Jose Canseco to make MMA debut

Former baseball slugger Jose Canseco is trying his hand at mixed martial arts, with seven-foot-two South Korean Hong Man Choi his first opponent.

The Canseco-Choi matchup will take place on the Dream 9 card May 26 in Tokyo, Dream said on its website. But Dennis Holahan, Canseco's Los Angeles-based lawyer, said the announcement was slightly premature.

"I think they have (jumped the gun) and I don't have any problems with them doing that because I don't anticipate any problems but it's just not confirmed yet," Holahan said.
"It probably won't be a sure thing for another week or 10 days," he added.
Holahan confirmed Canseco was training "very hard" in MMA.

Choi, a 29-year-old former kick-boxer, is 1-2 as an MMA fighter, with losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic. The fight is part of Dream's eight-man open-weight tournament.

Canseco, 45, does have some celebrity combat experience. The six-foot-four 240-pounder fought former child star Danny Bonaduce to a draw in a celebrity boxing match in January in suburban Philadelphia. The bout featured only three one-minute rounds. Canseco was soundly beaten by former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema in a previous celebrity bout last year.
Canseco, the 1988 AL MVP, was a home-run hitter who has stayed in the limelight with tell-all books like 2005's "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," and 2008's book, "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball."

He also appeared on Season 5 of "The Surreal World," a reality TV show.