is there a special temperament that draws guys to cage fighting over boxing?

I'm completely unqualified to give you a response to this, unfortunately. I don't really watch or follow MMA at all.

 

This...^

Mma is now pop culture, its the new cool thing to do, its also brilliantly marketed to the wwe crowd. Boxing is very old school, very working class, no special effects no gimics.

 

I concur...^

My love for boxing (stand-up fighting which I was taught as a kid) tends to cloud my judgment...

 

It might be boxing gyms don't exist in as many places as mma or martial studios. A lot of times these cage "fighters" got a late start with mma. Kind of hard to do that in boxing. Reminds me when clint eastwood said in million dollar baby you don't just wake up one day and say you want to be a balerina and you can't wake up one day and say you want to be a boxer. I compare mma and boxing to music. Mma is like rock and pop music. You can pick it up late in age and play a few songs and chords and impress a few people. Boxing is like classical, jazz or more sophisticated. If your going to take this serious and play mozart, beethoven, chopin, bach, gershwin, ellington, monk, etc you better have damned well played your instrument since the age of 6.

 

seth mitchell is all im gonna say

 

who has beat no one, not a good analogy

 

MMA is much safer than boxing. I've trained BJJ for quite a while so I may be biased but if I had to choose I would get in the cage. Boxing, especially if you reach the higher levels, is just about guaranteed to give you serious brain damage.

 

There's always those crazy exceptions like Sergio and Hopkins

 

MMA is bum fights

 

Agility, talent and physical gifts count for a lot more in MMA, but you still need to learn your fundamentals. In boxing you can kind of go into a shell with your hands and move your feet and survive against a physically stronger, more fit opponent if you have a decent level of skill. In MMA, you can't hide and defend like that. It's kill or be killed 99% of the time.

 

That's a great answer.

 

well then, why don't you just toddle on over to the nearest BJJ school and show them how weak they are?

 

Yes, a short attention span.

 

that makes no damn sense. what do they use , 2-4 oz gloves?