Boxing vs MMA: Yahoo's Kevin Iole weighs in!

As Iole said, boxers are specialists and Mixed Martial Artists are generalists.

the limits of Boxing is what make it so tough. MMA added rules and weightclasses but it's still anyone's game. Ive seen top wrestlers get dropped, good stand up fighters get caught in arm bars, but I have yet to see a great defensive boxer get knocked out or an elite technical boxer lose on points. theres always a goos mnatch up of styles in both sports but i still feel like the top guys in MMA can lose tomorrow where as i feel the top guys in boxing will be around for a minute.

1. out of 7 weight classes in the UFC only 2 of the Champions are white and the HW champion is a Mexican for christ sake. So much for it being a white dominated sport. 2. Brock Lesner was an NCAA wrestling champion so using him as an example is like saying that Oscar De la Hoya was just some guy who came in off the street and won world titles. Disagree. Brock was a wrestler/pro wrestler, not an MMA'ist. This is quite evident from his inept standup game.

I Have to disagree with you moving a 300+ pound man out of the way so your running back can run free or playing the QB position in the NFL and having to master a 1000 page playbook is just as hard and skilled as being a pro baseball player. It all depends what you are a cheeleader of and I love both boxing and MMA. In my opinion a Ju Jitsu sweep, or an amazing submission, or a perfect Double leg take down requires just as much skill as and counter right hand. Ju Jitsu in my opinion is just as beautiful and skillfull as boxing and u have to realize something. Yes MMA has more options of attacking but that also means that your opponent has just as many ways of defending and countering your attack. That takes skill but there are more large men that can get in the way of another man than there are dudes that can hit a major league curveball regardless of size, and the learning curve is much steeper in baseball, a rookie in football is straight out of college while a rookie in baseball has spent years honing their craft in the minors. A good QB complete 60% of his passes regardless of what a defense does, a good hitter hits 30% of the time regardless of what a pitcher does. So say whatever you want the numbers say it all. Hitting a baseball is a skill of the highest order, nothing in football compares to that. Options are options, there are many more in MMA than boxing more options mean more chances to be successful, in a more restrictive environment it is much harder to surprise someone.

The comparison between the 2 gets very old. I am a diehard boxing fan so I am biased, and I did use to watch mma many many years ago but I just cannot stand it anymore. Boxing has richer heritage, a higher skill level and tougher combatants. MMA is a sport where you can almost walk in off the street being just big and strong, and win fights and even a title. Look at brock lesnar or herschel walker...could you imagine either of them getting in a boxing ring and even remotely winning a fight? Absolutely not. The main demographic for MMA are those that watch professional wrestling or are the same crowds at toughman contests. It it just testosterone loaded people (mostly teenagers and rednecks) who want to see people swing haymakers or put people in headlocks. I am not saying I have not watched it or enjoyed it here or there in my life but it is simply not in the same league as boxing. Boxing is an art, it is a sweet science....MMA is just trendy and overmarketed. Also the only reason it seems so popular is because of the white demographic, and because it is still "somewhat" dominated by white fighters. MMA is not an ethnic sport, it is just whites and brazilians lol. 1. out of 7 weight classes in the UFC only 2 of the Champions are white and the HW champion is a Mexican for christ sake. So much for it being a white dominated sport. 2. Brock Lesner was an NCAA wrestling champion so using him as an example is like saying that Oscar De la Hoya was just some guy who came in off the street and won world titles.

Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, that is a skill very few have. Much more so than anything football related so yea baseball players are more skilled~. Most football players out of college can come and compete, but baseball players it takes years for them to amount to anything or even determine if they are a truly talented enough for the major leagues. All sports are not created equal~ To bring it back to boxing and MMA boxing is much more refined while MMA there is a lot of evolution that can and should take place, boxing being much more restrictive makes it tougher a lot less choices and options. I Have to disagree with you moving a 300+ pound man out of the way so your running back can run free or playing the QB position in the NFL and having to master a 1000 page playbook is just as hard and skilled as being a pro baseball player. It all depends what you are a cheeleader of and I love both boxing and MMA. In my opinion a Ju Jitsu sweep, or an amazing submission, or a perfect Double leg take down requires just as much skill as and counter right hand. Ju Jitsu in my opinion is just as beautiful and skillfull as boxing and u have to realize something. Yes MMA has more options of attacking but that also means that your opponent has just as many ways of defending and countering your attack.

The comparison between the 2 gets very old. I am a diehard boxing fan so I am biased, and I did use to watch mma many many years ago but I just cannot stand it anymore. Boxing has richer heritage, a higher skill level and tougher combatants. MMA is a sport where you can almost walk in off the street being just big and strong, and win fights and even a title. Look at brock lesnar or herschel walker...could you imagine either of them getting in a boxing ring and even remotely winning a fight? Absolutely not. The main demographic for MMA are those that watch professional wrestling or are the same crowds at toughman contests. It it just testosterone loaded people (mostly teenagers and rednecks) who want to see people swing haymakers or put people in headlocks. I am not saying I have not watched it or enjoyed it here or there in my life but it is simply not in the same league as boxing. Boxing is an art, it is a sweet science....MMA is just trendy and overmarketed. Also the only reason it seems so popular is because of the white demographic, and because it is still "somewhat" dominated by white fighters. MMA is not an ethnic sport, it is just whites and brazilians lol.

The title says it all. The fact that people even have to pit all forms of combat in the world against boxing says it all. Boxing can have its ups and downs in the U.S. but it will always be royalty.

Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, that is a skill very few have. Much more so than anything football related so yea baseball players are more skilled~. Most football players out of college can come and compete, but baseball players it takes years for them to amount to anything or even determine if they are a truly talented enough for the major leagues. All sports are not created equal~ To bring it back to boxing and MMA boxing is much more refined while MMA there is a lot of evolution that can and should take place, boxing being much more restrictive makes it tougher a lot less choices and options.

And I like how he put boxing a little higher; fight length, skill level. :boxing: Sorry but thats like saying a baseball player is more skilled than a football player.

Thats not true about the money though. You would think he would know that. He's just another UFC fanboy. There are atleast 20-40 boxers making between 500-1mil+ a year. There are also a lot more professional boxers out there so it evens out. Plus a lot of Boxing fans don't understand the concepts of Sponsorship money.

I agree with most everything else though. Yes, I did too. It's uncontroversial, but informative. A rarity in a Boxing/MMA discussion. And I like how he put boxing a little higher; fight length, skill level. :boxing:

The business models of both sports drive the differences.