Has the UFC Surpassed Boxing as the Premiere Combat Sport? Will Randy Couture vs James Toney Prove It at UFC 118?

but to use this as some sort of victory for MMA if Couture wins is silly. However, it IS a victory for boxing somewhat as Couture is just 2 year away from being a champion and Toney did beat him at his sport.

MMA, Fuck Yeah!

…..but with Mayweather and Pacquaio type fights they can hold their own and surpass the UFC. The only problem is, after PBF and Pacman boxing has NOTHING even close to the horizon. They just can’t compete with the UFC’s organization.

Boxers at the highest level are like baseball guys. They are all concerned with history and tradition and legacy. The guys who fight in the UFC know they have to fight 3 to 5 times a year and they know they will lose at some point. They just put their heads down and go to work.

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao will for sure be one of the biggest events any combat sport could hope to happen. It will also be a gift and a curse for boxing as it’s the very last highly intruiging matchup left on the horizon; at this point just the conversation surrounding this fight is keeping a large number of the public still interested in the sport. Like Black Lesnar said if Toney losses he was just washed up and fans will discount it, if Couture losses despite being “weathered” himself it’s a huge confirmation for the boxing elitests that their sport reigns supreme.

The reason we can’t be great at soccer is because there’s no infrastructure that allows people in urban areas and other impoverished people access to the sport, so that they’re playing at the same time they’re learning three-syllable words.

MMA (good MMA, I should clarify) also takes a lot of money to get into, to get those BJ Penn types. Boxing has roots that MMA has yet to develop, so it doesn’t suck in those vast amounts of natural athletes like boxing can.

I just watched PTI today on ESPN and they shoved UFC to the very end of the broadcast right before the “errors and whatever you’re gonna watch on TV” parts.

It was a “Farewell” to Carwin after loosing to Brock Saturday. Wilbon bitched like always about how it’s terrible and he hates it (the UFC and MMA in general). “Show me some boxing and I’ll be ok. Boxing I can get behind, not this garbage” Something along those lines.

I was never a fan of boxing and could care less about Pacman/Floyd. I think boxing has that match and not a lot else from what I can see.

but I guess Toney trolled himself into it and I don’t blame White for making the fight.

I had a similar discussion today after watching ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption…

Wilbon was saying how he hates MMA (very typical) and how he’ll always chose boxing.

But I have several friends who watch UFC PPV’s about 5 times a year, not every month like me. They also purchase the biggest boxing cards (Mayweather, Pacman, old Tyson cards etc..) But I asked them today “can you now recognize the names of some of the UFC guys who arent headlining their PPV’s?” And they now can. Leben, Bonner, Grove all stood out to my casual fan friends saturday night as fighters that they recognized… Hmmm, I wonder how they knew those guys…?

I then asked “have you ever recognized a name of a boxer on the undercard of a boxing PPV?” I believe I then heard a single pin drop.

The UFC has BRAND EQUITY… something boxing hasnt ever had. And thanks to TUF, they have funnel to continue to grow that equity.

Personally, I think Doyle’s wrong about Mayweather vs Pacquiao. If that fight gets made in the next 18 months, it’s far bigger than anything on the horizon in MMA.

I have spoken to some of the network people here, and they have said that the superfight against Floyd Mayweather have been agreed upon, and is all but signed.

I don’t have numbers for everything, but I’ve heard some payout numbers for top level fighters. Boxing still brings in much more money than MMA does at the top levels. Pacquiao was given a guaranteed $12 million to fight Clottey, a fight that was not expected to be (nor was it) as competitive as Lesnar-Carwin was (Lesnar being, most likely, the premier name in MMA right now), and Lesnar’s guaranteed take was $400,000. That’s a big difference in revenue. If Pacquiao and Mayweather fight, we’re looking at least at $20 million per fighter…and probably a whole lot more.

MMA is a much more consistant product, boxing has a much better top level…right now. If MMA keeps getting the PPV numbers it has been, though (I’ll be very interested to see where UFC 116 comes in), it will most likely get move money from the networks, and from site fees, and the like. Fighter payouts will go up. They will attract more athletes to the sport…and it grows. I think MMA is still growing, and stories of boxing’s demise are sorely overstated…but even if boxing doesn’t decline, more big PPV events like this last one could see MMA taking over in the next year or two.

:)

Of course. As a combat sport, boxing is far too limited. It’s like turning only the slam-dunk contest or home-run derby into a sport all on it’s own. Sure, they’re entertaining, but not a complete sport – just doing one thing well at the expense of all other related skills.

Specialization is for insects!

I absolutely love to hear him say that they are going to make an example out of James Toney. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

Boxing, kickboxing, submission grappling, wrestling, judo—they are all pretty darn thrilling to watch. MMA offers the obvious intrigue of putting various skill-sets all into play at once, but each of these activities offers it’s own possibilities and interest even on their own.

I’m not saying everybody should like everything, but I scratch my head at the condescending tone fans of one recently—if not still—niche sport can hold with regard to some intensely related sports.

or his trademark legbar

Modern boxing is just so dull. I know it’s sort of a lame argument but an example is the heavyweight division. It is one of the most unwatchable sporting events today and it’s so pitiful to see.

Boxing is also making itself mostly accessible to paying customers. There are no more shows on ABC, CBS, or NBC and most of the meaningful matches have been chucked to digital premium channels or PPV. They’re the masters of their own disappearance into the background.

MMA is a more diverse form of combat and is far more accessible to the TV viewing public than boxing. Strikeforce (for the time being) has the odd show on CBS, Bellator is on FSN, UFC is on Spike, and Versus, and the WEC is on Versus. Bellator allows their fights to be shown on Youtube, the UFC has a website where you can watch 11 full seasons of TUF.

On the topic of UFC…..their PPVs are far better than boxing and you get better value for your buck. Compare a card like UFC 84 to Pacquiao vs. Clottey. Wandy, Ortiz, Machida, Sherk, and Penn are all fighting on the same night. High-end boxing PPVs like Pacman/Clottey or Mayweather/Mosley are so main-event heavy and most of the undercard bouts are complete junk. When is the last time boxing had a pay-per-view filled with great fights from top-to-bottom? To go to the free-TV level when is the last time boxing had a Rampage/Henderson type of fight on ESPN or FSN?

I think MMA organizations, especially the UFC, learned from boxing’s television and marketing flaws, took advantage of it, and are getting more mainstream coverage than they ever did.

Boxing vs MMA, not UFC. That gets to me so much.

for the simple reason that Toney has not been anywhere near the top 10 heavyweights for about 3 years now.
Now,if he manages to beat Couture that will be a massive deflation for the UFC hype machine after an old,shot Ray Mercer annihilated a top 10 MMA heavy in Tim ‘Big Douche’ Sylvia.
It would be so nice to see dick face Dana eat his words. :)