"Fighting Words" – What Boxing Can Learn from the UFC

[pugilistfan]

And I would think the MMA fans would disagree with you. That place was electric. And people were into almost all of the matches (except Parisyan-Kim) even if none were instant classics.

And the card, matchmaking wise, was far better than anything boxing's put on in a long, long time.

They werent into any of the first 3 matches of the card. They were somewhat into the Machida fight and they even booed at certain points during the GSP fight.

The card they put on last night was awful.

There are some things boxing can do better no doubt about that. And thats putting on more meaningful undercards. But fights typically last longer in boxing so putting on 5 fights wont happen. Realistically id love cards that feature something like Margarito/Cintron, Cotto/Gomez type cards. You get 2 fights that will be exciting even if one of them is a complete beatdown.

And the UFC has been getting away with alot of junk lately. Ie Last nights card featuring one meaningful fight and Machida fighting a tomato can in Thiago Silva. How exciting.

And none of the fights were great matchmaking. How the hell was this better than some of the great boxing fights we've seen in the past 2-3 months.

Diaz/Guida was boring and Diaz looked and acted like an idiot like your typical MMA fan. Karo/Kim was mediocre at best and is simply not appealing at all. Both guys will never hold a belt in their lives or even fight for one. Bonnar/Jones was one-sided and both them gassed in 2 rounds.

And like I said they handpicked an opponent for Machida in Silva who cant fight, and than they bring up Penn from 155 who has one good win at 170 and yet is fighting for a title.

[Mr. Fantastic]

That UFC even gave me my money's worth. That's what I care about.

[NakiFan]

I don't want boxing to turn into some Circus with heavy metal music ETC, it's a sport and it should stay that way, we don't need fireworks and all this other rubbish thankyou muchly

[daggum]

well when you have clowns like calzaghe being called one of the best that's gonna turn off almost anybody. imagine if fedor was a windmilling slapyhappy loser who had no power. mma would be dead.

[Mr. Fantastic]

well when you have clowns like calzaghe being called one of the best that's gonna turn off almost anybody. imagine if fedor was a windmilling slapyhappy loser who had no power. mma would be dead.

You have no room to talk being a Hopkins fan.......that fight with Calzaghe really turned off alot of people too. Especially with the dirty tactics he uses, and yet people praise that.

[own]

I love boxing and mma. I must admit boxing is far behind ufc in terms of marketing due to ff reasons:

1. ufc has a lot of drama and focuses more on the fighter so people have emotional attachment over them when they fight. the ultimate fighter series and pre-fight video really helps.

2. good match making because they belong only to one organization. no ducking, fight picking, or issue over the purse. good thing they dont protect any fighter and so rarely youll see an over rated ufc fighter, (except for brock, only time will tell).

3. ufc knows its fan base and builds over them. the use of loud music and kick ass production caters to young people making ufc the "new generation" combat sport.

Though I think ufc's egocentric approach through dana white will cause dilemma in mma, especially fedor is rated as the top p4p who is not in ufc. not unless brock (or whoever ufc HW champ) gets out of ufc, he will not fight fedor and the mma fans will get frustrated over this. all ufc is doing right now is killing the competition to get the best fighters.

why the **** are you typing so big?

[pugilistfan]

The difference between buying a pay-per-view for a fight and buying it for a show. The UFC pay-per-views are regular and successful because they're quality.

Will see if these Stevenson/Sanchez, Rampage/Jardine fights continue to sell if Dana continues to sell these mediocre cards. Mind you these are apparently HEADLINERS on PPV's.



Penn and St. Pierre had been competitive at that weight before. But St. Pierre has just gotten so much better that he's able to use his size and strength to be a schoolyard bully to Penn.

Thanks for your clarification. I'd rather have good matches turn out to be ehhh fights than have the equivalent of the De La Hoya-Pacquiao or Calzaghe-Jones undercards.

And thanks for reading, by the way.

Penn beat Hughes and than got beaten badly by Hughes in the rematch. What else did Penn do at 170. And Penn hasnt fought at 170 in like 3 years. And GSP won the first fight and the only reason why that fight was semi competitive was because GSP could barely see out of one eye.

Penn/GSP fight was made because Penn/GSP wanted to fill their pockets. I dont blame them but I feel sorry for the people who thought this would be even a remotely competitive fight. And I like Penn and think hes a beast at 155. But give me a break, people thought he could take on a guy in GSP whos 170 and has been rolling through everybody at WW.

[pugilistfan]

That UFC even gave me my money's worth. That's what I care about.

Well I disagree. And I split the costs. One-sided fights featuring mediocre fighters than a one-sided 4 round main event doesnt qualify as getting my moneys worth.

Thiago Silva was nothing more than a punching bag with eyes. Machida did what he was supposed to do. And im glad hes getting a title shot but my god Dana and the UFC couldve given him a little tougher opponent than some cream puff tomato can.

[MOREBASS]

^ Did you not see the first Penn-GSP fight ? It was a very close and competitive fight, and had little to do with weight.


Penn fought Machida who is a light heavyweight. So the issue of weight, and size was even less of an issue in this fight.


Styles make fights not weight. Its very easy to say in hindsight that this would be a blowout, but the fact of the matter is that both guys were on a tear, and have vastly improved since they last met.


And LOL @ Thiago Silva being a 'tomato can'. I'm sorry but you don't get a 13-0 record by being a 'tomato can'.


As for this article, I agree 100%.

This is what I've been trying to say this whole time on NSB, and most of you ignorant fools are too busy thinking I'm bashing boxing, when in reality I'm just pointing out the fact that boxing can take a page from what the UFC is doing (and boxing promoters are doing this, finally)

[Mr. Fantastic]

Well I disagree. And I split the costs. One-sided fights featuring mediocre fighters than a one-sided 4 round main event doesnt qualify as getting my moneys worth.

Thiago Silva was nothing more than a punching bag with eyes. Machida did what he was supposed to do. And im glad hes getting a title shot but my god Dana and the UFC couldve given him a little tougher opponent than some cream puff tomato can.

lol@ mediocore fighters. Pierre is one of the best in the world & so is Penn. Machida is freaking awesome. Silva was really good, but Lyoto is just on another level man. Machida has also beaten alot of good fighters aside from Silva.

Boxing hardly puts any good fights apart from the main event. UFC puts great fights apart from the main event most of the time.