Will MMA take over Boxing in the next 10-20 years?

I can't believe theres so many idots in the world. For you shallow minded wantabe boxing fans, let me explain something to you. MMA,UFC,BODOG,PRIDE FIGHTING, ARE all new when being compared to the oldest sport, BOXING. Boxing has and always will be around. ITS one of the only sport where you are really a world champion because its so diverse.Fighters from every Country. In every hell hole on planet earth theres some one willing to fight his way to the top in boxing, for money for pride, respect, honor, some are truly ready to die for the sport of boxing. There is no other sport were the punishment is so bloody,and painful. Its a real life glatiator sport. Two man enter one man leave. Its the only sport were an athlete has to be 100% complete, meaning, mind,body,heart and soul. MMA they don't have the heart or abilty to become world champions in boxing. There hearts are weak, they tap out at the first sight of pain.There skill level of fighting is unempressive to me.They look like a couple of guys on the corner fist fighting,there is no art to it. BOXING is like watching an artist create a masterfull painting.After MMA has been around for a few hundred years ,then you can say its comp for BOXING ,but for right now and the next 150 years you'd sound like a fool to say anything else. U make a couple of good points about boxing being more of a "World Sport" I agree with that, But for u to say that "MMA they don't have the heart " I dont agree with that. There have been many MMA fighters that rather go to sleep or have an arm broken then tap, now for your comment "MMA they don't have the abilty to become world champions in boxing." Ofcourse they dont, alot of guys come from "collegiate wrestling" Backgrounds, Boxers ussually start very young, it takes many many years to become a world class boxer, No need for MMA fans and Boxing fans to whip out our dicks to see who's got the bigger one.

No, because they don't want MMA to shine period. They feel threatened. You don't see tons of Golf hate threads, but if Golf surpassed Boxing in everything(ratings, news, etc) then ppl would make hate threads on it. Boxing is endangered species right now. "Boxing is endangered species right now" HA HA HA how did u come up with that? Boxing Just had its second best year as far as PPV revenue (First being 1999 with Delahoya vs tito, Delahoya vs Quartey, Holy Vs Lewis 1,2) Yes UFC had a great year last year they had 222,766,000 in PPV profits. UFC had a great year because all the "TUF" fans that were Wrastling fans and started watching that show 1 hour before "Raw" and "TNA IMPACT" UFC has taken alot of the fans from Wrastling. But another interesting fact is Wrastling still has made more money in some years then both the best boxing and the best UFC years. That means boxing fans are Loyal, Alot of UFC fans were Wrastling fans, Maybe when the new "Flavor of the week" Hits they might leave UFC. This year boxing has gotten its shit together and there is no way the UFC will make more money then boxing, U can take that to the bank. And your wrong by saying dana white never talks shit about boxing, Ive been a MMA fan for a very long time, and I cant remember him ever saying anything nice about it. U might say its "constructive criticism" I dont agree, he tries to make boxing look bad to make the UFC look good. As if he's the Messiah, when he pays his fighters peanuts. Just look at the Joe Rogan interview, he's saying "MMA Is Swallowing your sport" "you will never have anymore boxing stars when these last guys go out" Chuck Liddell has been UFC's biggest money maker and he Just got Ko'd, Tito Used to be a huge draw, guy seems to be winding down. Matt Hughes was selling a bunch of PPV's and he got his ass kicked. Who are the future UFC superstars? The poster that said the "Kameda Brothers" Draw better then Pride and K1 in Japan is Absolutely right, 43% of Japan Tv audience. Pride is dead and I dont know how that can be good for the future of the sport. one last thing Biggest live gates Boxing - Delahoya Vs Mayweather - 18,419,200.00 UFC - Lidell Vs Tito 2 - $5,397,300.00 Links - MMA taking fans from Wrastling not boxing http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3922&zoneid=3 Link - 1999 Boxing made about 220 - 230 Million from PPV only http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DIZ/is_49_12/ai_80158820 Kameda ratings - http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2672383 WWF having better year then MMA, and Boxing - http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117758480.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

I seriously doubt that. Boxing has been around for too many years for it to be just dusted off the map. IMO I think MMA will be the one obsolete in 10 to 20 years. I mean its an alright sport and all but I don't see it lasting that long.

