MMA More Popular Than Boxing?

ShaneT

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MMA News wrote:

Is the UFC more popular than boxing?

The most watched UFC fight so far in 2007 on Spike TV outdrew the most watched boxing match on television this year by 73%. Last year, the most watched UFC fight outdrew boxing’s most viewed event by 800,000 viewers. Details below:

2007:
SPIKE TV
UFC 70 �" Mirko “Cro Cop” vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Saturday, April 21
2.8 million viewers

HBO
Ricky Hatton vs Juan Urango
Saturday, January 20
1.5 million viewers

2006:
SPIKE TV
Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock
October 10
4.3 million viewers

HBO
Winky Wright vs. Jermain Taylor
June 17
3.5 million viewers

About the UFC Fight Nights on Spike TV:

The UFC Fight Nights air live on Spike TV and feature many of the biggest names in the world of mixed martial arts. Thus far, UFC Fight Nights have averaged 2.2 million viewers -- more than the average regular season telecasts of the NBA, NHL, and NCAA basketball on cable television. Spike TV is the proud television home to the best mixed martial arts programming on television with such popular shows as The Ultimate Fighter, UFC Unleashed, UFC Fight Night, UFC Countdown, and Ultimate Knockouts. Spike TV began airing UFC programming in January, 2005 and was the first television network in North America to air a live UFC bout.

cowzerp

Thats all going to change on saturday night when pretty boy floyd fights oscar de la hoya! And the other thing you have to consider at present is that for a normal ufc bill the line up does be full of top class names-i think this is changing already judging by the belfast bill so far... imagine how many fans would watch a bill with the same amount of top fights on it in boxing-mma is doing well and thats great but boxing at the highest level is the biggest draw in the fighting world still..

buck65

And rightly so, it is more watchable IMO.

mark.leonard

buck65 wrote:

And rightly so, it is more watchable IMO.

(Imagine I say this in an Italien accent ala the Sopranos wise guys!) Oooooohhhhhhhh! This guy uh!

Roper

cowzerp wrote:

Thats all going to change on saturday night when pretty boy floyd fights oscar de la hoya! And the other thing you have to consider at present is that for a normal ufc bill the line up does be full of top class names-i think this is changing already judging by the belfast bill so far... imagine how many fans would watch a bill with the same amount of top fights on it in boxing-mma is doing well and thats great but boxing at the highest level is the biggest draw in the fighting world still..

Good point Paul. every night on the UFC theres 2 or 3 titles up for grabs. Theres a pool of MAYBE 30 top fighters in the UFC across all weights.

Anyway, DeLaHoya will beat PBF on Saturday I think using the same tactics he used against Mosely (but getting the decision this time) the audience will be huge, boxing will be saved!

Theres a battle here between two great sports that simply doesn't have to exist, with Dana White fuelling the fire at every opportunity.

cowzerp

Roper wrote:

Theres a battle here between two great sports that simply doesn't have to exist, with Dana White fuelling the fire at every opportunity.

Barry-spot on.
You cant blame dana for trying to make mma famous but by alienating boxing fans, instead of gaining them as mma fans also he is creating an (us against them attitude) i totally believe they can co-exist and both do well, also in the future more boxers will enter mma adding to the talent pool, dana is being a bit short sighted in my opinion.. in america the mma fans are more obsessed with bashing boxing than talking mma-in the last month all there talking about is mayweather v mma-its quite funny really-im glad we are not as fickle!

Vince135792003

MMA won't be more popular this weekend.

Both sports are ppv driven and comparing tv ratings is not a good measure. I would say that many boxing journalists, formers boxers and promoters come across very bitchy towards MMA.

There is plenty of room for both though and the problems in boxing are boxing related and have little to do with MMA.

Dragan

cowzerp wrote:

Thats all going to change on saturday night when pretty boy floyd fights oscar de la hoya!

Was thinking exactly the same thing. For me though HBO have learned from the Spike Model with 24/7 ( which is pretty decent and can be found on youtube folks ) as a build up to the fight.

Dana needs to stop competing with boxing and start promoting MMA in it's own light, not as a contrast to a sport that already exists.

MMA does not need to be the "new boxing", it's just needs to be MMA.

