Mike Tyson: UFC was kicking our butt

[Jojomojo]

I don't understand. Isn't boxing still more popular than MMA? I hear it both ways.

I think it really depends on how you define popularity. I think in terms of star power its still more popular. More people know Pacman, Mayweather, Fury, Canelo, Joshua than Adensanya, Usman, Stipe or even Jones. The only two exceptions of this are Conor and Khabib, with the later being mostly prominent in muslim communities.

Where boxing really falls off is the second row. Noone give a shit about a paying 60 bucks to see something like Povetkin vs White, unless you are a hardcore boxing fan or in this case have a Dazn subscription. With the UFC thats different. Cards are usually more stacked and fighters who arent world champs still enjoy a decent popularity among fans.
Boxing nowadays is mainly US, latinamerican, russian/easteuropean and britain boxers who attract a decent amount of people from these countries. But in overall market situation so called "third-world" countries become more important and atleast to me it seems like that boxing lost a lot of popularity in these parts of the world since the days of Ali.

 

[wearetheromans]

I just looked it up and Ali vs Spinks II was watched by 2 billion people live.

The world's population at the time was 4.2 billion.

Wtf...

That can't actually be true.

 

[Jojomojo]

Fury is not even a bigger draw than Joshua or Canelo lmao

Joshua is not a bigger draw than Fury lmao. But yeah add other stars like Pacquiao, GGG, Loma, Wilder or Crawford. It doesnt change the fact that it are merely a few faces who sell boxing PPVs, which on top of that are hard to access and full of boring mid tier fights.

 

[ticho123]

Wiki's source for the Ali vs Spinks 2 viewship is iffy to say the least, some book (which doesn't seem to quote a source either) and a paygated news article. But boxing was definitely more popular back then, no questions.

https://books.google.se/books?id=s8ZCwt-l3IoC&pg=PA178&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Boxing isnt dead or dying but its kind of like post-90s Simpsons. Its there, some people still watch it, but nobody is gonna argue that its better or more relevant than it used to be.

 

[wwkirk]

I think it really depends on how you define popularity. I think in terms of star power its still more popular. More people know Pacman, Mayweather, Fury, Canelo, Joshua than Adensanya, Usman, Stipe or even Jones. The only two exceptions of this are Conor and Khabib, with the later being mostly prominent in muslim communities.

Where boxing really falls off is the second row. Noone give a shit about a paying 60 bucks to see something like Povetkin vs White, unless you are a hardcore boxing fan or in this case have a Dazn subscription. With the UFC thats different. Cards are usually more stacked and fighters who arent world champs still enjoy a decent popularity among fans.
Boxing nowadays is mainly US, latinamerican, russian/easteuropean and britain boxers who attract a decent amount of people from these countries. But in overall market situation so called "third-world" countries become more important and atleast to me it seems like that boxing lost a lot of popularity in these parts of the world since the days of Ali.

Thanks.
Let me also ask, on the whole, which brings in greater revenue at present, boxing or MMA?

 

[ralek4grammy]

Some of Ali's best fights were watched live by half the world's population

About as many as those watching stupid Tik Tok videos any day now.

 

[Jojomojo]

Thanks.
Let me also ask, on the whole, which brings in greater revenue at present, boxing or MMA?

Uh thats a hard question to answer. Its heavily dependend on the broadcasting and sponsoring deals that promoters get. Which is mostly stable in the UFC as the biggest revenue MMA org, but with big variations between boxing events. In general i would guess that the big boxing PPVs with about 1 million+ buys generate a lot more than about any MMA event, but there are also a lot more people involved in the payout, because specific contracts are put up for the fighters and their promoters.

As a single individual (fighter or promoter) there is still way more money to make in boxing, IF you are really really really good, just because of the buisness model implemented. In MMA its the org that takes most of the money.

 

[eddi]

The glory days of boxing were something special

Some of Ali's best fights were watched live by half the world's population

I doubt any MMA fight ever reaches those heights

Thats because people didnt know better and equated boxing=fighting, now they know boxers cant fight and are punked in a real complete fight scenario with superior fighters for ex mma.

 

[Stevenseagull53]

Thats because people didnt know better and equated boxing=fighting, now they know boxers cant fight and are punked in a real complete fight scenario with superior fighters for ex mma.

Heres Bj penn koed in street fight by a non boxer. How do you think an actual one would do?

 

[Sharkhunter]

To much marijuana for old mikey

 

[Sharkhunter]

Thats because people didnt know better and equated boxing=fighting, now they know boxers cant fight and are punked in a real complete fight scenario with superior fighters for ex mma.

wow, possibly one of the stupidest comments ive heard. Which is saying something for sherdog

 

[acannxr]

I doubt any MMA fight ever reaches those heights

Another thing to keep in mind about viewership back then: there was less stuff to watch on TV, nowadays there's not only thousands of TV channels but people also watch stuff on their computer that's not even measured by Nielsen ratings.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Wikipedia told me Ali - Spinks II and Ali - Holmes were watched by 2 billion people each

People always claim the World Cup is watched by 3 bil+ people based on similarly arbitrary figures

That's over the course of the whole tournament though, not just the final.

 

[Misanthropist]

Boxing wouldn’t exist in mainstream if UFC/MMA orgs was invented in the 1950s.

All those famous heavyweights would be fighting in the Octagon.

Facts.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Yeah but these days are long gone and boxing pretty much dug its own grave. Nowadays the only real draw is Fury and even that cant hide the outdated buisness, broadcasting and championship models.

What? Canelo, Golovkin, Joshua and Wilder are major draw IMO.

 

[15089371]

The glory days of boxing were something special

Some of Ali's best fights were watched live by half the world's population

I doubt any MMA fight ever reaches those heights

That was a different time tho. Just combat sports in general were a lot more special because it was a lot less available than today.

 

[Sisyphos]

Although I deplore the skill level of these youtube boxers, and the ridiculousness it brings to boxing,
I agree with Tyson that boxing should welcome these youtubers. Because they promote boxing much better than the pros.
Let's be real here, boxing for decades has become a niche sport because it's only technical people fighting, and people don't understand what they're watching. Average people just want to see two men duke it out, that's what boxing was originally about and why I consider it the best combat sport, because it was the most manly way to have two men fight (fists only). Most of the boxers these days also come from mostly third world background, whether its Cuba, latin America, Eastern Europe, etc...So lets be real, people have trouble getting emotionally invested into some highly technical boxer from philipines or Kazakstan. Its not like the old days of Jack Dempsey or Tyson when fighters were all American and exciting.

And I totally disagree with part of the boxing world jumping at this and being all like "buuuut if we allow this there will be injuries and low awareness of danger of boxing, etc". This is just old senile bastards talking. Honestly if you box and step into a ring you should know from the get go that you're risking your life or CTE, sign the fucking waiver and let people fight. Boxing is not a cuddled children sport. It's war. If feels like these old senile promoters wanted too much to legitimise Boxing into the mainstream and forget the nature of boxing.

So yeah, although I really dislike these fuckers Logan & Jake Paul, I have no problem seeing them pummel people in boxing, and I thank them for actually doing this for the sport.

 

[empsim]

The glory days of boxing were something special

Some of Ali's best fights were watched live by half the world's population

I doubt any MMA fight ever reaches those heights

Well most of the world population doesn't know shit about fighting and thinks grappling is boring and gay.

 

[Sisyphos]

Jake Paul is more famous than any UFC fighter

More famous in their own social media world.
IRL nobody knows these people, and esp not in fighting community.
In fighting community, talk about Conor, Mayweather, Tyson, Paccuiao...And people know exactly who they are.