Dana White's statements were very accurate. he didn't shit talk .. he said things that boxing needs improvement on (like what you said which I'll talk about below) but White also said about the sanctioning organizations and hell I saw UFC 71 .. and it was a pretty quality show .. I saw 5 pretty entertaining fights. very good card. hell on average I would say UFC puts 4 to 5 matches per show (and usually they aren't fillers) stack that up vs the De La Hoya vs Mayweather ... 3 total .. all kinda lack luster. yes the media more so took "boxing is dead" and RAN with it ... people seriously need to listen to the media less. just because the media says something .. doesn't mean its a 100% fact. they say stuff to sell stories. and provoke debate. whats a better story ... boxing is on the decline .. or boxing is dead? .. RIP who you favoring for UFC 75? I dunno if Rampage can take Henderson though. *the only thing holding the UFC back really is its global appeal .. but look in 2007 so far .. this will be there 3rd international event (2nd in England).. and 2nd on Spike TV. pretty cool, I think at least. who knows if MMA will take over, but I enjoy watching it time to time, and face it, if boxing was the ONLY popular fight sport shit would be boring.

I agree that there seems to be a lotta hostility in the boxing community towards MMA. your correct .. I don't think Dana White or anyone really talked shit about boxing to begin with. I remember Dana White talking about boxing ... and he actually had some constructive criticism about it. I think both sides should just stop arguing like a bunch of juveniles about it people will watch what they want to, end of story. I find a balance, enjoy both .. Ultimate fighter and the UFC fight nights are fun to watch. UFC 75 on FREE tv .. you can't get much better than that. I know I won't miss that one.

Boxing is endangered species right now. come on, sure boxing isn't as popular as it was in the 1980's you were dead on with that, I agree. but the whole "boxing is dead" by the media is kinda an exaggeration. I mean ESPN is hyping the fuck outta the World Awaits for example .. then it doesn't live up to expectations ... but it sold really well. (all time boxing leader in PPV buys) I find it hard to believe that a dead sport would be talked about so much .. (Friday Night Fights helps boxing a bit) and thats what its all about .. because ESPN or SPorts illustrated can call boxing dead .. but why are we hearing that over and over again? if something was dead ... why talk about it? Las Vegas and other boxing venues still sell out, and for the time being Las Vegas has ALWAYS been a huge site for boxing. of course things could change though. I agree with that, there is way too much hostility toward MMA. I mean do half the people criticising it watch it? seriously .. the ground game may not be the most appealing thing to watch, but its hard as fuck to do. throw in all the submissions .. you get the idea its a hard sport .. that some people don't appreciate at all.

and MMA is at its peak in popularity right now. but still it doesn't just have boxing to compete with for popularity. look at the popular sports in America: baseball, basketball, football, NASCAR, plus college hoops and football all the above are very popular and have audiences. I think both sports can exist. *the one thing UFC does better than boxing, is its champions .. they have one belt per weight class. I also think that the Ultimate Fighter series is very good to watch

how is that a bias remark the title of this thread implies that MMA will take over boxing and all the boxing fans will follow MMA. do you seriously believe that is going to happen?

ok just because YOU follow it doesn't make the arguement wrong every sport has audiences ... I just don't see MMA fever catching on and "taking over boxing so to speak" both sports have audiences. people watch it, or they don't.

Enough THIS IS A TIRED AND DEAD TOPIC... SIMPLY, RESPECT BOTH SPORTS FOR WHAT THEY ARE AND FOR WHAT THEIR PARTICULAR FANS APPRECIATE... NEITHER SPORT IS HARMING THE OTHER IN ANYWAY... BOXING FANS WILL WATH BOXING AND MMA FANS WILL TUNE IN FOR MMA... EVEN THOUGH THIS MAY SHOCK SOME, SOME EVEN WATCH BOTH... FRANKLY, BOTH SPORTS DESERVE TO PROSEPER AND CAN CO-EXIST IN HARMONY WITHOUT DAMAGING THE OTHER PRODUCT....CASE CLOSED

what's wrong about that? fans boo the sport whenever they aren't punching each other MMA can either be very exciting, or very tedious and tactical. I watch it, enjoy it at times, and find it very boring at others. just because the action is limited at times .. with the ground game sometimes being dull .. the crowd can rip into it. sure MMA is catching on no doubt .. but do you seriously see Chuck Liddell fights being on ESPN classic? MMA like every sport has certain audiences that watch it. some people (not just boxing fans) .. will never fully be a MMA fan like me personally, I enjoy it .. but I'll never call my self a complete MMA fan.

