Royce White will leave the NBA for a career in MMA. When he’s ready to compete, he will make his UFC debut.

Yes, you read that right. The 6’8” nearing-260lbs Royce White, who was the 16th pick in the 2012 NBA draft, is moving away from the pro hoops and into MMA. From the start, the NBA and White began on the wrong foot.

Royce White was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder as a teen. As expected, he didn’t receive much leeway from the league. An examination of his career carried out by Sports Illustrated showed he had to his credit merely 3 games and lots of lost battles with the NBA executives. He tried to push forward the policy for mental health protocols in the league, but faced obstacles at every turn. For example, his fear of flying, which is usually a cakewalk for anyone else, wasn’t given an exemption.

Royce White has already begun training

Since his draft, he spent most of his time playing ball in the D-league, Summer League and NBL Canada ball. He’s still only 28 years old and still has all the physical tools that he to go out and start afresh career. And turning those physical tools to MMA is something that interests the NBA professional greatly.

He’s currently training out of Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in Minneapolis, under the wise hands of Greg Nelson. Greg Nelson was the man who played a huge role in Brock Lesnar’s switch from pro wrestling to MMA.

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Nelson, speaking of White’s elite athleticism, said, “It’s not just that level. It’s the work ethic that goes with it. When you’ve been a professional athlete, you know what it means to train. And Royce is putting in the work.”

When talking about the switch, Royce White said, “As a basketball player, I watched the deterioration of the competitive ethos, the erosion of the value of competition. The entertainment and the dollars [subsumed] competition on so many levels,” Mixed martial arts, it’s not ‘just business.’ It’s entertaining but not entertainment. It’s the highest level of competition. And the purest.”

Reportedly White is already on UFC’s radar. If and when White is ready, he can make his debut in the UFC much like Greg Hardy. Hardy took to the octagon within 3 fights of going pro. And White might do that even quicker.

Royce White in his book, “MMA x NBA: A Critique of Modern Sport in America” has spoken of his transition from basketball to combat sports. So what do you think? How soon will Royce White be ready to compete inside the octagon?