inflated a little? the global population was 4b......
Is/was MMA ever bigger than boxing?
- Thread starter The Chosen
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Boxing reached a peak in the 90's. Every show, they would have guys on there and you soon knew them... kind of like how UFC does it now. I watched every Boxing After Dark show and pretty much knew 100 names in boxing. I went to many fight parties (boxing PPV at friend's) back then. Now, probably been to maybe 2 (boxing) in the last 15 years. OTOH, been to maybe 10 on the MMA side.
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I think the highest level boxing superstars, the 2 or 3 of them out there are probably more visible than the highest level MMA superstars, considering at the moment there just aren't that many because guys like Bones, and Conor are so inactive right now, the current roster of champions hasn't quite caught on yet with the public at large in the way that guys like GSP, and Anderson Silva did when they were on top. I think fighters like Usman, and Nunes, and Francis, and Bullet can be superstars but the UFC needs to put the hype machine behind them even more than they are.
HOWEVER, as a whole, it's clear that MMA is bigger than boxing, like the entire entity of both sports? MMA by far has a larger reach right now.
HOWEVER, as a whole, it's clear that MMA is bigger than boxing, like the entire entity of both sports? MMA by far has a larger reach right now.
These guys are an established data analytics firm that works with the NFL, NBA, English Premier League, etc.
They are saying boxing (as a sport) is 4th in America right now as far as popularity with the youth and is growing at the same rate as Soccer in the US.
https://twocircles.com/us-en/articles/boxing-genz-star-stories/
Significantly, the study found that one-in-three (32%) sports fans in Gen Z2 is an avid boxing fan compared to 6% of Boomer sports fans, and whereas boxing ranks as Boomers’ 11th favorite sport, it ranks as number four for Gen Z. Fight sports counterpart MMA is Gen Z’s sixth favorite sport (ranking 12th for Boomers).
The popularity of boxing is driven by several key factors related to Gen Z behavior, also identified in the study. Firstly, Gen Z is more inclined to follow individual athletes compared to older generations – 33% of Gen Z sports fans following specific athletes versus 25% of Boomer fans.
Also, based on 2019 numbers, boxing was still the most watched Combat Sport in America, even the countdown/training camp shows pull in huge ratings.
“For the 2019 calendar year, PBC Fight Night telecasts on FOX averaged 1,403,000 viewers.
Those figures are up:
+12% over 2018’s average of 1,254,000 viewers (4 tcs).
+103% better than ESPN’s average for Top Rank Boxing telecasts (vs. 692,000 viewers)
+35% better than ESPN’s UFC Fight Night
In 2019, Americans consumed over 2.1 billion minutes of PBC Fight Night on FOX, which was plus-147% more than last year’s 849 million (PBC FOX telecasts only).
What really stood out was FOX’s additional shoulder programming. Specifically, the Fight Camp series. The last Deontay Wilder–Luis Ortiz episode set FOX viewership records with almost 2.5-million watching, as well as the Countdown, Face To Face, and Inside PBC Boxing shows.
What’s aided this is how FOX has packaged its broadcasts. It was tough to miss Shawn Porter’s visit to the FOX’s NFL Sunday studio with Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan during Week 3 of the NFL season. It served as a nice crossover push to Porter’s much-anticipated fight against Errol Spence Jr. in September.
Above everything else, it’s what FOX did best, giving the fighters a face at mainstream sports events like Sunday NFL Games, Thursday Night Football, baseball games and WWE events in promoting big fights”
I think we live in a UFC bubble.
They are saying boxing (as a sport) is 4th in America right now as far as popularity with the youth and is growing at the same rate as Soccer in the US.
https://twocircles.com/us-en/articles/boxing-genz-star-stories/
Significantly, the study found that one-in-three (32%) sports fans in Gen Z2 is an avid boxing fan compared to 6% of Boomer sports fans, and whereas boxing ranks as Boomers’ 11th favorite sport, it ranks as number four for Gen Z. Fight sports counterpart MMA is Gen Z’s sixth favorite sport (ranking 12th for Boomers).
The popularity of boxing is driven by several key factors related to Gen Z behavior, also identified in the study. Firstly, Gen Z is more inclined to follow individual athletes compared to older generations – 33% of Gen Z sports fans following specific athletes versus 25% of Boomer fans.
Also, based on 2019 numbers, boxing was still the most watched Combat Sport in America, even the countdown/training camp shows pull in huge ratings.
“For the 2019 calendar year, PBC Fight Night telecasts on FOX averaged 1,403,000 viewers.
Those figures are up:
+12% over 2018’s average of 1,254,000 viewers (4 tcs).
+103% better than ESPN’s average for Top Rank Boxing telecasts (vs. 692,000 viewers)
+35% better than ESPN’s UFC Fight Night
In 2019, Americans consumed over 2.1 billion minutes of PBC Fight Night on FOX, which was plus-147% more than last year’s 849 million (PBC FOX telecasts only).