stop the comparisons of MMA vs boxing to 100 meter dash vs decathalon. (but I do get the point your making, in that one is just a flat out sprint .. while the other is 10 events) sure MMA has more styles like ju jitsu, muy thai (im not gonna go into detail with all the other styles used) but you guys get the idea .. MMA you can stand up, and ground game .. where boxing is just stand up. but the reason I don't think MMA will "take over" is because of the fan base. MMA like most sports, is one you either follow and really enjoy .. or just can't catch on to because of reasons to follow. *take Golf or NASCAR for example .. no matter how hard I try, I just find myself switching the channel. back to the reason about fan bases. MMA targets a specific audience (mostly white males ages 18-25) ... im not by any means saying that everyone who enjoys MMA is a white male. Just I've seen more of a diverse population of boxing fans (Puerto Rican, British, Costa Rican, Philipino, Mexican, American, African American, Colombian .. need I say more?) and with MMA. its hyped more as a "blood sport" so to speak. (you've seen the blood stained mats before right?) hell its described as a "no holds barred fight" (granted more rules have been thrown in) .. but just the idea that its in a cage .. oppose to a ring. plus 4 ounce gloves you can't get much more brutal than that. (besides using weapons) and the problem with UFC .. is its seen as this bad ass, take no prisoners kinda deal .. so how are the fans supposed to react when fights turn into "wrestling matches" .. and become more tactical with take downs and limited offense oppose to slug outs where with 4 ounce gloves KO's are more likely. I'll have a response, just wondering what ya'll think.

Personally i think that the MMA/UFC world is way to man humping action for myself i feal like im doing somthing wrong everytime i watch it, it just aint right i dont care even if ur elbowing the guy u still mounted his ass

It would never take it over!It will gain more and even more exposure like it has been.IF you live here in Vegas since the past 2-4 years they are starting to advertise alot more of there fights billboards ,radio etc.It has gotten really big here in las vegas over the past years. Now with more MMA superstar coming from Pride and over MMA companys.They all know U.S.A is the place to fight and UFC is the one with money and HUge growing fan base.

Again with the MMA hate threads. Damn, you all are in denial. The least an MMA event sold in PPV for a loooong time was 300K for Hughes vs. Gracie. that's more than alot of boxing PPVs get. I'm not hating on boxing, but MMA definetly took over boxing. It's all over ESPN and the news, and they sell alot more. You guys talk about MMA on a boxing forum whether it's complaining or admiring. You don't have boxing being discussed in MMA forums. Free fight nights on Spike TV gets ratings in the millions. HBO fights can't manage to get 500K viewers sometimes. Again, I'm not picking one or the other, but it will only take a person in denial to not see what I'm saying. ufc puts all their title fights together on one event, so the equivellent would be a boxing heavyweight championship, a super middleweight championship and a welterweight championship all on one card, but that doesnt happen. Boxing gives you one feature fight on a card so its disengeniuous to compare a ufc ppv number against one boxing match and say that ufc has more people watching it.

I get this feeling in my gut, that MMA will soon take over boxing. Is this true, i hope not. All these debates, by ppl, asying that boxing is only limited, which i agree but its still my favourite sport. Yet people love hardcore cage fighting, and MMA is one. Thaats like telling a future-pro that MMA' is more famous, and all his hardwork, and dedication should be put on rest and switch to MMA. If that was the case you wouldnt still have people bothering to be 100m sprinters, they would all do the decathlon.

Lot's of Muslims are white, and not just Russian. I rented to a Muslim, and when he left, I told him he was the first Arab i rented to. He then told me he had changed his name, and that his parents were both 100 % German... it happens

It's embarassing that so many people are threatened when other people's interests don't directly match theirs. If you prefer boxing to MMA, fine - but why feel the need to namecall and stereotype like you would taunting some kid in junior high? Obviously MMA is gaining new fans right now as the sport is growing; if you're not one of the folks feeling the UFC or EliteXC or K-1, then keep watching boxing. But taunting fans who like both, or who like only MMA shows a silly inability to coexist with other sports fans who have different favorites & shows a ridiculous form of close-mindedness and reducing MMA to "gay wrestling holds" and "sheer strength, no-skill" shows an ignorance that demonstrates that you're not qualified to speak on the sport...

No, speaking at least to UFC and Pride it's fanbase is drawn more from professional wrestling than boxing. definitely

No, speaking at least to UFC and Pride it's fanbase is drawn more from professional wrestling than boxing.