MMA bigger than Boxing?

[Tiger J]

Truth. You can thank Muhammad Ali, Antonio Inoki, Kevin James, Forest Griffen, Bobby Southworth, Stephan Bonnar, Joe Rogan, and Spike TV.

Ali vs. Inoki = First ever MMA fight - Boxer vs. Pro Wrestler

That basically started MMA in North America.

UFC started out in '93 completely barbaric, with no holds barred. Then, they evolved into a more sanctioned and organized fed, with rounds, and certain rules.

Mike Tyson goes crazy, bringing the boxing world to the main stream once more. Then, he beats his wife, goes on Oprah, no one cares about him anymore. Boxing falls out of the mainstream.

Meanwhile, Pride FC is rockin the S*** in Japan. Sweet fights, awesome fighters, all fighting in what's quite similar to a boxing ring.

Fox attempts to bring boxing into the mainstream by airing "The Next Great Champ," but since FOX sucks at ratings, no one watches it. It gets cancelled.

Then UFC decides to make a reality TV show. TNN decides to turn into Spike TV. Since Spike is considered to be the first network for men, they had no problem putting MMA on cable, and brings it to the main stream. People see Bobby Southworth cut 20 pounds in one day, and then they're immediately hooked to the show.

Boxing makes an attempt to hit the mainstream by airing the Contender, however, NBC decides to give it a terrible time slot, and it fails in Ratings.

UFC airs a full event on Cable TV, and promotes the S*** out of UFC 52. More and more fans are hooked after seeing Stephan vs. Forest.

MMA gets legalized in California. Their having en event at the Staples Center, home to some of the greatest boxing matches of all time.

Now, people are more familiar with the name Chuck Lidel than Jermaine Taylor.

It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad mad world.

[Purist]

I do know I posted a UFC event results here. And it got over 2000 views in less then 2 days. That has to be a record or something.

[B@rr3r@]

UFC Bores ME

[Canvasback]

I saw Ali vs. Inoki on closed circuit at the old Boston Garden. It was an awful fight (if you could even call it a fight). Inoki laid on his back in the ring and kicked at Ali's legs for 15 rounds. There was some stipulation that prevented Inoki from going in for a takedown, but I don't remember what it was. Chuck Wepner vs. Andre the Giant was on the same card and was much more entertaining. I like MMA, but I don't see fighters making the kind of money top level boxers make for fights. At least not in the near future.

[SimonH]

Boxing is getting a massive boost, thanks to the Latino market. This WWF/MMA thing has been trying to take off for years, in fact did they not use Mike Tyson (when he was banned, afther the bite), to advertise it? That was the last time it make the headlines...

[Larryboy]

Ali vs Inoki was awful and had rules which din't make any sense because it was supposed to be staged, with ali taking a dive to lead to a rematch which he'd win, but in the time leading up to the fight he decided he couldn't go through with it and so they made up some rules on the spot. Ali actually suffered blood clots in his leg from getting kicked over and over in the same place for 45 minutes.

The WWF used Tyson in 1998, he helped promote wrestlemania, which drew 740,000 buys. I don't think he's ever done any MMA, although there was talk of it at one point. He was rumoured to be fighting Bob Sapp, who is a faily poor fighter but is a massive celebrity in Japan, but it all fell through.

[VictorCharlie]

I love both and I do find that I'm watching more MMA, but I think thats b/c its on TV more and its PPV's are cheaper. MMA has a ways to go before its top tier (UFC/Pride) are really competing on the same scale as championship boxing. That being said its making huge strides, and MMA in Asia is enormous.

[JonesJrMayweather]

MMA will never be bigger than boxing..when you want to know the answer ask youself who gets paid more? Boxers or mixed martial artist? they should use that skill on the silver screen in hollywood and make way more money....

[NUCLEAR BULL]

i myself like boxing much more

[Hulk]

I saw Ali vs. Inoki on closed circuit at the old Boston Garden. It was an awful fight (if you could even call it a fight). Inoki laid on his back in the ring and kicked at Ali's legs for 15 rounds. There was some stipulation that prevented Inoki from going in for a takedown, but I don't remember what it was. Chuck Wepner vs. Andre the Giant was on the same card and was much more entertaining. I like MMA, but I don't see fighters making the kind of money top level boxers make for fights. At least not in the near future.

Bullshat! You gotta be kiddin me man. I have seen Andre the Giant's biography and have heard of the Ali vs Japanese wrestler thing but not THIS! Who won? Did this fight really take place?

[tuckwopat]

MMA can win the popularity contest, the bigger the sport the more corruption.

[mucho testosterone]

In Japan it's already bigger.

Pride is a huge draw there, more money than UFC times2.

Now with the recent ban on MMA being lifted in California, I think that it will blow up.

If anything, this will force the governing bodies and promoters to arrange more of the matches that the fans want to see. Otherwise, they will lose some marketshare to MMA.

In other words, Don King-onomics may soon go the way of the do-do bird......that or boxing will eventually have to take a back seat to MMA.

Still love boxing but MMA is a close second for me. Between the two I rarely go a weekend without an exciting fight.

[Tiger J]

MMA will never be bigger than boxing..when you want to know the answer ask youself who gets paid more? Boxers or mixed martial artist? they should use that skill on the silver screen in hollywood and make way more money....

I STRONGLY disagree. UFC has established a HUGE fan base over the past year. They're moving on to bigger and more popular venues. UFC Unleashed and the Ultimate Fighter are Spike TV's biggest shows. It's only a matter of time before they start making nearly as much, although, I think boxing should get more, since its a WAY more dangerous sport.

Pride pretty much runs the show in Japan. They just recently had Mark Hunt vs. The Japanese Cruiserweight Champion as the main event to one of their shows. It was insanely good. Boxer vs. MMA striker. They get paid a lot more in Pride than they do in UFC. It's a much better promotion. They have better fighters, and better fights, which is why it's so big in Japan. They rake in huge live audiences, much bigger than UFC.

As for the Silver Screen remark, there already is an actual MMA movie. It's called No Rules. Randy Couture, and Frank Shamrock are in it. Although the acting is terrible, consider it to be the first step to some of the greatest movies of all time.

[OumaFan]

I like both a lot, but boxing is what got me into MMA and boxing is still my clear favorite

I wouldn't doubt that Pride is bigger than boxing in Japan, and I guess its possible that MMA could become bigger than boxing as a whole, but boxing is still better IMO.

[Canvasback]

Hulk, it did happen. Wepner got in a couple of shots before Andre picked him up and threw him out of the ring where he was counted out. If I remember right the fight was staged in an outdoor stadium (Shea in NY?). I do recall the ring was set up in a ballpark because Wepner landed somewhere near the pitcher's mound. I haven't done any research, but there has to be some mention on it on a website called "Obsessed with Wrestling." I'm going to check right now.