedown defense. You must not have competed at a very high level in MMA, now have you? We spend 20 minutes EACH practice on wrestling, and I train at a BJJ academy. So tell me again how Iron Mike would prevent the clinch, then defend the takedown when he has shown no proclivity to do this?
BTW, was Bas, an elite level striker WITH takedown defense taken down in the cage against TK? Did Kevin Randleman take Bas down at will? Was Nog able to get a takedown against an elite level striker like Mirko in the ring, against a fighter with GREAT takedown defense. You mention that Fedor would be taken down, guess what, Fedor can and will fight off his back. How many fights has he ended while in guard? Does Mike Tyson have a good closed guard game? A half guard game? An open guard game? Butterfly you say? Oh, thats right, he is a one dimensional striker with no kicking game, no clinch game, no wrestling, no ground, just phenomenal punching. And with that, he'd dominate in MMA? I THINK NOT.