Why is MMA a threat to boxing?

[erics44]

people in the MMA circles tell me that theres more skill to it

i think that can be disputed but whether there is or there isnt the bottom line is, more often than not, MMA is boring

they spend most of their time lieing down

the best MMA fights i have seen are when they spend more of the time on their feet throwing punches (when it is more like boxing)

[badr_hari]

[El Kabong]

people in the MMA circles tell me that theres more skill to it

i think that can be disputed but whether there is or there isnt the bottom line is, more often than not, MMA is boring

they spend most of their time lieing down

the best MMA fights i have seen are when they spend more of the time on their feet throwing punches (when it is more like boxing)

Just to be objective here
#1 There is skill to MMA but there's not more skill in it than boxing, it's just different...there are a lot more raw undisciplined fighters in MMA than in boxing and this is obvious in the fact that the fighters usually get away with flaws that if a boxer showed they would be KO'd right away. These flaws include: dropping the jab after throwing it, moving back in a straight line instead of circling out, standing in front of your opponent after you've thrown a combination, sticking your chin up high, and throwing wide looping punches. Now not every MMA fighter does those things, but I see those a lot and eventually one MMA fighter will learn to counter those things.

#2 MMA fans appreciate wrestling, ju jitsu, etc....I can understand and respect those martial arts individually but coupled with any kind of striking martial art it creates a mess

#3 You're a boxing fan, of course you like it when people fight more like that.

I'm not a huge MMA fan as it goes against my morals as a gentleman, for example I do not agree with kicking and I do not agree with hitting someone while they are down...I think especially in the hitting someone while they are down sets a bad example.

[Mattyhitman]

people in the MMA circles tell me that theres more skill to it

i think that can be disputed but whether there is or there isnt the bottom line is, more often than not, MMA is boring

they spend most of their time lieing down

the best MMA fights i have seen are when they spend more of the time on their feet throwing punches (when it is more like boxing)

LOL, this is a typical ignorant statement by someone who doesnt understand nor wants to appreciate the finer points of mixed martial arts.

At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion, you clearly dont like MMA, hence your statement, but to ridicule a sport when you dont understand it seems ridiculous to me

[erics44]

LOL, this is a typical ignorant statement by someone who doesnt understand nor wants to appreciate the finer points of mixed martial arts.

At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion, you clearly dont like MMA, hence your statement, but to ridicule a sport when you dont understand it seems ridiculous to me

maybe i dont understand, i have watched it tho with the intent of enjoying it, and i dont

they roll on the floor and after a few seconds i start to get irritated just like in a boxing fight when there is too much holding

[erics44]

each to their own tho as you say

lots of people like watching golf

[Mattyhitman]

LOL, this is a typical ignorant statement by someone who doesnt understand nor wants to appreciate the finer points of mixed martial arts.

At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion, you clearly dont like MMA, hence your statement, but to ridicule a sport when you dont understand it seems ridiculous to me

maybe i dont understand, i have watched it tho with the intent of enjoying it, and i dont

they roll on the floor and after a few seconds i start to get irritated just like in a boxing fight when there is too much holding

To be fair i used to be the same, never liked it when the fight went to the ground, but after doing abit of BJJ, then ya get to understand it and learn to appreciate it more.



I like to watch golf

[erics44]

To be fair i used to be the same, never liked it when the fight went to the ground, but after doing abit of BJJ, then ya get to understand it and learn to appreciate it more.



I like to watch golf

admittedly i do watch golf if there is nothing else to do

and i do watch MMA if the only other thing to do is watch golf

[mnmc10]

its not a threat at all.

its just like rugby, American football or soccer. similar but has their own set of fans.

[erics44]

its not a threat at all.

its just like rugby, American football or soccer. similar but has their own set of fans.

you could be right, i keep on seeing lots of times on this forum comments like "no wonder mma is taking over", so i thought id ask why?

[rjj tszyu]

The only real threat it poses to boxing is basically, for about 150 years+ boxing has led the way as far as combat sports go, but these days with all the money involved in boxing the promoters and the fighters like to make more money than they can spend in a lifetime in one night therefore the cards are no longer stacked like they once were because they can't afford to make £20 million for each main event fighter and the same again for the promoter and then put big names on the undercard. MMA and in particular the UFC fighter are not on anything like the money that Boxers are (I think the record purse is $500,000 for Chuck Liddel) so they can afford to stack the cards much better than boxing has been doing recently and ultimately they are getting a lot of old boxing fans watching their events.

As far as who is more skilled?? Elite Boxers are far more polished at what they do and if for example someone from another sport wanted to become either a boxer or MMA fighter they would find MMA the easier sport to reach somewhere near the top of. I'm not bashing MMA here this is just my opinion.

