Its such a shame that kickboxing isnt bigger. Its probably the most consistently exciting ruleset of the three and strikes a good balance between not being as limited as boxing but not being as sloppy and ugly as MMA. Also has always had a big focus on HWs.
K-1 in the 90s and 00s was incredible. They're trying to restore its international profile recently and even had Le Banner at 51 fighting on a card a few days ago, but it just isnt the same. For one Glory has most of the top HWs now, and the HW scene in general is not what it was in the old school K-1 days. Theres a lot of good Japanese talent in the lower weight classes, but its just not the same as having a strong international HW scene like they used to.
Kickboxing will overtake MMA soon i think. Ufc will be forced to pivot and show Kickboxing fights.
I've never thought that there was a competition. They're both combat sports but they're very different. To me it's like comparing badminton and tennis because they are both played with a racket.I could be wrong but I don't think that boxing fans and MMA fans are the same people even though some watch both.
Kickboxing will overtake MMA soon i think. Ufc will be forced to pivot and show Kickboxing fights.
Nobody wants to see dry humping bull****
Kickboxing has been around forever and in the U.S. has never achieved any popularity. I don't know why, it's a fun sport to watch. I used to spar with a middleweight kickboxing, World Champion when I was a teenager. Outside of the martial arts world the guy was anonymous.
Kickboxing will overtake MMA soon i think. Ufc will be forced to pivot and show Kickboxing fights.
Nobody wants to see dry humping bull****
Not a chance. 20 or so years ago K-1 was still bigger than the UFC but they failed to really make noise in the US when they potentially could have, and didnt produce an American star (Bob Sapp if he had been good might have been the one) and then a lot of the stars started getting old while simultaneously the UFC started TUF and brought in Brock (who ironically was gonna fight in K-1 initially and even turned up on one of their shows), rest is history. The gap is insurmountable at this point.
As for the dry humping thing, I thought you actually watched MMA to be making these comments about the current state of it? if you did you'd know that grappling accounts for like 1/4 of all fight time in the UFC nowadays, for better or worse. Also lets be honest here, for all the "dry humping" criticism boxing fans like to aim at MMA, anyone being objective knows that MMA is more entertaining ON AVERAGE than boxing and its not really close either. The top end of boxing matches a la Hagler/Hearns, Ward/Gatti, Corrales/Castillo etc are better than the best MMA fights, but the average MMA card is a lot more entertaining than the average boxing card. The ratio of exciting **** happening per minute of viewing time, exciting fights etc is heavily in favour of MMA. But yeah, kickboxing is more exciting than both.
I've never thought that there was a competition. They're both combat sports but they're very different. To me it's like comparing badminton and tennis because they are both played with a racket.I could be wrong but I don't think that boxing fans and MMA fans are the same people even though some watch both.
I think theres a sizeable crossover audience tbh, although when it comes to hardcore fans it seems to be a much higher ratio of MMA fans who watch other forms of combat whereas theres a lot more boxing fans who only stick to boxing. If you go on MMA forums theres plenty of boxing discussion and awareness. And casuals will watch the big fights/names from either sport at this point.
Good, mostly accurate and respectful dialog IMO.
I do still follow the scene, but I miss the 1994 - 2010 K-1 peak. Better heavyweight Muay Thai/FC Karate/Kickboxing in that era than any time before or since (an understatement). Though I do give Rico Vorhoeven full standing as one of the greats.
Not a chance. 20 or so years ago K-1 was still bigger than the UFC but they failed to really make noise in the US when they potentially could have, and didnt produce an American star (Bob Sapp if he had been good might have been the one) and then a lot of the stars started getting old while simultaneously the UFC started TUF and brought in Brock (who ironically was gonna fight in K-1 initially and even turned up on one of their shows), rest is history. The gap is insurmountable at this point.