What really stood out was FOX’s additional shoulder programming. Specifically, the Fight Camp series. The last Deontay Wilder–Luis Ortiz episode set FOX viewership records with almost 2.5-million watching, as well as the Countdown, Face To Face, and Inside PBC Boxing shows.
What’s aided this is how FOX has packaged its broadcasts. It was tough to miss Shawn Porter’s visit to the FOX’s NFL Sunday studio with Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan during Week 3 of the NFL season. It served as a nice crossover push to Porter’s much-anticipated fight against Errol Spence Jr. in September.
Above everything else, it’s what FOX did best, giving the fighters a face at mainstream sports events like Sunday NFL Games, Thursday Night Football, baseball games and WWE events in promoting big fights”
I think we live in a UFC bubble.
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Not according to the most recent studies, it’s actually the boomers that abandoned it. The youth (Millennials and even more the Gen Z) are into it, more so than a lot of sports, MMA included. The youth has abandoned baseball in America while embracing boxing.
I don’t think those are fair comparisons. The ufc puts out a lot more content than PBC and just comparing to fight nights isn’t a good comparison. Some prelims for ppv’s average more than 1m.
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You claim these guys are super reputable but nobody has ever heard of two circles, the article links to a video with 325 views, the Tweets have basically no attention. When it comes to their actual methods of coming to this conclusion, they say the survey was conducted with 6000 people which isnt a particularly large sample group, they also dont go into detail on exactly WHAT they asked, or the exact demographic breakdown (age, race, location etc etc) of the people they asked. And we dont know if these results are tainted by recent celebrity/novelty boxing so people that watched a Paul brother box are now listed as "avid boxing fans"
As for PBCs numbers, you're comparing network television to cable. Notice how (as per your own numbers) when the UFC and boxing are on the same network (Top Rank in this case) the UFC does better ratings.
If boxing really was more popular among young people, why do UFC fighters have much larger social media followings than boxers on average? why does UFC content do much bigger numbers on Youtube etc? why hasnt there been a boxing video game in a decade? why does Reddit MMA have HALF A MILLION more subscribers than Reddit boxing?
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Didn't know that.
You can’t be serious. It’s a sports based data analytics company....you’re not supposed to know about them. They don’t deal with the public nor cater to retail. You won’t know about them unless you work for the operations department of a sports league and are in charge of allocating funds towards marketing and sales based on market trends.
There are much much larger b2b companies and corporations in this world that none of us have “heard of” because they don’t cater to the public/retail, does the fact that you haven’t “heard of” those companies mean anything? You can look at who they’ve worked with on their site, linkedin etc. So let me ask you this again, why are you supposed to know about them when they have nothing to offer you or me, unless we own or run a major sports team or league.
https://twocircles.com/us-en/clients/
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Boxing has a significantly lower barrier of entry. A person can start their boxing career with a few months basic training if they have decent athleticism. MMA requires a vast multitude of skillsets, and by extension, a lot more gear, training time, coaches, gym fees, etc.
Last KO Gervonta had trended number 1 on youtube for 24 hours. He is not the biggest name yet. But there is still buzz for this next event as well, the below video will easily hit 2.5 M views on youtube and it has only been a couple of weeks. We live in an MMA bubble.
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r/MMA - 1.6 million subscribers
r/Boxing - 1 million subscribers
MMA has 1.6 times the popularity of boxing right now based off reddit. I don't think either of those boards are any better than the other.
r/Boxing - 1 million subscribers
MMA has 1.6 times the popularity of boxing right now based off reddit. I don't think either of those boards are any better than the other.
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For Japan and Korea I would assume boxing for Japan and MMA for Korea. Korea used to produce world champion boxers in the 70s and 80s and then they stopped participating as the country grew richer and the sport was seen as barbaric. MMA isn't looked upon favorably there either but there seems to be more MMA fighters coming out of there over the past decade or so. For Japan it seems like MMA was a fad in the early to mid 2000s, but they're still producing some top level boxers.
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In North America I feel MMA at the moment has surpassed boxing in terms of popularity. Since I was in school, I have NEVER encountered a boxing fan but I have encountered a couple of MMA fans ranging from hardcores to casuals. Most people I talked to in high school back in the day couldn't name me one boxer aside from Mayweather or Mike Tyson.
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Lol @ gentleman's agreement. When someone gets knocked down it's PRIDE rules all day baby.
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That's a big part of why it's seen as barbaric.
I don't agree. Boxing has the advantage of being around for a lot longer. But mma is a truly global sport, while boxing is a product of british/american culture. MMA gets knowledge developed accross centuries in different cultures. It has the potential to be culturally relevant on a global scale.
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Here is Boxings biggest star waiting like a good little boy and behaving himself for Nate/Jorge to end. Dana was nice enough to let the PPV air for boxing fans while they wait.
960 × 667https://www.mmamania.com/2019/12/1/...delaying-his-fights-for-ufc-244-diaz-masvidal
Who's the bitch again???
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