Randy Couture attempting to lure Hatton into MMA?

[rjj tszyu]

Mercer has been ko'd a couple times in K1 as well, both in the first round I believe.

Skelton was the British number 1, has been British, Commonwealth and European Champion and fought for a legit world title belt, not bad for a guy who started in his 30's.

Incidently he also forayed into MMA and fought in Pride. He lost his only fight in the first round.

I'm not arguing that boxing doesn't have a greater strength in depth than MMA, it does, there has been well over 100 years put into this sport.

But the best MMA practitioners are simply masters of their craft. I'm sure the world's best of each sport don't fight in MMA, i.e the best Ju Jitsu guys compete soley in Ju Jitsu, the best wrestlers in wrestling etc.

But taken as a whole, the entire skill set these guys have (at the top) is formidable and in an absolute sense you would have to consider guys like Silva and Fedor as the best fighters in the world, as their total skill sets are vast.

OK i see where your coming from. But boxer's when they reach the very top tend to be freak athletes. They can do strange things that the body shouldn't be able to do, like throw 25 punches (hooks not pitter patter punches) in 5 seconds. To me due to the relatively low pay in MMA they do not yet have these type of athletes. Not to say that they won't as the sport grows though.

I don't think many of the top boxers can do that to be fair. And regardless I don't see how that is more impressive than the skills of Silva, Cung Lee and Machida?

At the elite of every sport people can do things you shouldn't be able to do. If you're going to judge the talent pool of a sport soley by the athleticism of its top practictioner then surely gynamsts, divers and figure skaters would far and away represent the highest attainable standards for human greatness.

I just find the idea that boxers are better athletes because the elite boxers excell at the art of punching (i.e boxing) is just silly. I mean Lewis Hamilton can do things a human shouldn't be able to do in a race car, and Ronnie O'Sullivan can do things with a snooker cue that are practically an artform but you'd expect them to because they are the absolute cream of their respective sports.

A boxer being better at boxing than an MMA fighter doesn't in any way mean that MMA practictioners are less talented.

Boxing has had literally hundreds of years to progress though, MMA hasn't and is as a result not as polished as boxing IMO.

[Kev]

OK i see where your coming from. But boxer's when they reach the very top tend to be freak athletes. They can do strange things that the body shouldn't be able to do, like throw 25 punches (hooks not pitter patter punches) in 5 seconds. To me due to the relatively low pay in MMA they do not yet have these type of athletes. Not to say that they won't as the sport grows though.

I don't think many of the top boxers can do that to be fair. And regardless I don't see how that is more impressive than the skills of Silva, Cung Lee and Machida?

At the elite of every sport people can do things you shouldn't be able to do. If you're going to judge the talent pool of a sport soley by the athleticism of its top practictioner then surely gynamsts, divers and figure skaters would far and away represent the highest attainable standards for human greatness.

I just find the idea that boxers are better athletes because the elite boxers excell at the art of punching (i.e boxing) is just silly. I mean Lewis Hamilton can do things a human shouldn't be able to do in a race car, and Ronnie O'Sullivan can do things with a snooker cue that are practically an artform but you'd expect them to because they are the absolute cream of their respective sports.

A boxer being better at boxing than an MMA fighter doesn't in any way mean that MMA practictioners are less talented.

Boxing has had literally hundreds of years to progress though, MMA hasn't and is as a result not as polished as boxing IMO.

Yes I definitely agree with you there. MMA is probably at the stage boxing was in the Joe Luis era. It will progress more quickly, thanks to the developments in fitness training, nutrition and phsyiological understanding in the modern era, and the fact that there is already a growing fanbase and big potential revenues, but right now there isn't as much strength in depth.

The top guys are formidable athletes though.

I forsee a time in the future where a top UFC fighter will have roughly equal status within the public consciousness as the top boxers.

Maybe another 5 years if it keeps progressing at the current rate.

[rjj tszyu]

I don't think many of the top boxers can do that to be fair. And regardless I don't see how that is more impressive than the skills of Silva, Cung Lee and Machida?

At the elite of every sport people can do things you shouldn't be able to do. If you're going to judge the talent pool of a sport soley by the athleticism of its top practictioner then surely gynamsts, divers and figure skaters would far and away represent the highest attainable standards for human greatness.

I just find the idea that boxers are better athletes because the elite boxers excell at the art of punching (i.e boxing) is just silly. I mean Lewis Hamilton can do things a human shouldn't be able to do in a race car, and Ronnie O'Sullivan can do things with a snooker cue that are practically an artform but you'd expect them to because they are the absolute cream of their respective sports.

A boxer being better at boxing than an MMA fighter doesn't in any way mean that MMA practictioners are less talented.

Boxing has had literally hundreds of years to progress though, MMA hasn't and is as a result not as polished as boxing IMO.

Yes I definitely agree with you there. MMA is probably at the stage boxing was in the Joe Luis era. It will progress more quickly, thanks to the developments in fitness training, nutrition and phsyiological understanding in the modern era, and the fact that there is already a growing fanbase and big potential revenues, but right now there isn't as much strength in depth.

The top guys are formidable athletes though.

