Roach: MMA has a brighter future than Boxing, harder for a boxer to go into MMA

[DE100]

The same thing can be said about Boxers. MMA athletes come from all sport backgrounds. Wrestling, Boxing, Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, Kickboxing and on and on.

No the same cant be said, name all these former NFL, Boxers, Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, Kickboxers, wrestlers, fake wrestlers, baseball players, etc... that get on PPV's and pushed into the limelight by the sport like MMA.

[TheGoldStandard]

God you are so full of ****. Seriously.

MMA? It's UFC. Understand the difference. MMA is NOT popular worldwide. It has failed in Japan. It has failed in Europe.

It is popular in England, USA, Canada and now Australia. Its not even wildly popular in Brazil or Russia contrary to myths. And in THose four main countries UFC Is the ONLY MMA anyone cares about. No one watches other brands.

MMA IS popular worldwide. And no, MMA did not fail in Japan. The "Pride" organization was real successful until TV networks refused to air their events due to links to the Yakuza. But now you have another MMA organization in Japan that has been doing real well.. It's called "Dream". And how did MMA fail in Europe when it hasn't even taken off yet? Also, there are many small MMA companies that are doing well in England, Canada and Russia.

[RSBonos]

Yeah a 0.5% chance.

It was funny how Dana White offered Floyd Mayweather out to fight then Light weight champion Sean Sherk, after all the smack he was talking about MMA yet he ducked a very good opportunity to prove millions wrong. It's just funny how Champion boxers diss MMA but never test themselves, only the washed up boxers give it a go... they got nothing to lose.

Like the UFC could even afford Floyd (they could but that would piss off the 90% of their contracted fighters that earn peanuts).

Kermit Cintron offered to fight Shrek, his salary would have been reasonable and he even had some basic background in wrestling. Dana White responded by pretending that he didn't know who he was.

Roach either doesn't know much about MMA or he is pandering to the MMA media. Please name me one MMA fighter that could become a contender if he dedicated his life to boxing? On the other hand I don't see how some world class boxers can't transfer their skills over to MMA with a lot of cross-training, if kickboxers can do it so can boxers, the only reason there hasn't been a boxer in his prime to try it is because of lack of money. If a guy like Forrest Griffen can decide to become a MMA fighter in his early twenties without any combat sports background and eventually become the undisputed champion then so can a boxer who already has a humongous advantage with his punches over any other MMA fighter.

[Young Money]

God you are so full of ****. Seriously.

MMA? It's UFC. Understand the difference. MMA is NOT popular worldwide. It has failed in Japan. It has failed in Europe.

It is popular in England, USA, Canada and now Australia. Its not even wildly popular in Brazil or Russia contrary to myths. And in THose four main countries UFC Is the ONLY MMA anyone cares about. No one watches other brands.

Now on top of that: Soccer is the most popular because its the cheapest easiest sport to play for all countries. Many noted sports historians have said this.

Finally and lastly you know when Dana challenged Floyd, Kermit Cintron stepped up and like that GIANT ****ING ***** he is, Dana ducked Cintrons challenge.

How come Dana ducked RJJRs MMA challenge to Silva.

Get your facts correct before defending your white trash UFC organization. And the fact that washed up boxers only try UFC should tell you about the payouts between the two sports.

UFC fans are brainwashed by that lying piece of **** Dana. And as long as they are they'll continue to spread bull**** and myths like the above.

MMA is popular in Japan - it never failed.

Pride FC was bought out by UFC.

[TheGoldStandard]

No the same cant be said, name all these former NFL, Boxers, Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, Kickboxers, wrestlers, fake wrestlers, baseball players, etc... that get on PPV's and pushed into the limelight by the sport like MMA.

I don't understand what's your problem with athletes that compete in one category getting into a sport where you COMBINE all these different sports into one.That's the beauty of MMA. You have to learn other abilities to be successful and a complete fighter, not just a boxer. You can only do so much in Wrestling, Jiujitsu, and Muay Thai competitions.

[DE100]

I don't understand what's your problem with athletes that compete in one category getting into a sport where you COMBINE all these different sports into one.That's the beauty of MMA. You have to learn other abilities to be successful and a complete fighter, not just a boxer. You can only do so much in Wrestling, Jiujitsu, and Muay Thai competitions.