Pride Fighter

It does not matter if MMA is more popular than boxing. It is far better anyway. Boxing is the most corrupt sport in the world and everyone knows it. A boxer wouldnt survive 5 minutes with an MMA fighter. Just look at UFC 1. Royce Gracie submitted a former cruiserweight champ in no time. If you fight in MMA you wont get brain damage. Just compare the eloquence of Dan Severn with that of Mohammed Ali. Both fought a similar number of fights to a similar age. Which one can say his name properly.

Boxing= bordem, corruption and brain damage

MMA= fun, excitment and honesty

Roper

Pride Fighter wrote:

MMA= honesty

Boxing = honesty too you've just been watching the wrong fights.

Its in vogue to slag off boxing right now as being corrupt etc. But I think you'll find that while it can be a dirty little game, fights aren't fixed in 99.9999999999% of cases, especially when the cameras are on. Watch Saturday night's fight and you'll see honesty and superb skills from 2 of the best of the last 20 years.

TKD SC

Pride Fighter wrote:

It does not matter if MMA is more popular than boxing. It is far better anyway. Boxing is the most corrupt sport in the world and everyone knows it. A boxer wouldnt survive 5 minutes with an MMA fighter. Just look at UFC 1. Royce Gracie submitted a former cruiserweight champ in no time. If you fight in MMA you wont get brain damage. Just compare the eloquence of Dan Severn with that of Mohammed Ali. Both fought a similar number of fights to a similar age. Which one can say his name properly.

Boxing= bordem, corruption and brain damage

MMA= fun, excitment and honesty

"Which one can say his name properly" - I presume you're referring to Ali's Parkinson's disease that makes it near impossible for him to talk? If so, that's a very low blow to one of the greatest sportsmen ever. Could you also clear up what "eloquence" you're talking about? Ali's Parkinsons may or may not have come / helped by boxing - no one will ever know. Also, look at lots of other boxers (eg., from same time period etc, Foreman), now he can say his name properly! Especially regarding the Foreman Grill! So, I don't think boxinf = brain damage. boxing = corruption? I'm not an insider in the pro business so I really dont know. boxing = boring? One or two people may disagree with you here!!!! Look at any of the classic / famous fights and tell me they're boring! (Unless you're like my g/f who just has no interest).

I'd throw it out there that on average I see far more excitement in a boxing fight than an mma fight. IMHO.

Cheers

Pride Fighter

Look at pride. 80% of the fights are exciting. In boxing it is barely at 10%. Just personal opinion. As for being a good sportsman Ali was nothing of the sort. He was rude to his opponents etc. Great competitor, I will give you that. This guy could beat Ali in his sleep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_Emelianenko

paddyc

wanna go a e50 on it:)

you on de la hoya

me on mayweather?


cheers paddy

Nothingcompares

I don't think boxing has anything to fear from mma. I think MMA is a nice middle ground between proboxing and prowrestling. Cowser- when this fight is over, and presuming there is no rematch, where will the next big fight come from?

buck65

Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe have a couple of big ones coming up. Bernard Dunne world title attempt later in the year?

O'Leprosy

Everyone is forgetting, Boxing has a 250 year headstart on MAA. Sure there are more MMA fights on the card, but since an MMA fight is 3 x 5 minutes or 5x5 for a title, you'll always have to have more fights on the card.

Dana talking down Boxing. Boxing was Dana's main fighting sport until just a few years ago. Almost went professional I believe. Don't know his experience at MMA/BJJ. But in my experience, it's SOME boxers and indeed MANY trad MA who talk down MMA. The UFC struggled for a while in the beginning to get a TV broadcaster to show it, vested interests in boxing and 'make believe' wrestling tried to use their financial muscles behind the scenes to leave it without a broadcaster. Can'nt blame Dana for uping the ante now, or "up yours assholes" I should say .


cowzerp " in the future more boxers will enter mma ". Doubt it, have know a few lads from the sweet science who joined MMA for a while, more for a 'taste' of it and to understand it better. Most of them were naturally open minded, but grappling/BJJ seemed to be not their cup of tea and most of them didn't bother staying with it too long. Since the UFC is going 10 + years, their's been very few boxers making the cross over to MMA. OK, the money wasn't great for a long time, but if it hasn't happened by now, it never will.

crazy monkey

but first things first mark. feckin'. leonard...
as a person of irish italian stock wtfeck?
Could you not of used the dolmio uncle instead of the sopranos afterall my lot are not all gangsters...sheesh the racism - the racism i tell ya

What is mma?

