Why Do Some Boxing Fans Feel The Need To Take Shots At MMA?

Question

I grew up a huge fan of boxing. when I was fourteen i saw my first UFC tournament. i was hooked immediatley. that being said at no point did i ever forget or stop being a fan of boxing. it seems the more popular MMA gets the more boxing fans feel the need to open up about whats wrong with mixed martial arts. before the UFC came to america most MMA fighters made their living in japan. when a promotion opened up state side the american fighters came home. however people make assumptions that these fighters have no history with their sport simply because they have not heard of them.I've also heard extremely racist comments regarding the fact that their are a lot of white fighters in MMA. as if to say that the white fighters can't cut it in boxing so they jump over to MMA.

okay so you read through my thesis. this is what i think. all boxers have a punchers chance in an MMA match, however, an elite boxer is no match for an elite martial artist, in a mixed martial arts match.and vice versa

Answer 1

I think a lot of it is a reaction to the huge amount of press the sports media has given to MMA (really only the UFC) in the past 2 years.  I don't think most boxing people would go out of their way to take a shot at it, but when any boxing conversation with a general sports fan starts to automatically involve a questions or comparissons to MMA you're going to have some cheap shots taken (see the first two answers here).

Answer 2

ufc is a some dudes rolling around shirtless with each other. its horrible

Answer 3

dana white took the first swing(having a failed boxing career)with a personal vandetta against boxing. so he started running  his mouth saying "boxing is dead", well he pissed alot of people off!!!. even joe rogan would say during fights that boxers couldn't achive wins in the octagon. hearing it over and over the people who only watch mma and not boxing started the bashing trend. but butterbean is doing well and  so is jermey williams, but these guys careers dried up in boxing, so they moved to there last resort- mma.

Answer 4

I think boxers and boxing in general feels threatened by the sudden rise in popularity of mixed martial arts. MMA is something relatively new to us in the U.S. and it's catching on because you need to be good at a few different fighting styles (wrestling, jiu jitsu, boxing, muay thai, etc.), rather than just your fists. There are more dimensions to it. Nothing against boxing, I still love it, but MMA does require a wider set of skills.

Though MMA is catching on, its fight cards still cannot generate as much money as most boxing PPV cards, so the  boxing industry shouldn't worry at all. However, quality boxing needs to return to mainstream TV networks that don't require you to dish out extra money every month. UFC, for example, is broadcast on channels like Spike TV; World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) is broadcast on Versus; but quality boxing is usually only shown on HBO and Showtime.

Either way, I think both sports are great and both have a tremendous appeal to sports fans.

As to white fighters jump to UFC because they can't cut it in boxing: I don't think that's necessarily true. But we are seeing a lot more diversity in UFC, especially with champs like Anderson Silva from Brazil and many other foreign fighters.

And I agree with your thesis. Look at Tommy Morrison's MMA fight from a while back. The contract stipulated that they could not take the fight to the ground, so Morrison KO'd his opponent. However, had they fought a real MMA fight, Tommy would've gotten his butt kicked.

Answer 5

I agree with the guy that posted before me.  That, and the MMA contestants always vieing for a position called "Full Mount", just seems kind of non-hetero to me.

But seriously, we don't take popshots at MMA, we just counter punch when MMA knuckleheads come around making claims they hope are true, but aren't true.  MMA fans are like that pesty, envious little step-brother desperate for some kind of acknowledgement from big brother.