(Tyson in MMA? Two words: Sprawl training.)

Given the amount of painful memories that are packed into his times as a boxer, Mike Tyson doesn’t always seem to have the same glee in discussing his days as a heavyweight terror as we do as fans. That’s why a recent interview he did with This is 50, stands out.

In the third part of the interview “Iron Mike” discusses mixed martial arts and who would have won if he and Muhammad Ali had fought one another in their primes. As he talks about both topics Tyson is full of emotion and obvious glee. The interview is a great glimpse at Tyson. Highlights below and video after the jump.

Would he have fought MMA if it was around when he was in his prime?

“If they had big pay days, yes. No doubt about it.”

“I want to slam, I want to hold ‘em, I want to choke. That’s what you want to do anyway if you’re in a street fight, right? You want to hit him but you want to get him too. You want to get him real good, get him down, get on top of him. So, you’ve got more aspects, you know? If it’s not working this way you can kick him in the fucking head, you know? (laughs)”

(Props: MischiefMaker37 via TheUG)

“I really do believe that madness and excellence are just next door neighbors.”

So says Joe Rogan in this fascinating highlight reel focusing on a trio of “extreme winners” — Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Michael Jordan — narrated by clips from Rogan’s podcast. Rogan proposes that “a lot of success in athletics comes down to almost like a psychosis. At a real high level of anything, there’s a certain amount of almost crazy behavior to get to this incredible position…there’s a madness.”

Over the clips covering each athlete’s monumental career, Rogan shares his thoughts about the behavior and performances of each athlete, and what made them such outliers in professional sports. Maybe this is only tangentially related to MMA, but if you’re interested in Ali and Tyson, and the mental edges (or disorders?) that make athletic legends so different from the rest of humanity, you’ll want to watch this.