Mixed Martial Arts Vs Boxing

By Scott Burgess

The rise of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting has all but knocked out boxing. With MMA groups like Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Pride and BodogFight the level of skill and excitement has risen way above anything boxing can produce. Here are my thoughts on why MMA is taking over the fighting entertainment industry.

Boxing was once a multi-million dollar business with the best boxers in the world providing excitement and skill in the ring. Since back in the day when boxers like Muhammad Ali, George Forman and Sugar Ray Leonard fought there was such a build up to the fight that the whole world anxiously waited for the fight to happen. People all over the world would sit around there TV’s watching the fight of the year. Then a decade later we had heavy weights like Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield. They were big exciting controversial boxers that pounded the shit out of each other. They provided good action and heavy knockouts. After these boxers retired or faded out we lost boxers with size and moved to boxers with skill like Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley and Roy Jones JR. This era of boxing was great but it always ended in a decision and this created controversy; oh this person should have won. It kind of started to take the fun out of watching boxing and people were getting tired of paying $50 for a crappy ending with no KO.

Then in 1993 along comes this Ultimate Fighting Championship where eight men are pitted against each other in a caged octagon ring in a winner takes all tournament. There were only two rules, no eye gouging and no biting. You could do anything else to win. To get the win you either knocked your opponent out or submitted him. There were many different styles of fighting, anywhere from Karate and Kung Fu, to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, to Muay Thai and Bar Room Brawling. That’s why it’s so good because anybody who had fighting experience had a chance. When it first started there were a lot of mismatched fights, and guys were getting knock the F%*K out! This is great entertainment. People started paying to watch these fights and with the media putting a negative spin on it, UFC blew up.

In 2001 UFC was sold to new owners and Dana White was named president. Dana White is responsible for making UFC and other MMA events so popular today. Dana White is the Don King of boxing. He changed the rules so that there were two fighters competing for the win, instead of a tournament style fight. Also there would be 6-7 fights on a pay-per-view event. So that means on a pay-per-view event you have the chance to see 6-7 people get knocked out or submitted. Unlike boxing where you watch 12 rounds of boxing to get a lame decision. Dana White decided to increase the popularity of UFC even more by introducing The Ultimate Fighter reality show in which the winner gets a contract to fight in the UFC and a shot at stardom. This show has a firm grip on guys in the age range of 18-34. It has been recorded that, in this age range, the show’s ratings have surpassed NBA and MLB playoffs. As for the pay-per-view money, in 2006 the UFC made $223M, HBO made $177M and WWE made $200M. Dana Whites definitely doing something right. Fighters are getting more popular than ever as their fan base increases. With popular fighters like Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Diego Sanchez the level of entertainment has risen.

So why is UFC more popular than boxing? It’s simple. People want to see fighters get their face punched in. Fans want blood, pain, knockouts and broken limbs. That’s the beauty of the sport too; you never know for sure who will win. All it takes is someone to get a lucky shot in and his opponent drops like a sack of potatoes. Boxing hasn’t produced that in a long time. That’s not to say UFC has its faults. Sometimes fighters are a little reluctant to jump in and start brawling, their cautious. In Pride fighting there is a yellow card system in which fighters are penalized money, from their winnings, for not fighting. I believe this system needs to be implemented because there have been a few fights that weren’t entertaining. The fighters just walked around each other for 15 minutes waiting for the perfect time to strike. This is not fun for the fans watching at home and the fans in the stands will let you know that their displeased. UFC recently purchased Pride fighting and they’re going to start bringing in Pride fighters to fight in the UFC. This will be the undoing of boxing. Pride has some of the biggest, strongest and deadliest fighters in the world and that’s going to draw in huge ratings and fans. So say goodbye to boring boxing and say hello to MMA and UFC.