I'm a boxing fan, and a crazy one. I thought I'd poke in and thrown down an honest opinion on the whole boxing v. MMA debate, and give you a perspective that does not come from the "lol tight shorts...gay..." school of thought.
I actually do really, REALLY like mixed martial arts. When I watch the ability to control that a skilled grappler has, the placement and setups and combinations of someone who really knows how and when to throw kicks - it's all great in my eyes. Even when the guys are up against the cage pummeling for underhooks or fighting for position on the ground - It's still obvious that there's an enormous amount of tactic and skill being displayed.
That being said, I'll watch even just a "decent' boxing card before a great MMA card if they are conflicting in time. In the end of the day, boxing for me, is just a more pleasing sport. A lot of MMA fans like to talk about how MMA is a more "complete" sport because it's not restricted to the hands, and that's fucking retarded. You wouldn't tell a tennis player that Basketball is a more complete sport because you can throw the ball too...apples and oranges. One is not superior to another simply because of a difference in rules. Of course the comparison is inevitable because they are both combat sports with the objective being out fighting the opponent, but in my opinion I think a lot of the beauty and skill in boxing is BECAUSE of the restriction, because a fighter only has his two hands and his legs to move and fight, I think there's a level of mastery and grace in that itself. It's simply more pleasing to me.
You're going to get a lot of animosity from boxing fans because MMA, the UFC especially is doing very well. A lot of them feel threatened. In my opinion, they shouldn't. As I said before, we're talking about COMPLETELY different sports. The UFC does some great things, there are some obvious problems with having a dominant promotion under which the majority of the popular fights take place, but there are some great benefits to that as well. Were this the case in boxing, we'd have seen Mayweather v. Pacquiao long ago. What you don't get in the UFC is the sense of gravity in a huge fight. Of course, the Rampage v. Rashads and the Brock vs. Carwin and Silva v. Sonnen fights of late generate a good deal of hype and are definitely exciting to see play out - but in boxing BECAUSE of the difficulties of promotion and BECAUSE of the scarcity of mega fights if and when Mayweather and Pacquiao finally do meet - the event TRANSCENDS to fight community and becomes an EVENT for everyone. There's an enormity and gravity to the whole thing that doesn't exist yet in MMA.
Maybe it's historical context. We've been watching boxers duke it out here in America since before we were watching baseball. It's in the grain of our culture, and that of most other places in the world - maybe MMA will get there one day, but for now, it just doesn't compete in that way.
I actually do really, REALLY like mixed martial arts. When I watch the ability to control that a skilled grappler has, the placement and setups and combinations of someone who really knows how and when to throw kicks - it's all great in my eyes. Even when the guys are up against the cage pummeling for underhooks or fighting for position on the ground - It's still obvious that there's an enormous amount of tactic and skill being displayed.
That being said, I'll watch even just a "decent' boxing card before a great MMA card if they are conflicting in time. In the end of the day, boxing for me, is just a more pleasing sport. A lot of MMA fans like to talk about how MMA is a more "complete" sport because it's not restricted to the hands, and that's fucking retarded. You wouldn't tell a tennis player that Basketball is a more complete sport because you can throw the ball too...apples and oranges. One is not superior to another simply because of a difference in rules. Of course the comparison is inevitable because they are both combat sports with the objective being out fighting the opponent, but in my opinion I think a lot of the beauty and skill in boxing is BECAUSE of the restriction, because a fighter only has his two hands and his legs to move and fight, I think there's a level of mastery and grace in that itself. It's simply more pleasing to me.
You're going to get a lot of animosity from boxing fans because MMA, the UFC especially is doing very well. A lot of them feel threatened. In my opinion, they shouldn't. As I said before, we're talking about COMPLETELY different sports. The UFC does some great things, there are some obvious problems with having a dominant promotion under which the majority of the popular fights take place, but there are some great benefits to that as well. Were this the case in boxing, we'd have seen Mayweather v. Pacquiao long ago. What you don't get in the UFC is the sense of gravity in a huge fight. Of course, the Rampage v. Rashads and the Brock vs. Carwin and Silva v. Sonnen fights of late generate a good deal of hype and are definitely exciting to see play out - but in boxing BECAUSE of the difficulties of promotion and BECAUSE of the scarcity of mega fights if and when Mayweather and Pacquiao finally do meet - the event TRANSCENDS to fight community and becomes an EVENT for everyone. There's an enormity and gravity to the whole thing that doesn't exist yet in MMA.
Maybe it's historical context. We've been watching boxers duke it out here in America since before we were watching baseball. It's in the grain of our culture, and that of most other places in the world - maybe MMA will get there one day, but for now, it just doesn't compete in that way.
