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“I just think that he’s going to revive boxing in the Midwest and it’s going to spread to the rest of the country. I’ll tell you, this was the biggest blow to the UFC since the sort of competition began because all the young kids are going to come back to boxing. There is nothing in UFC or any of this martial arts bullsh*t that compares to this.”
http://www.mmanews.com/ufc/Arum:-Pav...A-Bullsht.html
I don't know man I'd say a guy like Rampage Jackson will become a far bigger household name than Pavlik.
The UFC guys are more media orientated and likely to generate a fanbase.
Besides I think both UFC and boxing have two distinct fanbases and that even those who love both sports like myself appreciate them more for their differences than their similarities.
Boxing hs managed to pull itself out of a slump in the second half of 2007 with some great fights, and more to come. 2008 should be a huge year for boxing imo at least as far as big fights go.
The UFC is far more commerically orientated and will continue to grow but imo they have slightly mismanaged things this year in trying to create too many 'superfights'
It's disgraceful promoting and management that huge name Pride fighters like Cro Cop, Shogun Rua and Den Henderson got such hard introductions into the UFC and so have already lost and had their luster taken away before fans got a chance to see what was great about them
I think in the longterm this strategy could damage the UFC, like trying to kill the golden goose to get all the eggs.
It may take a long time for the truly big fights in boxing to come around but it's all the more sweeter for that.
UFC is now in danger of blowing its load early so to speak. The biggest names such as Shogun, Henderson, Cro Cop and almost Nogiera were beaten either on their debut or second fight and that just sucks for the sport.
The fans want to see these fighters at their destructive best and get to know their strengths before they see them get beat.
Just crazy matchmaking imo.
I really hope they don't make the same mistake with Wanderlai because once he's arrived in the Octagon there are no new big names to follow, unless they get Emelienko. :-\
What a douche. Arum is such a tool. I love both sports, but boxings issues are form more longterm and terminal. Boxing has been in a slow steady decline for 15 years. MMA or UFC isn't perfect in their marketing or in which fighters it signs, but for the most part if there is a fight that should be made it is and normally free of controversial decisions. Boxing's proliferation of belts, bullshit Alphabet Org rankings and mandatories, numerous weight classes are its biggest problems. UFC could help itself the most by putting a monthyl free show on Spike with mid level fighters, and a PPV every two months with top tier and championship fights. Pair that with a working relationship with StrikerForce/EliteXC/Heroes to make an occasional super card and MMA can only go up.
MMA has more publicity and theres a huge event virtually every month.
Plus they do not have the problems of hundreds of alphabet titles.