Is MMA surpassing boxing?

[TheLeprechaun]

I would rather watch a UFC event than a boxing event at this point. You're guaranteed a pretty competitive main event most of the time. Blaydes vs JDS was a very good exciting fight last weekend, fine performance from Blaydes. Then I tuned into Danny garcia going a dull 12 rounds vs Redkach. We have Fury and Wilder next month and you know Fury is going to fight negatively and try to nick a decision. I'll be watching Felder vs Hooker if it's on at the same time as Fury Wilder myself.

Sadly, I concur

The majority of high profile boxing matches, are full as bollocks.

... Hah haha... DULL as bollocks

I think UFC fighters are hungrier generally. They get paid a win bonus which is double their money and they have potential for fight of the night if they can starch their opponent in good fashion. Not only that but a win brings them further along the way. The main events are exciting. I think Jon Jones is going to take a hiding and lose next weekend.

[magnus]

I feel similar to the OP.

Boxing has been my main sporting love for nearly 30 years, but it's waning, and my interest in the UFC (and to a lesser extent, other MMA organisations) is a large factor in that.

I don't really care how much the top athletes in each sport earn, as I'm not their accountant, I just want to watch well matched contests, where both fighters have both the ability and the desire to win the bout. How often does that actually happen on the majority of boxing cards? For some reason we've sleepwalked into a situation where fighters can be built to 20-0 etc without anything resembling a competitive match.

Next time there's a UFC card and a major boxing card on the same evening, take a quid for each and try and pick the winners of both. See how much your quid could get you for getting the UFC card correct (hint, you won't).

Generally, UFC cards are matched extremely well, from top to bottom. There's little in the way of "hot prospect slays Lithuanian journeyman".

But I'd enjoy it while you can. At present, the vast majority of the top fighters are in one organisation - the UFC. In twenty years time maybe MMA will resemble boxing - with a number of well financed organisations splitting the top talent between them.

[Delta Jay]

Is a monopoly a good or bad thing for an industry?

Answering the big question on B&I

[TheLeprechaun]

I feel similar to the OP.

Boxing has been my main sporting love for nearly 30 years, but it's waning, and my interest in the UFC (and to a lesser extent, other MMA organisations) is a large factor in that.

I don't really care how much the top athletes in each sport earn, as I'm not their accountant, I just want to watch well matched contests, where both fighters have both the ability and the desire to win the bout. How often does that actually happen on the majority of boxing cards? For some reason we've sleepwalked into a situation where fighters can be built to 20-0 etc without anything resembling a competitive match.

Next time there's a UFC card and a major boxing card on the same evening, take a quid for each and try and pick the winners of both. See how much your quid could get you for getting the UFC card correct (hint, you won't).

Generally, UFC cards are matched extremely well, from top to bottom. There's little in the way of "hot prospect slays Lithuanian journeyman".

But I'd enjoy it while you can. At present, the vast majority of the top fighters are in one organisation - the UFC. In twenty years time maybe MMA will resemble boxing - with a number of well financed organisations splitting the top talent between them.

Yeah PFL are already paying 1 million to MMA fighters who win their tournament and big money along the way to the losers.

[kbackup408]

I am in the camp that feels both sports can co-exist, not particularly fussed what sport is surpassing the other.

Boxing will always be my first love

[ALI]

Sadly, I concur

The majority of high profile boxing matches, are full as bollocks.

... Hah haha... DULL as bollocks

I think UFC fighters are hungrier generally. They get paid a win bonus which is double their money and they have potential for fight of the night if they can starch their opponent in good fashion. Not only that but a win brings them further along the way. The main events are exciting. I think Jon Jones is going to take a hiding and lose next weekend.

I agree with all of that, other than Reyes giving Jones a hiding. Reyes has looked great thus far, he is dangerous for sure, but Jones is a special kind of talent, and i expect him to shine against the style of Reyes, i think it will bring out the best in him. I think he will bust up Reyes and stop him. Jones KO is my pick.

If you really fancy Reyes strongly, consider there are a lot of interesting betting options with enticing odds on offer. Could be worth a punt then.

[TheLeprechaun]

I think UFC fighters are hungrier generally. They get paid a win bonus which is double their money and they have potential for fight of the night if they can starch their opponent in good fashion. Not only that but a win brings them further along the way. The main events are exciting. I think Jon Jones is going to take a hiding and lose next weekend.

