I'm sorry I strayed boxing

[goh]

Re: I'm sorry I strayed boxing

I think the creators of MMA style fighting envisioned a "BLoodsport" type of fighting league, but instead got 2 dudes dry humping for the majority of the fight. I've seen my fair share of boring boxing matches, but UFC fights are just lame IMO. Im not hating on guys that like UFC...just the guys that wear Affliction or Tapout shirts.

Actually MMA origins go all the way back to Pankration in the 648 B.C. olympics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration

[pk500]

Re: I'm sorry I strayed boxing

Im not hating on guys that like UFC...just the guys that wear Affliction or Tapout shirts.

Don't forget the brushcuts and chinstrap beards, either.

[JayBee74]

Re: I'm sorry I strayed boxing

Why does history matter now though? Horse racing has a long storied history and that doesnt make it an interesting sport today. Its nice that I can read about the great fights Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson had but that doesnt do anything about me getting annoyed watching John Ruiz fight.

Point taken. I think I was subconsciously yearning for the Ghost Of Boxing Past, even a young 80's ghost. Still a fan of the sport, but my introduction to boxing started with Ali's comeback against Quarry and continued with such 70 stars as Joe Frasier, George Foreman, Duran, Bob Foster and Carlos Monzon to name a few-tough era to follow.

[aholbert32]

Re: I'm sorry I strayed boxing

I think the creators of MMA style fighting envisioned a "BLoodsport" type of fighting league, but instead got 2 dudes dry humping for the majority of the fight. I've seen my fair share of boring boxing matches, but UFC fights are just lame IMO. Im not hating on guys that like UFC...just the guys that wear Affliction or Tapout shirts.

Thats an interesting perspective but I dont understand it. IMO, these are the things that MMA does better than Boxing:

- More fights on a card: For example, I'm going to Vegas in May and had to decide whether to buy Mayweather/Mosley or UFC 114 tix. Now I'm honestly more excited about the Mayweather fight because it features two of my all time favorite boxers but when comparing the events UFC 114 was the obvious choice. 1) The prices for the Mayweather fight were 100 bucks more than the UFC fight. 2) There are fighters on the UFC undercard that interest me (Unlike the PBF undercard with Matthew Hatton) 3) I get 12 fights on the UFC and 4 on the PBF fight. It was a no brainer.

- Clear champions. There are no diamond belts, intercontental champions or super champions in MMA.

- Limited weight classes. Self explanatory.

- In most cases, the best fighters fight each other: With the exception of Fedor, most of the well known and best fighters fight in one league and fight each other. The only way that happens in boxing is if they have the same promoter or the promoters are getting along that week.

-More first round KOs. I've watched every major US MMA card in the last 3 yrs. I can only recall one card that didnt have at least one exciting first round finish. The last quick KO I saw on a major boxing card was Pac/Hatton which was over a year ago.

- The pace: Both sports have their low points. I would rather put a bullet in my head than watch John Ruiz or Valuev hold the entire fight. I feel the same way about watching Jon Fitch or Mark Coleman do the same thing in MMA. The difference is boxing has 12 rounds while MMA has 3 (5 if a championship fight). Its a difference between watching someone hug for 36 minutes or watching for 15. Both are bad but I would prefer to watch for a shorter amount of time.

Here are the things I think boxing is better at than MMA:

- History: MMA cant compete with a sport that most people over 25 were raised on. People like Jaybee will give boxing the benefit of the doubt when there are a bad string of fights because they can thing back to great fights in the past and know that you never know when another great one will occur.

MMA doesnt have that much rope. They cant afford to have a string of bad events when its trying to attract new fans.

-Ability to create mega stars- People were saying boxing was dying back when Oscar was in his prime. They claimed he would be the last big superstar. What happened? PBF and Pac became mega stars. Same thing will happen once they retire. MMA hasnt been able to create a superstar on that level yet.

[Vast]

Re: I'm sorry I strayed boxing

^
Good Post,

Agree on all points.

If Fedor would sign with the UFC and defeat Brock, he would definitely become a superstar.

[allBthere]

Re: I'm sorry I strayed boxing

Rampage can wrestle so that may not be a good idea. Just look at the Rampage/Henderson fight.

My point is that standing could be a worse idea - just look at the wandy/page fight.

Seeing Rashad's most recent fight points towards 'octagon control'.

What would you tell Rashad to do?

I think I'd tell him to dance and pot shot in and out from the outside AND go for takedowns - even if he does get them, Rampage has to respect the shot giving Rashad more openings, if he can take down 'page, he can steal rounds via the shippy scoring we often see.