Hopkins goes from critic to fan of MMA

NEWS FLASH: WBC light-heavyweight boxing champion Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins still is not a fan of former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. No surprise there, huh?

News flash No. 2: Hopkins has been converted from sneering critic of mixed martial arts to, well, something approximating a fan of that other combat sport. And that is about as pronounced a turnaround as President Obama suddenly announcing he's switching parties and becoming a Republican.

"Not a little. A lot," Hopkins, when asked if he had changed his mind about mixed martial arts, said yesterday at the hot 'n' humid Joe Hand Boxing Gym, where he shared the spotlight with Tito Ortiz, Jorge Rivera, Vitor Belfort and other fighters who will appear in UFC 133 bouts Saturday night in the Wells Fargo Center. "I'm kissing [UFC] butt all the time now."

Maybe peace in our time really is possible, and the staggering national debt can quickly be whittled down to zero without tax hikes or laying off half the federal workforce. The always-loquacious Hopkins is known for three things - staying on top longer than anyone his age (46) has a reasonable right to expect; making loads of controversial and/or outrageous statements; and not backing down when the inevitable negative responses to his more inflammatory words come pouring down like rain in a summer thunderstorm.

It is that seeming intractability - a disinclination to publicly reverse a previously stated opinion - that stamps B-Hop's sudden endorsement of mixed martial arts, and MMA fighters' gushing support of him, so surprising. The same MMA guys who 20 months ago wanted to sew Hopkins' lips together are now praising him as a standard-bearer for fighters of all stripes.

"He's been one of my inspirations. He's the type of fighter I admire," Belfort, the 34-year-old Brazilian who takes on Japan's Yoshihiro Akiyama in Saturday night's co-feature, said of Hopkins. "It's great to see a guy 46 years old inspire not only my generation, but all generations. He's part of the past, he's part of the present and he's a part of the future."

"It was great to meet Bernard," Ortiz, after posing for the obligatory photographic faceoff with Hopkins, chimed in when asked about the ageless legend from North Philadelphia. "I think a lot of him."

Well, now. That wasn't the case 20 months ago when Hopkins, preparing for a bout against Enrique Ornelas on Dec. 2, 2009, at the Liacouras Center, made this scathing assessment of MMA.