I agree with all of that, other than Reyes giving Jones a hiding. Reyes has looked great thus far, he is dangerous for sure, but Jones is a special kind of talent, and i expect him to shine against the style of Reyes, i think it will bring out the best in him. I think he will bust up Reyes and stop him. Jones KO is my pick.

If you really fancy Reyes strongly, consider there are a lot of interesting betting options with enticing odds on offer. Could be worth a punt then.

I've had a punt on Reyes outright already at good odds. Jones is taking a hiding here for my money. He's ready to go now is Jones.

The other thing I like about the UFC is that the manner of victory is important. Theres very few pulling Hughie Furys in there. The only bad thing is the female fights, which you will get a Hughie pulled more often than not due to the lack of power and general low fight IQ by the women. Most of the male fighters don't come into fights with the intention of pulling a Hughie like you see in some boxing fights. The likes of Danny Garcias performance last weekend would have ensured he was booed out of the cage afterward and he'd be hearing about that kind of performance for a good while afterwards.

[Ricky]

I just tuned in for Andrade vs a bum, because there's nothing better to do on a thursday at 5am. Instead i seen some ludicrous reality TV bullshit between 2 youtube retards that have no place in a boxing ring scurry around it like, well, 2 guys who aren't boxers.

So with the above considered, yes, MMA is overtaking boxing, which now resembles more of a circus than a serious sport.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I agree with all of that, other than Reyes giving Jones a hiding. Reyes has looked great thus far, he is dangerous for sure, but Jones is a special kind of talent, and i expect him to shine against the style of Reyes, i think it will bring out the best in him. I think he will bust up Reyes and stop him. Jones KO is my pick.

If you really fancy Reyes strongly, consider there are a lot of interesting betting options with enticing odds on offer. Could be worth a punt then.

I've had a punt on Reyes outright already at good odds. Jones is taking a hiding here for my money. He's ready to go now is Jones.

The other thing I like about the UFC is that the manner of victory is important. Theres very few pulling Hughie Furys in there. The only bad thing is the female fights, which you will get a Hughie pulled more often than not due to the lack of power and general low fight IQ by the women. Most of the male fighters don't come into fights with the intention of pulling a Hughie like you see in some boxing fights. The likes of Danny Garcias performance last weekend would have ensured he was booed out of the cage afterward and he'd be hearing about that kind of performance for a good while afterwards.

Why is Jones ready to go?

Based on what?

[ALI]

I agree with all of that, other than Reyes giving Jones a hiding. Reyes has looked great thus far, he is dangerous for sure, but Jones is a special kind of talent, and i expect him to shine against the style of Reyes, i think it will bring out the best in him. I think he will bust up Reyes and stop him. Jones KO is my pick.

If you really fancy Reyes strongly, consider there are a lot of interesting betting options with enticing odds on offer. Could be worth a punt then.

I've had a punt on Reyes outright already at good odds. Jones is taking a hiding here for my money. He's ready to go now is Jones.

The other thing I like about the UFC is that the manner of victory is important. Theres very few pulling Hughie Furys in there. The only bad thing is the female fights, which you will get a Hughie pulled more often than not due to the lack of power and general low fight IQ by the women. Most of the male fighters don't come into fights with the intention of pulling a Hughie like you see in some boxing fights. The likes of Danny Garcias performance last weekend would have ensured he was booed out of the cage afterward and he'd be hearing about that kind of performance for a good while afterwards.

Very true, i think its fair to say their wilk never be a Mayweather in the UFC!

[ALI]

I've had a punt on Reyes outright already at good odds. Jones is taking a hiding here for my money. He's ready to go now is Jones.

The other thing I like about the UFC is that the manner of victory is important. Theres very few pulling Hughie Furys in there. The only bad thing is the female fights, which you will get a Hughie pulled more often than not due to the lack of power and general low fight IQ by the women. Most of the male fighters don't come into fights with the intention of pulling a Hughie like you see in some boxing fights. The likes of Danny Garcias performance last weekend would have ensured he was booed out of the cage afterward and he'd be hearing about that kind of performance for a good while afterwards.

Why is Jones ready to go?

Based on what?

I dont see it either.

I thought Santos did very well against him, and their fight warrants a rematch IMO, but i'd expect Jones to win that in better fashion, he has proven he performs very well in rematches.