I dont have a problem with it, Im just pointing out what Roach said is wrong about the transition, its easier to have some kind of success in MMA then it is to even be noticed and have success in Boxing.

[Lead Cenobite]

MMA IS popular worldwide. And no, MMA did not fail in Japan. The "Pride" organization was real successful until TV networks refused to air their events due to links to the Yakuza. But now you have another MMA organization in Japan that has been doing real well.. It's called "Dream". And how did MMA fail in Europe when it hasn't even taken off yet? Also, there are many small MMA companies that are doing well in England, Canada and Russia.

You think dream has taken off? Wow. Have you checked the ratings? Buy a clue from somewhere other than Dana's ballsack. Japan has embraced boxing again (the three Kameda brothers are more famous and sell out way faster than Dream or any MMA org), and of course puroresu. But hey, keep imaging that anyone cares about Dream (they don't). The MMA fad there is over. Despite what baldy might tell you.

MMA is NOT popular worldwide except of course what Dana feeds you. UFC has run events in germany and mainland Europe to little success. If you think UFC being popular in the US, Canada and Aussieland with some inroads into England = the world---> you need a reality check.

Also, Define doing well? There are many small companies in the US that are doing Toughman contests. You think that sport has taken off here? How about American kickboxing. Tons of small orgs here, but you think the public has embraced that sport? Fail logic.

[Lead Cenobite]

MMA is popular in Japan - it never failed.

Pride FC was bought out by UFC.

And promptly shut them down after buying them.

Dream is not anywhere near as popular as Pride. Sorry to break it to you.

And I'm an old school Pride fan before anyone starts. It saddened me to see them fall apart like that.

The Kameda brothers (boxing) are way more popular than anything remotely associated with "MMA" in Japan.

The closes thing to MMA that IS hugely popular is pro wrestling.

Reality check from Dana's lies: over.

[RSBonos]

MMA IS popular worldwide. And no, MMA did not fail in Japan. The "Pride" organization was real successful until TV networks refused to air their events due to links to the Yakuza. But now you have another MMA organization in Japan that has been doing real well.. It's called "Dream". And how did MMA fail in Europe when it hasn't even taken off yet? And there are many small MMA companies that are doing well in England, Canada and Russia.

I loved Pride but lets face it, the 'kakutougi' boom is over. Dream is struggling to stay on TV, they have been pushed to bad time slots and twice last year they piggybacked off the success of Naito & Kameda boxing fights to try to boost their audience. Sengoku has scaled down and doesn't have a TV deal. MMA is nowhere near as popular as 5 years ago in Japan. Kickboxing which was and still is more popular then MMA there has also declined. Yet last year those Kameda bro's and Naito boxing shows got huge ratings, including Naito vs Koki Kameda which had nearly 50 million people tuning in, making it one of the most watched events in Japanese television history.

Many of England's top promotions have also shut down (Cage Rage and a bunch of others that i'm to lazy to look up), boxing is obviously much much bigger in Russia and while MMA is very popular in Canada, we (I live here) haven't had a decent promotion since TKO went out of business (MFC is ok but low rent, there is a new promotion with some promise in Quebec but lets see if it lasts...and obviously INTERBOX and GYM boxing promotions are doing much much better then any other Canadian fight promotion company.

I'm not bashing MMA, but I am sick of the whole MMA is taking over ra ra ra without people (MMA fans) actually acknowledging any of boxing's success. Its non-stop anti-boxing propaganda.

[Imhotep]

than the other way around. Great interview with Freddie Roach.

Good interview,i especially like the part about promotors putting crappy undercards in main events in boxing which hurts boxing and keeps it from growing.I was saying the samething a few days ago in one of my post here.


I remember telling my cousin that shortly after the tyson/Lewis fight.I was saying how ****** promotors are cause fights that are big like lewis vs tyson are perfect opportunities to help boxing grow by putting entertaining undercards but they put crappy undercards.

Arum is a harded headed knowitall who wont listen to good advice.He probably don`t care about growing boxing`s fanbase cause he`s old.