The UFC last year totalled PPV sales over $200,000,000 dollars, which surpasses the record ever year for boxing PPV sales, (1999) by $20,000,000.

So you could argue that the UFC is already bigger than boxing, certainly it is when you consider total PPV sales.

At present it's clear that the really big boxing fights will do better than the really big UFC fights, Mayweather De La Hoya took 2,000,000 buys compared to Lydell vs Ortiz 1,050,000 PPV buys.

But it is a worrying trend for sure.

People cannot seriously dismiss MMA now as a passing fad. It's a huge sport, bigger commerically than boxing already, and growing fast.

With the momentum it currently has who knows where they will be in 10 years time, but it is certainly safe to say that the boxing world needs to wake up to the reality of MMA.

I expect that within 5 years combined boxing/MMA events will be commonplace as boxing seeks to use the popularity of MMA to bolster sales of their own fights.

Right now though the UFC, whatever you may think of it is simply blowing the boxing world out of the water.

Once De La Hoya and Jones Jr have gone there won't be a single global star left in the sport. Unless a new star is found in the heavyweight division boxing will continue to slump.