[ThereByTheGrace]

Nope. Biggest boxing fight will always make more than the cage cuddling type

[Ezzard]

I took a break from boxing in the 90s. Throughout the 1980s I'd been addicted and subscribed to The Ring, KO, World Boxing and Boxing News. I recorded every fight on British TV and started ordering tapes advertised in Boxing News.

In the 90s a combination of SKY TV, Ray Leonard's post-Hagler career and the dreadful business of Roy Jones made me switch off. I cancelled everything and became a casual fan who watched the odd SKY fight at a mate's house.

By 2005 I was very much back in the fold.

Boxing has had a great run in recent years. But it feels like that has come to a natural end and we're in a fallow period before the new cycle begins. I have to say that I think the Ward-Kovalev and Golovkin-Alvarez superfights did a lot of damage to the sport.

My son likes MMA and I watch it for a few minutes but once they start going into holds it just becomes two sweaty, bare-chested men rolling around on the floor. It's not my thing.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Nope. Biggest boxing fight will always make more than the cage cuddling type

Do you watch much MMA?

most successful fighters have good stand-up

[Terminator666]

For me MMA is for people who are not good enough to box -that’s why there are so many Joe Blogs who reckon they are cage fighters

[TheGman]

There are two ways to answer this, for you personally, and as a sport in general.

For myself, a few years ago i would never have entertained this question. I was not a fan of MMA at all. I never watched it and would even talk it down. Around 2015 i got into watching the UFC, and my interest has grown steadily ever since, to the point where i now find myself more regularly hyped to watch UFC fights than boxing matches. How dud it get to this, i wonder?

What has boxing got in the pipeline that i can personally get excited about? Fury v Wilder 2, yes its interesting and i look forward to it, but the build up is all nonsense IMO, quite predictable and boring. Joshua vs Pulev - semi interesting. How long will we wait for the Fury Wilder fights, will they ever happen??? Josh Taylors future has me buzzing, would love to see the Ramirez fight happen soon. Outside of that what else is there. Will Saunders or Smith ever get to fight Canelo, i'm beyond caring to be honest. Maybe they will fight each other, woo hoo. Brook vs who?? he's not done yet, he still wants Khan, he wants Spence rematch, yawn. Golovkin, not really interested anymore. Crawford, great talent, but if no Spence not very exciting times for his career. Mayweather vs Pacman 2, give me a break. The point is, for me personally, there is not much going on in boxing for me to get excited about.

UFC on the other hand, i'm hyped to watch Khabib vs Ferguson, Edwards vs Woodley, Jones vs Reyes, Adesanya vs Romero, and thats all in the next 2 months. I'm hyped to see who McGregor fights next, Masvidal, Khabib, Usman? I'm hyped to see where Covington goes from here, that fight with Usman was electric. I'm hyped to see Jones move up to heavyweight. And the list goes on. And it will all happen soon, with the UFC its almost a guarantee. And unlike with boxing, i enjoy watching the women fights in UFC. Amanda Nunes is a beast. The UFC has so much depth to it and they do it all so well. The build ups to the event nights are entertaining, the cards are stacked, one champion per weight class with less weight classes, the best are made to fight the best all the time. Its always a win win for the fans.

I never thought i would say this, but i am currently more into watching MMA than boxing. And that is comming from a hardcore boxing fan of 25 or so years.

As to the second question, is the UFC surpassing boxing in popularity as a sport? I dont have access to any stats and figures to say one way or the other, probably boxing PPV sells higher numbers, but the UFC PPV events i believe are starting to regularly surpass 1 million buys. McGregor vs Khabib did 2.4 million. Thats huge, and competes with most of boxings biggest events. Sure boxing has a historic, legendary past, with the Ali era, Tyson, etc etc, but where are we now as a sport, and what does the future hold? I feel its declining. The UFC on the other hand is growing rapidly, year on year on year, and i cannot see it slowing down anytime soon. McGregor is arguably the biggest global name in combat sports just now? As far as combat sports go, it seems to me if MMA is not currently number one, it will likely soon knock boxing off from that top spot.

I know many on here will be like i was a few years ago and pay zero attention to the UFC. I still dont know all the moves and techniques, far from it, but i am captivated by it as a combat sport, now i have given it the time it rightly deserves. I am genuinely curious to see if other hardcore boxing fans are gaining interest in the UFC, and if you think MMA is surpassing boxing as the number one combat sport.