Any takers?

In my opinion it is the blending of the three areas of combat
1 stand-up/striking
2 clinch
3 grappling

Now what are the best forms of striking...?any opinions will be listened too...
But I would go with boxing then muay thai then kyokushinkai karate...
Boxing is no.1 because it is great for distance...[the shoot]...and the then the clinch...

So I don't really care which is more popular now because in order to be good at mma you need certain skills and boxing is certainly one of them..
I agree with roper it is couture du jour to insult boxing...but I love to watch it and yes it's not the same as it was 30, 20 or even 10 years ago....but let's wait until mma is out of its infancy before we pass comment on which sports longevity is the better of the two....

ciao

cowzerp

Nothingcompares wrote:

I don't think boxing has anything to fear from mma. I think MMA is a nice middle ground between proboxing and prowrestling. Cowser- when this fight is over, and presuming there is no rematch, where will the next big fight come from?

I think the next big fight is hatton v castillo, that is going to be a toe to toe war, calzaghe may fight jermain taylor after he fights cory spinks, this would be very good-and then there is manny pacquio v any 1 of barrera, morales or marquez.shane mosley may fight maywether after the big fight and this would be another superfight,Hopkins v winky wright, diaz v morales, this is just a start-the heavyweights are starting to look up aswell-loads of eastern europeans that look the real deal and the british lad david haye looked good the other day..boxing is doing o'k!!!

O'Leprosy

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=OctagonGirl.GalleryMenu

dlofnep

DLH/Mayweather has had more buildup and hype than any MMA show, ever.

But DLH/Mayweather is a once in a blue moon thing. MMA has more consistency in big shows, Boxing doesn't have the pulling power in alot of divisions. HW division is in shambles and has been for a long time.

cowzerp

The heavy weight scene is seriously on its way back at the moment-there is loads of big eastern europeans out there all great standard-check out the upcoming fights and its looking good, shannon briggs has the wbo belt i think and he's great to watch-fans are less interested in east european fighters for some reason, probably the language barrier, but heavyweight boxing is on the way back..now not in the future..and the fact that boxing can afford to pay dlh 30 million has to tell you something-there not doing it for the good of there health-this money is due to popularity-that is what he is valued at-this is a fact..no mma fighter comes close to this level of money making..why?

dlofnep

cowzerp wrote:

The heavy weight scene is seriously on its way back at the moment-there is loads of big eastern europeans out there all great standard-check out the upcoming fights and its looking good, shannon briggs has the wbo belt i think and he's great to watch-fans are less interested in east european fighters for some reason, probably the language barrier, but heavyweight boxing is on the way back..now not in the future..and the fact that boxing can afford to pay dlh 30 million has to tell you something-there not doing it for the good of there health-this money is due to popularity-that is what he is valued at-this is a fact..no mma fighter comes close to this level of money making..why?

I'm not a fan of Briggs - there is nothing special about him. Yes, there are some good guys from eastern europe and russia like Chagaev, Maskaev and Klitschko leading the pack - but there isn't much interest in the division. The fans aren't behind it.

As far as DLH goes, there is interest in the lower weights. That's not under dispute, and I think there will be for a long time - right now, nobody really cares about heavyweight. Welterweight - Middleweight is where it's at.

cowzerp

Barrera , Morales , Pacquiao , Marquez really is this century's Leonard , Duran , Hagler , Hearns . this is where the real talent is, these are all class and entertaining superfeatherweights-welterweight has mayweather, cotto, baldomir, and mosley-these are great weights also..

dlofnep

cowzerp wrote:

Barrera , Morales , Pacquiao , Marquez really is this century's Leonard , Duran , Hagler , Hearns . this is where the real talent is, these are all class and entertaining superfeatherweights-welterweight has mayweather, cotto, baldomir, and mosley-these are great weights also..