For example you have Brock Lesnar, big dude, strong as an Ox and former amateur wrestler before going and doing the fake stuff for WWE. He was sick of people calling him a fake and wanted to prove he was a tough guy. Now he could have chosen to learn Boxing and earned 20 times what he does now per fight had he reached the top or he could go to MMA which he did and he became UFC world champ after I think it was 4 MMA fights. Now fair enough he already had the wrestling background so MMA would probably always be the easier route but other examples such as Kimbo Slice and Matt Mitrione etc they could have chosen Boxing but didn't because they knew their mistakes would be punished within seconds against an elite boxer whereas in MMA you can get away with a lot of big mistakes especially when your stood up and not be punished.

Anderson Silva is probably the best MMA fighter on the planet right now and certainly the best striker in MMA, but when he tried boxing he was soundly beaten by TKO against a journeyman called Osmar Teixera. He then had another boxing match against someone who was simply there to even the record out. He had never been in a boxing ring before and has never been in one since. Some MMA fans have denied it ever happened but I can assure you it did, I'm looking for the video now and if I can find it I will post it on here. I have seen it before though.

Here is Andersons Boxing record if you want to check it out. Anderson Da Silva - Boxer

We must remember they are different sports though and Anderson is not a boxer he is an MMA genius if i'm honest. Expecting Anderson to be a great boxer would be like expecting Pele to be great at tennis.

[Poom]

people in the MMA circles tell me that theres more skill to it

i think that can be disputed but whether there is or there isnt the bottom line is, more often than not, MMA is boring

they spend most of their time lieing down

the best MMA fights i have seen are when they spend more of the time on their feet throwing punches (when it is more like boxing)

Just like most sports, you have to understand it to appreciate it

anyone can appreciate boxing because we all know about fist fights,

but mma you need to know in a bit more detail to understand it eg. What positions are more favourable , because to the untrained eye yes it does look like 'rolling about on the floor' as some ignorant people put it

[erics44]

Just like most sports, you have to understand it to appreciate it

anyone can appreciate boxing because we all know about fist fights,

but mma you need to know in a bit more detail to understand it eg. What positions are more favourable , because to the untrained eye yes it does look like 'rolling about on the floor' as some ignorant people put it

dude, i dont understand it, im not going to pretend i do but i have watched enough of it so as, i think, i should really start to enjoy it

the "rolling around on the floor" is the problem, theres just too much of it, you get some fights where they spend all the time there in one place holding each other on the floor

perhaps you make a good point, perhaps it is the simplicity of boxing that makes it so entertaining

[generalbulldog]

its not a threat at all.

its just like rugby, American football or soccer. similar but has their own set of fans.

you could be right, i keep on seeing lots of times on this forum comments like "no wonder mma is taking over", so i thought id ask why?

I made such a comment and my reason being is that at least in MMA, whether it be the now defunct Pride or UFC, they manage to appease their fanbase more than boxing, and I have to say that they do a much better and thorough job attracting new fans than boxing.

In boxing you have 4+ champions in 17 weight divisions that don't fight the best half the time. Way too many divisions and way too many belts along with way too much bullshit politics. MMA doesn't have that problem, well except for Fedor not fighting the best, but he's the only 1 I can think of. Another thing I respect about MMA is at least if there is a shoddy decision, there's usually a rematch on the way like Machida-Shogun. In boxing 1 guy doesn't want a rematch and probably runs off fighting other guys or goes to another division. Then in boxing you have hyped up shitty fighters that picks and chooses their fights way too much and are manufactured, Amir Khan is a prime example.

[generalbulldog]

And about attracting new fans. Boxing in the old days was on regular network tv like NBC, ABC, and CBS. It's completely disappear in today's time in the USA. Back then my dad watched a young Muhammad Ali rose up through the ranks and challenge Liston for the title, he saw a young Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Hagler rise up in the same way, hell as a little kid I still remember watching a young Pernell Whitaker, Holyfield, Taylor, rising up through regular network tv in the 80s. Nowadays to watch those young prospects you better have a subscription to premium cable channels like HBO or Showtime. IMO and it has been documented by boxing historians, that the move from regular network tv to premium cable has severely hurt boxing and limited their exposure to a whole new generation.

You guys know why the NFL, NBA, and MLB are so popular in the US? It's on free regular network tv including the playoffs. They don't limit their exposure. Sure the NFL can go to a PPV for the superbowl or moving their games to premium cable and it will make boatloads of cash, but in the long run it hurts the sport.

Boxing shot itself in the foot by these decisions. In the 80s boxing was still a mainstream sport in the USA, what happened? Moving to premium cable where an entire generation wasn't that exposed to it. sure in the internet age you can catch a stream or watch it on youtube, but limiting your exposure on free network tv hinders the sport from growing.

I still love boxing, and always will, but boxing has a lot of problems.