Will UFC take over from boxing

[amat]

Joe Rogan did say something very interesting in his debate with Dou Dibella.

He said that boxing is itself a form of martial arts and I would have to agree. He then went on to say that it is just one form of martial arts and therefore fighting, in the same way that jutitsu is one form, and karate another.

He then went on to argue that MMA is about the art of total fighting, pitting the best guys from each discipline against each other to find out which martial arts disciplines are the most effective in a total combat situation.

But that is the thing. Boxing has never been about complete all around combat. It's been about punching, hit and not get hit, float like a butterfly sting like a bee ect. MMA is more "complete" when talking about fighting. But boxing isn't fighting, it's boxing. I don't know why that aspect has been brought up, I don't think it's very relevant honestly.

Rogan then went on to argue that until the emergance of MMA tournaments and organistations in the recent past these guys had no way of entering professional competitions and pursuing their sports at the highest level.

Now with the MMA, Pride and other organistations we have for the first time the potential to see the development of the science of 'complete unarmed combat' and the eventul emergence of the complete fighting machine.

Agreed but I don't know if that closes in on boxing. I mean, you would be better off comparing it to wrestling rather then boxing. Most of the stuff is on the ground and very rarely does one fighter throw more then 20 punches a round. That is at the very most.

This to me, and other's who 'get it' is amazingly exciting. Finally after hundreds of years of speculation and theory we are finally seeing, in demonstration how each martial art compares and how useful they are in a practical real world situation of fighting.

I agree, but I don't think that relates to boxing.

As more and more people get on board, and better and more skilled athletes participate we will in time see the complete martial arts system.

For boxing to maintain it's popularity it has to be aware of the things the UFC is getting right and imitate them.

Cater to the fans, make boxing more freely available on television, ensure the best fights get made, clean up the bad judging, reduce the weight of the gloves, change the rules slighty to make more aggressive fighting rewarded, introduce action replays to help the referees etc

This I agree 100% with. But also, MMA is going to succumb to the same downfalls that bestow boxing. You would at lease have to explore that possibility. I agree with aggressive fighting being rewarded though and quite honestly, I would love a complete overhaul in the judges.

If they don't the UFC will only continue to make inroads into boxing, taking away not only its PPV revenue but also its best young talents.

This I disagree with. Especially the last part. Most of boxing in America's young talents are black kids from innercities who start boxing at a very young age. I don't think it'll make a move on boxing's talents for a long while. And when you compare PPV revenues per show last year, UFC and HBO boxing were about even.