I forsee a time in the future where a top UFC fighter will have roughly equal status within the public consciousness as the top boxers.

Maybe another 5 years if it keeps progressing at the current rate.

Personally over the last 12 months I think MMA has reached somewhere near its limit. I might be wrong but it's biggest PPV was a couple of years ago and when they went head to head with Floyd-Marquez Boxing prevailed 3 times over apparently.

If the HW division in boxing was to have a throwback to the 70's or even the 90's now then I think boxing would cause serious dents in MMA. I don't mind MMA and watch most UFC cards (haven't missed one this year) but I think boxing will always be ahead in PPV figures as long as its top boxers vs UFC cards.

[Kev]

Boxing has had literally hundreds of years to progress though, MMA hasn't and is as a result not as polished as boxing IMO.

Yes I definitely agree with you there. MMA is probably at the stage boxing was in the Joe Luis era. It will progress more quickly, thanks to the developments in fitness training, nutrition and phsyiological understanding in the modern era, and the fact that there is already a growing fanbase and big potential revenues, but right now there isn't as much strength in depth.

The top guys are formidable athletes though.

I forsee a time in the future where a top UFC fighter will have roughly equal status within the public consciousness as the top boxers.

Maybe another 5 years if it keeps progressing at the current rate.

Personally over the last 12 months I think MMA has reached somewhere near its limit. I might be wrong but it's biggest PPV was a couple of years ago and when they went head to head with Floyd-Marquez Boxing prevailed 3 times over apparently.

If the HW division in boxing was to have a throwback to the 70's or even the 90's now then I think boxing would cause serious dents in MMA. I don't mind MMA and watch most UFC cards (haven't missed one this year) but I think boxing will always be ahead in PPV figures as long as its top boxers vs UFC cards.

For MMA to really break out I think it has to be more than just the UFC promoting it.

Showtime with Strikeforce are doing a great job of bringing it the wider public. Right now it's still mainly an American white sport in terms of market but I guess it must be big in Japan thanks to Pride, it's growing rapidly here in the UK too, and I imagine in South America and Canada it will be growing also.

It's not a global sport yet though and probably needs to expand into Europe and even Asia more, which I think it will in time.

But I think when it gets really big, the UFC itself will probably collapse as an organisation.

No single company can have a hegemony on an entire sport.

[Nameless]

Yes I definitely agree with you there. MMA is probably at the stage boxing was in the Joe Luis era. It will progress more quickly, thanks to the developments in fitness training, nutrition and phsyiological understanding in the modern era, and the fact that there is already a growing fanbase and big potential revenues, but right now there isn't as much strength in depth.

The top guys are formidable athletes though.

I forsee a time in the future where a top UFC fighter will have roughly equal status within the public consciousness as the top boxers.

Maybe another 5 years if it keeps progressing at the current rate.

Personally over the last 12 months I think MMA has reached somewhere near its limit. I might be wrong but it's biggest PPV was a couple of years ago and when they went head to head with Floyd-Marquez Boxing prevailed 3 times over apparently.

If the HW division in boxing was to have a throwback to the 70's or even the 90's now then I think boxing would cause serious dents in MMA. I don't mind MMA and watch most UFC cards (haven't missed one this year) but I think boxing will always be ahead in PPV figures as long as its top boxers vs UFC cards.

For MMA to really break out I think it has to be more than just the UFC promoting it.

Showtime with Strikeforce are doing a great job of bringing it the wider public. Right now it's still mainly an American white sport in terms of market but I guess it must be big in Japan thanks to Pride, it's growing rapidly here in the UK too, and I imagine in South America and Canada it will be growing also.

It's not a global sport yet though and probably needs to expand into Europe and even Asia more, which I think it will in time.

But I think when it gets really big, the UFC itself will probably collapse as an organisation.

No single company can have a hegemony on an entire sport.

In Canada it is quite big, in Montreal they got the biggest crowd of the whole history of UFC, so much that they want to organize many more events here according to White. Of course, we can thanks GSP for that, I think he's the one responsible for giving such a huge coverage in Canada but it definitely is getting bigger and bigger over here for sure.

[josef4334]

i dont really know the whole story behind this so take it easy on me.. but why the heck would hatton cross over to MMA.. man.. he cant even take gloved punches to the face.. now he's gonna have to deal with elbows, knees and kicks? come on man.. i dont think its smart for him..especially for his size. sure he is 5'7 or so...but thats too short for how much he will weight and that could be a guess.. maybe 175( being kind to the man) thats around the weight class of shamrock and cung le and villasenior.. eh.. i think hatton should just give up fighting and go on promoting.. i think he's done his part.

[HattonTheHammer]

UFC/MMA is for frat boys who watch WWF wrestling, kung fu movies and can tell you the entire lyrics to simpsons Mr Plow song.

Boxing is so far ahead due to its history and fanbase it would take at least a lifetime for mixed martial arts to possibly catch up.

It may pull in huge crowds stateside, the odd sold out arena when it comes over to the UK for those that love all things american. But ultimately its success and failures will adhere to the fact it doesnt appeal to the working man like the sport of boxing has and always will.

Plus the fact it just looks really REALLLY gay!!