Comments Thread For: Arum: White Admits Boxing is More Popular, Needs it To Save UFC

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum believes UFC President Dana White is venturing into the world of boxing in order to save his company. And by moving forward with the idea of staging boxing events, Arum feels White is openly admitting that boxing is more popular than mixed martial arts.
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[Combat Talk Radio]

But...but...I thought boxing was dying and MMA was the future of fighting?

[club fighter]

The last couple of UFCs I checked out were snorefests, less celebrities attended too, I could see this.

[Boxing42]

Boxing will always be king, mma is about to be reduced to the popularity level of k-1. It was funny seeing boxing "fans" here talk about how mma is better

[kennethjohn]

Most of the people I know in europe don't even know what UFC is. Boxing is a better global sport. but locally in the USA and even most of canada outside of quebec MMA is way more popular.

[jmrf4435]

What people miss is the popularity and future of the sport depend on the fighters.

It's all about the draws you have. Boxing has joshua who really brought the heavyweight division back and people talking boxing.

It seems like MMA and Boxing stars can be have a positive effect on both sports

[slickrick9783]

Until mma guys have been doing mma (not wrestling, jujitsu, karate) since they were 7 years old, it wont, imo, be on the level of Boxing. Some of these boxers have 300+ amateur BOXING fights. Mma can't compete with that and a decline was inevitable...

[jmrf4435]

Most of the people I know in europe don't even know what UFC is. Boxing is a better global sport. but locally in the USA and even most of canada outside of quebec MMA is way more popular.

I find that unlikely. Are they the athletic type that you are asking?

It has a huge presence in europe due to alexander gufstasson and mcgregor.

Their events do really well in Europe

[sportbuddha]

Until mma guys have been doing mma (not wrestling, jujitsu, karate) since they were 7 years old, it wont, imo, be on the level of Boxing. Some of these boxers have 300+ amateur BOXING fights. Mma can't compete with that and a decline was inevitable...

I see where you're coming from, but I don't think it's lack of commitment to training from a young age that's the issue, more that the fights have become less engaging and too technical. The problem for MMA has been its biggest selling point, you can pick who is the single champion out and general have them always face the next best. However, this has a very undesirable outcome. The champions change very frequently, you can't keep up with it and so no-one builds a profile or personality.

I've said it before, lots of people jump on here and smash boxing promoters, but they are clever and seasoned at this and know how to keep boxing relevant to line their pockets. They have to keep their boxer busy (to build profile) give them chances to shine with highlight KO's by under matching (to gain fans) and provide multiple opportunities to rise through rankings and build a record whilst keeping fans debating who really is the best (through multiple sanction bodies). It's a well worked set-up, it's not perfect but it keeps the sport going.

[sportbuddha]

I find that unlikely. Are they the athletic type that you are asking?

It has a huge presence in europe due to alexander gufstasson and mcgregor.

Their events do really well in Europe

Me too, Europe has a lot of countries though, so depends where you live, it's probably 60/40 in favour of being known, if you consider countries like Romania or Switzerland etc, they probably don't get into it much, but not exactly lucrative markets anyway