MMA Boxing's Biggest Threat

[dave777]

I have highlighted the important part that I believe says it all...

Boxing promoter Frank Maloney reckons it will have "15 minutes of fame", yet it is the fastest-growing spectator sport in the United States.

Boxing legend Barry McGuigan called it "dirty" and "undignified", but statistics suggest it is safer than boxing.

Ultimate Fighting Championship is coming to Britain - and British boxing is rattled.

On Saturday, UFC lands at Manchester's MEN Arena, and 16,000 people, including Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Girls Aloud, will be there to welcome it.

Across the Atlantic, it's already big news. UFC, the leading brand within the sport of mixed martial arts, outsold boxing on the box twice over in 2006 and has just finalised a deal with HBO, the traditional home of boxing in America.

UFC champions Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell are household names, which is more than you can say for Floyd Mayweather, arguably boxing's biggest talent.

And it has even caught the imagination of the A-list, with a host of Hollywood stars - and Paris Hilton - regulars at UFC shows.

"I very much believe the two sports can co-exist," said Ratner. "In the USA there are clearly two different demographics between the two groups of viewers and I believe there is limited crossover between the two.

Other boxing people appreciate MMA more than McGuigan, including prominent American promoter Gary Shaw, who plans to stage mixed discipline shows in the future.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/6568593.stm

[Gareth Ivanovic]

UFC is the trendy thing now. Will it keep going at this pace it might who knows it might. Im all right with it being on HBO, but hope it doesn't take away any boxing shows. Dana White even though Im not to fond of him has done a great marketing job. I think boxing lacks in that area and could learn a few things from him. Maybe it will get too trendy and be ruined and then more people will turn back to boxing. I can only dream though.

[enadeus]

Not if we see more exciting heavyweight fights + many people aren't too happy with fighting on the ground.

Also have you ever been to an event, you can't see anything in the cages, especially when fighters on the ground.

There much to be fixed...but it is definetly not a threat because I don't see people who watch boxing switching over to watching UFC or IFL permanently, and not coming back to boxing. I think boxing fans will continue to watch boxing if there are good matchups like De la Hoya vs Mayweather, and so on. Look how successful that matchup will be, and its only two people fighting each other, not an entire card of fighters.

You also can't compare the salaries, top heavyweight in boxing make a ton more than mma heavyweights. MMA is a tough sport because they have to do heavy advertising to attract the consumer, while boxing is such a nitche community you don't need to advertise that much, people that order PPV's or go to shows know which fights are coming up, and there plenty of sources online such as this website where you can find information about upcoming fights, and the boxers name carries bigger weight in your memory I bet.

Recall all the boxer names you know, now all mma names, I bet boxers has to be 5-6 times as many.

MMA can do it, but it has a long way to go.

[THEBADBOY BG]

any boxing fighter could do it ufc i bet that mayorga would be a star if he was in ufc haha ....Ufc fighters wouldnt last one round in boxing end of discussion!

[Gareth Ivanovic]

Not if we see more exciting heavyweight fights + many people aren't too happy with fighting on the ground.

Also have you ever been to an event, you can't see anything in the cages, especially when fighters on the ground.

There much to be fixed...but it is definetly not a threat because I don't see people who watch boxing switching over to watching UFC or IFL permanently, and not coming back to boxing. I think boxing fans will continue to watch boxing if there are good matchups like De la Hoya vs Mayweather, and so on. Look how successful that matchup will be, and its only two people fighting each other, not an entire card of fighters.

You also can't compare the salaries, top heavyweight in boxing make a ton more than mma heavyweights. MMA is a tough sport because they have to do heavy advertising to attract the consumer, while boxing is such a nitche community you don't need to advertise that much, people that order PPV's or go to shows know which fights are coming up, and there plenty of sources online such as this website where you can find information about upcoming fights, and the boxers name carries bigger weight in your memory I bet.

Recall all the boxer names you know, now all mma names, I bet boxers has to be 5-6 times as many.

MMA can do it, but it has a long way to go.

Good Points. Im just worried about the younger kids. They watch UFC on Tv (mainly Spike) and they get into it because it looks like a streetfight and the fights dont last long. Their attention spans are not long enough to watch a boxing match.

Plus where I live anybody who thinks they are a fighter choses to go the MMA route. Most of them are wrestlers so I guess that would be a good transition, but Im just afraid of talented young fighters chosing to go to MMA instead of boxing.

[dave777]

Good Points. Im just worried about the younger kids. They watch UFC on Tv (mainly Spike) and they get into it because it looks like a streetfight and the fights dont last long. Their attention spans are not long enough to watch a boxing match.

MMA is nothing like a street fight, as street fights are 99 times out of 100 between 2 people who have never trained to fight. Most people who can fight avoid fights as they know they will win and hurt someone.

[msagrain]

i dont think it will take over boxing its main competitor is wrestling

[deuce_drop]

boxing is boxing's biggest threat.

corrupt orginizations, judges, refs, promoters, managers, lawyers, ****ty match ups, etc. that is boxings biggest threat, not MMA.

right now MMA has WAY BETTER MARKETING AND PROMOTION, boxing gets treated like it owes the world money or owes the world a favor that it has promised a long time ago and hasn't delivered so no one expects anything good to come from it.......................

at least to casual fans and the general population, basically the majority of the world...........

[Welter_Skelter]

I have highlighted the important part that I believe says it all...



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/6568593.stm

WRONG FORUM.. BPP please move this to the MMA forum where it belongs..

[1bad65]

boxing is boxing's biggest threat.

corrupt orginizations, judges, refs, promoters, managers, lawyers, ****ty match ups, etc. that is boxings biggest threat, not MMA.

You just hit the nail on the head.

It's not so much that UFC is beating boxing, it's that boxing is beating itself. There was a story on ESPN this week about how Don King wants a unified HW champion for boxing. King may be a walking piece of ****, but he is correct on that idea. Boxing has not had a unified HW champ since Mike Tyson.