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I know Boxing vs. MMA is a tired topic, but there's one angle of it that few people have yet to point out that I think is a cogent argument.
MMA will never match boxing for many reasons, but one of biggest is due to the fact that MMA can never tap that underprivileged demographic (which is sadly the majority in some senses - because let's be honest there's more underprivileged people than there are socio-economic "elites"). The reason being is that there are NO STORIES in MMA, there are no rags to riches heroes, no Kasim the Dream Ouma's, no Bernard Hopkins. If you look at every major MMA "superstar" they are all well to do caucasians with college degrees and good homely upbringings. Randy Couture was a wrestler during his studies at Oklahoma State, Chuck the "iceman" Liddell was a division 1 wrestler while attending Cal. Polytech University. Even the black fighters, let's take current super-star Rashad Evans as an example - he attended Michigan State University and wrestled for them.
Now I'm not saying that an educated fighter is a bad thing, and I for one believe the Klitschkos with their PHD's and all are a good thing for boxing. But when you have a sport that consists of nothing but well to do, good upbringing, socio-economically superior fighters, it will never tug at the heart strings of the strong urban demographic that follows true sports like boxing.
There is no grit nor street ferocity in an MMA match. When you pit two bachelor/master degree having "gentlemen" against each other it pales in comparison to the unbridled STREET FEROCITY and "nothing to lose" attitude of a socio-economically gimped boxer who came from the hood and probably never even garduated highschool. Take Zab Judah for example, for all his theatrics and immaturity at least they are REAL and GENUINE because he is from the gritty hood, whereas in MMA to achieve that same level of suspense they needed to hire a professional wrestler from the WWE (Brock Lesnar) who was the first MMA star to 'incense fans' with his faux-obnoxious stage personality.
In fact Dana White has actually hurt the long term chances of MMA by cashing in on short term profits by hiring the likes of Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley straight from the WWE. While the short term profits soar when Lesnar fights, White is actually debasing the credibility of his fighters - the same which he spent years trying to build up as 'legitimate warriors.' But when you have a WWE star take over your best division in under 3 fights, then you know your actual 'fighters' never had much credibility to begin with.
So in conclusion, MMA "fighters" will never have much credibility for toughness, grit, or 'street cred' amongst the vast demographic of underprivileged and non socio-economically "elite" fans. When the going gets tough, no one will expect a middle to upper class bachelor degree'd MMA "star" to ever become a true warrior like Arturo Gatti and leave his heart in the ring because he knows that boxing is all that he has and if he loses he will go back to poverty and squalor. In MMA, when a fighter loses he knows he can just go back to a 50-60k a year desk job with his upper class upbringing and college degree. So MMA fighters will always lack the basic carnal ferocity and no retreat, all out mentality of a true boxer.
MMA will never match boxing for many reasons, but one of biggest is due to the fact that MMA can never tap that underprivileged demographic (which is sadly the majority in some senses - because let's be honest there's more underprivileged people than there are socio-economic "elites"). The reason being is that there are NO STORIES in MMA, there are no rags to riches heroes, no Kasim the Dream Ouma's, no Bernard Hopkins. If you look at every major MMA "superstar" they are all well to do caucasians with college degrees and good homely upbringings. Randy Couture was a wrestler during his studies at Oklahoma State, Chuck the "iceman" Liddell was a division 1 wrestler while attending Cal. Polytech University. Even the black fighters, let's take current super-star Rashad Evans as an example - he attended Michigan State University and wrestled for them.
Now I'm not saying that an educated fighter is a bad thing, and I for one believe the Klitschkos with their PHD's and all are a good thing for boxing. But when you have a sport that consists of nothing but well to do, good upbringing, socio-economically superior fighters, it will never tug at the heart strings of the strong urban demographic that follows true sports like boxing.
There is no grit nor street ferocity in an MMA match. When you pit two bachelor/master degree having "gentlemen" against each other it pales in comparison to the unbridled STREET FEROCITY and "nothing to lose" attitude of a socio-economically gimped boxer who came from the hood and probably never even garduated highschool. Take Zab Judah for example, for all his theatrics and immaturity at least they are REAL and GENUINE because he is from the gritty hood, whereas in MMA to achieve that same level of suspense they needed to hire a professional wrestler from the WWE (Brock Lesnar) who was the first MMA star to 'incense fans' with his faux-obnoxious stage personality.
In fact Dana White has actually hurt the long term chances of MMA by cashing in on short term profits by hiring the likes of Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley straight from the WWE. While the short term profits soar when Lesnar fights, White is actually debasing the credibility of his fighters - the same which he spent years trying to build up as 'legitimate warriors.' But when you have a WWE star take over your best division in under 3 fights, then you know your actual 'fighters' never had much credibility to begin with.
So in conclusion, MMA "fighters" will never have much credibility for toughness, grit, or 'street cred' amongst the vast demographic of underprivileged and non socio-economically "elite" fans. When the going gets tough, no one will expect a middle to upper class bachelor degree'd MMA "star" to ever become a true warrior like Arturo Gatti and leave his heart in the ring because he knows that boxing is all that he has and if he loses he will go back to poverty and squalor. In MMA, when a fighter loses he knows he can just go back to a 50-60k a year desk job with his upper class upbringing and college degree. So MMA fighters will always lack the basic carnal ferocity and no retreat, all out mentality of a true boxer.
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