Iv gotta say i was like you were back in 2004/5 maybe even a little before that but watched matt hughes vs GSP 1 chuck liddel vs tito 1 and it really got my juices flowing but at the same time there were still big boxing fights getting made like shsne mosley vs DLH DLH vs Hopkins,mayweather vs gatti Barrera vs manny so i was still excited for the 2 sports but say from 2012 ish you would get excited about the whole card of a UFC date rather than just a main event,boxing is getting killed by hearn and sky/frankie and BT plus the fighters thinking they are ppv when in reality they arnt but hearn and co have made these guys think that and also the idiot in the street that gets sucked in by a fake hatred between two boxers selling a ppv. Boxing will always win for me but i love UFC too and there is a market for the 2. So the answer to your question imho is no lol.

[Onetimeonly]

Nope. Biggest boxing fight will always make more than the cage cuddling type

Do you watch much MMA?

most successful fighters have good stand-up

Obviously not, very odd to me that defend boxing mentality. If you don't like it or watch it, why comment on it like you have a clue?

[littlepug]

One is no threat to the other, they’re poles apart, I don’t watch MMA because it’s nothing like the sport that I love and I doubt hardcore MMA fans watch much boxing apart from Wilder/Joshua fights, you won’t see their fans tuning in to see Roman Gonzales next fight or searching out Chavez v Taylor on YouTube, I respect the sport but it doesn’t float my boat.

[jamesmcdonnell]

One is no threat to the other, they’re poles apart, I don’t watch MMA because it’s nothing like the sport that I love and I doubt hardcore MMA fans watch much boxing apart from Wilder/Joshua fights, you won’t see their fans tuning in to see Roman Gonzales next fight or searching out Chavez v Taylor on YouTube, I respect the sport but it doesn’t float my boat.

I watch both, I've been a boxing fan 40 years, but I enjoy MMA cards way more. Far fewer mismatches.

[TheGman]

Nope. Biggest boxing fight will always make more than the cage cuddling type

Do you watch much MMA?

most successful fighters have good stand-up

Randy couture wasnt a good stand up guy and he was double weight world champion,wrestling back ground,you may remember him for putting James Toney's "lights out" lol

[DrDuke]

I don't think, that MMA will ever become as big as boxing. The history of boxing is too rich. I even watched MMA for some time. James Toney introduced it to me. I was watching it for a couple of years since then, but eventually I lost interest in it.

[Onetimeonly]

I don't think, that MMA will ever become as big as boxing. The history of boxing is too rich. I even watched MMA for some time. James Toney introduced it to me. I was watching it for a couple of years since then, but eventually I lost interest in it.

It's been bigger in the States for years.

[Loftgroov]

The best fight the best, there is less value put on padding out records and having zero losses, the production value is better, there are arguably more characters..... yes UFC is firmly surpassing boxing now in my view.

[ThereByTheGrace]

Boxing will always be a bigger sport than mma stuff. Mayweather is a bigger star than any of the mma folk. Pac man and canelo also.

I dont get the hype for it. Its not for me

[Grilling Machine]

I have tried to like MMA but the striking is so horrible it makes me cringe. I love the technique and skill of boxing.

Yeah, I'm no snob when it comes to UFC and I'd like to enjoy it, but the lack of punching skill leaves me cold. I'm probably not much heavier than Khabib and I'd honestly be happy to face him in a 4-rounder with only amateur experience, but in a wrestling match he'd bend me like a noodle.

A lot of boxing skills don't translate TBF — move a certain way and your face might find a foot, but lateral head movement with quality feinting's super rare from what I've seen. McGregor's a noted striker in it. I understand that not being able to stay at boxing range makes it much easier to fall in with punches and generally get untidy, but even making allowances I'm unimpressed by the majority of UFC punching. Movement seems so heavily focused on watching out for kicks that the spatial awareness for punching goes out the window.

And the kicking's of a pretty high standard in fairness, and I do enjoy watching Ferguson, just because he's like someone from a '90s martial arts film. But ultimately, I'd fancy a high-level boxer in his prime with basic grappling skills to do much better in UFC than McGregor did in boxing, and that's why I prefer the latter.