Jaylen Brown Considers UFC or Boxing Career After NBA
Jaylen Brown isn’t limiting his long-term vision to basketball. During All-Star Media Day, the Boston Celtics star admitted he has considered stepping into combat sports once his NBA career winds down.
The 29-year-old, a five-time All-Star and 2024 NBA Finals MVP, revealed that the idea isn’t purely hypothetical. He has already discussed it with UFC president Dana White, a well-known Celtics supporter. “To be honest, I’ve brought up this idea and I’ve talked to certain people,” Brown said. “Maybe after part of my career, I’d like to participate in something like the UFC or even boxing. I’ve talked to Dana White about certain things, but we’ll see how things evolve. We’ll see.”
It’s classic Brown — expansive, curious, and unafraid to explore paths that stretch beyond the traditional NBA arc.
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A Family Legacy in Combat Sports
The idea isn’t coming out of nowhere. Combat sports run in Brown’s family. His father, Marselles Brown, was a professional boxer with a 33-18-1 record and held a WBU title, while his grandfather, Willie Brown, also fought professionally. For Jaylen, the appeal of stepping into a ring or cage wouldn’t be a detour so much as a return to something embedded in his family’s history.
Jaylen Brown says he talked to Dana White about fighting in the UFC after he’s retired from the NBA.
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Brown isn’t just talking. He has trained in Muay Thai, a sign that his interest in combat sports goes beyond casual curiosity. The connection even extends to the Celtics’ culture, where head coach Joe Mazzulla — an avid MMA fan — frequently attends UFC events and has been known to use fight footage as teaching material for his players.
At a listed playing weight of 101 kilograms (around 223 pounds), Brown would project as a heavyweight in MMA, a division that would present a steep physical and technical test. For now, though, the idea remains theoretical. Brown is still very much in his prime, with plenty of runway left in the NBA as a two-time finalist and reigning champion in Boston.
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