Comments Thread For: Bob Arum: The UFC is The Main Enemy of Boxing

[OgTripleOg]

I do agree that alot of the mma fanbase are racist as hell.

[KillaCamNZ]

Boxing is boxings worst enemy and it isnt even close.

People can and do follow both sports. Promoters can and do use the other sport to plug their own.

UFC and boxing can coexist.

Its boxing that continually shoots itself in the foot at every turn

100% spot on.

[Scipio2009]

I can't believe Arum went so hard on UFC fans being racist. I disagree because you could argue the UFC is more inclusive than boxing. The UFC does better at promoting fighters from all over the world, not to mention the job they're doing promoting female fighters. I watch both sports but I like boxing a lot more. Promoters like Arum could take a page from the UFC in putting on the fights fans want to see. Also, not waiting years for the best to fight the best.

Is that true though? Outside of George St Pierre (who passes for white if he doesn't speak) and Anderson Silva, what foreign fighter can you honestly point to as being turned into a star by Zuffa/UFC (Conor McGregor aside)?

I don't give Jason Whitlock credit for much of anything, but he's onto something when he points out that the UFC gave white middle America an avenue to watch white people fight; whether it was with Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, etc, the UFC being so wrestling dominant led to a lot of those Midwest wrestlers carrying things.

Sidenote: Yakuza issues aside, the UFC doesn't hold a candle to what PrideFC used to do to market the fighters that fought for them.

They loved their heavyweights, but fighters on down were all treated well, with the fighters who'd shown real fire and ability given the monster push. Make that person a Japanese/trueborn (foreigner who is basically only developed in Japan) fighter and you get some awe-inspiring stuff.

[Scipio2009]

The info may actually be at least unclear.

According to this recent poll (small sample size so idk how much faith you wanna put in it), but it claims black people are MMA's biggest demographic racially. Hispanic are boxings to no surprise.


I definitely feel like MMA is more popular with black people these days than boxing. So this white power thing with MMA hasn't made any sense to me ever with its roots largely from South America from the 90's on, but particularly in recent years when I've noticed growth with non-white MMA fighters + the fans.

61% of the United States is white, though (and that's before you include White Latinos and other folks that push the number up to 72%), while only 13% of the United States is black.

Even 40% of 13% of Black Americans amounts to only 5% of the US population; 25% of 62% of White Americans amounts to over 15% of the US population.

[Scipio2009]

arum will be just fine. 50 years in the game and still going and with this new espn deal he's showing no signs of slowing down.

Arum burned good bridge with Showtime, burned his bridge with HBO, works with no other promoters really, and is in position to have to deliver content for a provider that doesn't really need him (ESPN has had nothing negative to say about PBC, and they are currently test-running Golden Boy Boxing as well).

If he doesn't deliver what he's sold to ESPN, he's ****ed with the only avenue remaining to him being the hope that his Top Rank Boxing OTT platform can sustain his company.

[iamboxing]

Mismatches, bad judges decisions and waiting forever for proper fights is boxing's main enemy

[HarvardBlue]

Is that true though? Outside of George St Pierre (who passes for white if he doesn't speak) and Anderson Silva, what foreign fighter can you honestly point to as being turned into a star by Zuffa/UFC (Conor McGregor aside)?

I don't give Jason Whitlock credit for much of anything, but he's onto something when he points out that the UFC gave white middle America an avenue to watch white people fight; whether it was with Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, etc, the UFC being so wrestling dominant led to a lot of those Midwest wrestlers carrying things.

Sidenote: Yakuza issues aside, the UFC doesn't hold a candle to what PrideFC used to do to market the fighters that fought for them.

They loved their heavyweights, but fighters on down were all treated well, with the fighters who'd shown real fire and ability given the monster push. Make that person a Japanese/trueborn (foreigner who is basically only developed in Japan) fighter and you get some awe-inspiring stuff.

George St Pierre is white. There is such a thing as white Canadians. Who knew? I didn't say they turned them into stars. If you haven't seen the emergence of non white, non American UFC stars you haven't been paying attention.

Jason Whitlock is an idiot by the way. Just saying... In almost every sporting event the most frequent fans are white. It's economical. They can afford it. That doesn't mean there isn't alot of non white fans. They're just not the majority. Why do you think Colin Kaepernick is such a pariah in the NFL? They don't want to alienate a good portion of their white audience. Most black or latinos don't give a damn about the national anthem. Not that they're aren't patriotic, they just have more pressing issues to worry about.