MLB player Michael Lorenzen, a baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds, explained why he has so much respect for MMA fighters.

Lorenzen, who plays pitcher and outfield for the Reds, was recently a guest on “UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra.” The hosts and Lorenzen got into a discussion about brain trauma in the sport, bringing up the brutal flying knee KO that Cory Sandhagen recently landed on Frankie Edgar at UFC Vegas 18. It’s the fact that MMA fighters train so hard and show so much toughness in their fights that Lorenzen says he has so much respect for these athletes.

“That’s the main difference between our sports. If I lose, I’ll be fine the next day, you know? I’m going to wake up fine, I’m not waking up in the hospital or anything like that. That’s where the respect factor for these fighters goes to. Even just sparring and training. I’ve been going to the Ruca gym here in Costa Mesa that Jason Parillo has been running. So I’ve been training there with him, just doing some privates and stuff like that. But like, Chito Vera is always in here and Luke Rockhold, all these guys are in there training all the time and really going after it and it’s a lot of fun to watch. But man, just seeing what goes into it every day, it’s a completely different world and I totally respect it. The respect is here when it comes to that stuff,” Michael Lorenzen said.

Lorenzen is known as a tremendous athlete, and the fact he can play both pitcher and outfield at the MLB level is proof of that. It’s also cool to see that he is doing boxing with famed MMA striking coach Jason Parillo. While he’s likely just training to keep in shape during the baseball offseason, the fact Lorenzen is doing some striking on the side shows just how much respect he has for MMA.