Yes I agree, superfeatherweight is packed!

eoghan.geraghty

paddyc wrote:

wanna go a e50 on it:)

you on de la hoya

me on mayweather?


cheers paddy

i'll take that bet paddy.
Really want to see money wayweather lose.....to see you opening your wallet would be icing on the cake:D

as regards mma being more exciting than boxing, it may be if you understand grappling, which most people don't.

cowzerp

Which is more exciting is just a matter of opinion-the top boxing matches are genuinely unreal to watch-bowe v holyfield fights for example-brilliant, in my opinion, when boxing is like this its the ultimate sport for fans.
As a big boxing fan i also appreciate the chess matches that some fight fans might not appreciate! this would be like people who dont like grappling not understanding the technical battle going on! forest griffin and stephan bonnar's fight would go down as a bowe v holyfield type fight imo and i loved that-most fight fans want stand up wars so boxing at the top level will always edge it imho, k1 would also if it got the publicity-all these sports have there place and should be supported by all fight fans-i would like to say fair play to most mma fans on this site for been intelligent when talking about these 2 great sports-the yanks have a serious chip on there shoulder when talking about this topic, that makes me laugh-they really think its all about mma taking over boxing for some reason and are so anti boxing because of it! in the future bills may have mma fights and boxing matches and i would not be suprised to see k1 or muay thai also on the shows..

Roper

paddyc wrote:

wanna go a e50 on it:)

you on de la hoya

me on mayweather?


cheers paddy

Oh for fvcks sake! Paddy "Power" Clint strikes again. Yeah I'll take your money Paddy. I see Eoghan has taken you already so you're gonna be €100 in the hole early Sunday morning. Best get some grinds going!

Dragan

cowzerp wrote:

I think the next big fight is hatton v castillo, that is going to be a toe to toe war,

Hatton, who found success fighting like a Mexican, taking on a Mexican, should be great. Though for me Hatton is wilting lately and i can't figure out why!

Roper

Dragan wrote:

Hatton, who found success fighting like a Mexican, taking on a Mexican, should be great. Though for me Hatton is wilting lately and i can't figure out why!

Age. His game relies totally on being in the other guy's face the whole time and takes a whole lot of fitness.

eoghan.geraghty

Dragan wrote:

Hatton, who found success fighting like a Mexican, taking on a Mexican, should be great. Though for me Hatton is wilting lately and i can't figure out why!

Could also be because he's fighting a higher class of boxer lately. I like hatton but think he'll fall short of the very top.

Pride Fighter

MMA is better than boxing. So it makes no difference anyway.

nesf

Pride Fighter wrote:

MMA is better than boxing. So it makes no difference anyway.

Eh, honestly I'd say they both have their appeal but it's quite different. MMA fights are generally far shorter and have more "action per second" or whatever but boxing can give you amazing 10+ round spectacles where you're watching a tactical war between two very skilled individuals.


There is also (and this is just my opinion) a lot more explanatory commentary in UFC stuff. They are essentially marketing a complicated sport to an audience which is fairly unfamiliar in it and also marketing a sport to an audience of practicioners so there is a lot of technical explanation, replays etc. In boxing there's far less hand-holding (imho) but I think again the audience isn't really that aware of what is going on (i.e. there's a lot more to boxing than just punching the other guy).

Mark Hamill

nesf wrote:

There is also (and this is just my opinion) a lot more explanatory commentary in UFC stuff.

Do you think this is bad?

nesf

Mark Hamill wrote:

Do you think this is bad?

No, I think it is necessary for the sport to have a broad appeal. I found it very useful, I did TKD and Karate when I was young and never really did any ground fighting beyond really basic stuff so it definitely made it easier for me to appreciate what was going on the ground.

Edit: I think if it was the commentary was aimed at MMA practitioners that it would only remain a niche interest in the US. I'd draw parallels between it and poker and how the commentary works for that. Keep the general audience informed and feeling like they understand what is going on and you've a good chance of developing a strong following.

Pride Fighter

MMA rules.

Vince135792003

Pride Fighter wrote:

Boxing is a dead sport, MMA is a thriving pastime.

How can something be dead when it just broke its all time ppv record 2 weeks ago and had a pretty good year on ppv the year before?

There's a place for both sports.