Mma

[Bomp]

I'm a fan of both. I don't get the hatred from boxing fans. To me they are similar sports, so it's mind boggling how you can be a fan of one and hate the other.

I hate golf, nascar, and baseball. Playing them is fine, but watching.... i'd rather watch paint dry. Still as much as I dislike those sports I know the people are athletes and have a high level of skill. I don't discredit their skill level, just dont want to watch it.

I watch both boxing and MMA regularly and if they are both on at the same time, I choose by which has the more seemingly competitive fight. I have been very impressed by how MMA keeps their fighters evenly matched more often and don't tank a fighter for losing a fight.

Boxing has more inflated records and less competitive fights. There's just too much build up, and one sided match making. So many undefeated guys who've never had a challenge. And a big part of the problem is the commentators. They make it seem like a fighter if finished if they lose a close fight. Too many guys are afraid to take a challenge cause their career is sidetracked. Fortunately the lower weights have less of this. Vasquez and Marquez, etc...

Overall, I like both. MMA gets me more tense. I noticed when I am watching, I clench my muscles and have to actually tell myself to relax. Boxing is a different kind of excitement. So I can see why some are turned off by the part of MMA. It's a different brutality to get held down and get your face beat in, than getting hit and knocked down.

I can find MMA fights entertaining, but it's boxing all the way for me. There's mutual resentment because the sports are in competition for fans, I don't know who started it but both sports are trying to score points off the other.

The problem I mainly have is that the words MMA and UFC are far too interchangeable. Compared to boxing (as a complete sport, not just one organisation) the UFC may appear to have competitive fights, but that's because they cherry pick the best fighters, but I bet in MMA as a whole that many mismatches are presented. Boxers have lobsided records (usually) before becoming champions because they have to build experience, and the guys who fights the widest variey of styles often end up better fighters for it. MMA fighters do not fight often enough at the start of their careers and they eventually fight something they haven't seen before and lose their title early in their reign.

There's a lot about MMA to like, they have commited athletes that show good sportmanship, but at the end of the day boxing is my favourite sport and since so many ignorant followers of MMA diss boxing I can't warm to it.