As for the dry humping thing, I thought you actually watched MMA to be making these comments about the current state of it? if you did you'd know that grappling accounts for like 1/4 of all fight time in the UFC nowadays, for better or worse. Also lets be honest here, for all the "dry humping" criticism boxing fans like to aim at MMA, anyone being objective knows that MMA is more entertaining ON AVERAGE than boxing and its not really close either. The top end of boxing matches a la Hagler/Hearns, Ward/Gatti, Corrales/Castillo etc are better than the best MMA fights, but the average MMA card is a lot more entertaining than the average boxing card. The ratio of exciting **** happening per minute of viewing time, exciting fights etc is heavily in favour of MMA. But yeah, kickboxing is more exciting than both.
What happened in the past won't necessarily repeat in future.
Dagestanis have taken over a lot of the UFC. And the stythein general has taken over about 50% of the UFC.
It's very unaesthetic.
Why is Alex Peirera the most loved UFC fighter? Because he is a stand up warrior.
Could be that the writing will be on the wall and Kickboxing will start coming to the fore more and more. I predict in about 5/10 years the UFC will start showing pure kickboxing on their cards and many Thai, Dutch, Surinamese, Brazilian and European stars will show up overnight.
Kickboxing is global and very very exciting. Won't be long before wrestle humping is selected against i think.
Dagestanis have taken over a lot of the UFC. And the stythein general has taken over about 50% of the UFC.
How is one Dagestani champion out of 12 "taking over"? not to mention a lot of those Dagi fighters dont even fit the mould of what you're saying they are either. Islam has great wrestling but he strikes too and is an exciting all round fighter. Umar is pretty fun to watch, Shara Bullet and Said are flashy strikers, Ankalaev is a heavy hitter. Khamzat (Chechen not Dagi but close enough) is very exciting too.
Wrestling is not 50% of the UFC lol. I'm not sure its even 25% at this point tbh. Go look at the belt holders, theres two of any nationality who would be considered lay 'n' pray decision wrestlers.
Why is Alex Peirera the most loved UFC fighter? Because he is a stand up warrior.
Also because hes very active and beat Izzy. Why are you acting like stand up warriors are thin on the ground in the UFC though? for a start two guys Alex has fought this year in Khalil and Jiri. Literally this weekends UFC main event has a Pereira not named Alex who is one of the craziest wildest strikers on the planet.
Could be that the writing will be on the wall and Kickboxing will start coming to the fore more and more. I predict in about 5/10 years the UFC will start showing pure kickboxing on their cards and many Thai, Dutch, Surinamese, Brazilian and European stars will show up overnight.
Highly doubt the UFC is gonna start putting other ruleset fights on their cards after 30+ years, if they do it will turn a lot of people off the product tbh. The only reason One FC has moved in the direction of mostly doing Muay Thai is as a cost cutting measure because they're losing money constantly and are having to run most of their shows out of Thailand now and can pay those fighters less money than MMA names.
MMA isnt exactly lacking in Brazillian, European and Dutch stars is it?
Kickboxing is global and very very exciting. Won't be long before wrestle humping is selected against i think.
Kickboxing is much smaller than MMA just about everywhere on the planet now, very small number of exceptions. Also if whats popular was governed purely by whats most exciting boxing would be a fringe top 5 combat sport right now, theres more to it than that.
Good, mostly accurate and respectful dialog IMO.
I do still follow the scene, but I miss the 1994 - 2010 K-1 peak. Better heavyweight Muay Thai/FC Karate/Kickboxing in that era than any time before or since (an understatement). Though I do give Rico Vorhoeven full standing as one of the greats.
Yeah Rico would be able to hang in any era, Rigters is solid too. But 90s/00s K-1 HW was consistently stacked not just in talent but also star power. Hoost, Aerts, Le Banner, Sefo, Hug, Cro Cop, Branko then later on Remy, Badr, Spong, Hunt, Manhoef etc with a fair bit of MMA crossover bringing in names like Semmy, Reem, Kharitanov, Sapp, Goodridge etc too. K-1 really deserved to be the biggest thing going in combat sports in those days.
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