You guys think MMA will be bigger than boxing?

No...

 

Probably not in this lifetime.

 

Unless they develop a true amatuer system or get it added to the Olympics....I actually think MMA has peaked. It is probably all downhill from here.

 

The last year has not been good for MMA.

Their top fighters have lost. Now you have a former WWE Champ and two guys who can barely speak english as champ.

They have no real prospects and TUF isnt serious MMA proving grounds.

The popularity will wane especially if more guys retire (Penn, Silva etc), no one will top Tito/Liddell or Randy as far as PPV goes. Not even UFC 100.

MMA has peaked but it will continue. What I see of MMA is going the way of professional kickboxing. Not truly mainstream but Professionally ran

 

if more Ray Mercer scenarios happen, then no.

I never look at the marketing side when it comes to comparing boxing and mma.

I think ppl are more interested at who would win in a actual fight.Right now mma is winning.

kick boxing never pin boxer vs KB in its early growth and it failed.

If more boxers blend to mma and start to pull off flukes like Mercer did.

Then the public will view boxing as a style that allows punchers chance to any average joe.

Think about it, a average person could never learn enough mma to beat a world class mma fighter.But they can learn enough boxing to pull off a fluke or the one punch knock out, which has the death touch appeal to it.

 

No

Plus MMA is a long way from it's prime years IMO.

IT's only been in the last 8/10 years we have had the mixed martial artists who can do every aspect of the sport to high level(Like GSP, Fedor, BJ Penn, A. Silva etc.)

The sport is always evolving and i think it will be a long time till we get a 'golden era'.

 

In some way it has already eclipsed boxing. I don't know the hard facts but I'll bet that they have more fans in thier target demograph (18 - 30 year old white males) then boxing currently.

Overall though boxing is still the number 1 combat sport in the world despite what Dana White says.

 

No time soon I don't think but I've seen an awful lot of people on here (myself included) that have said "I'm just starting get in to mma....." I enjoy both of them, at the end of the day a fight is a fight.

 

Bingo. I started a thread on this some time ago and got flipped off by the UFC frat boys. An amateur system will NOT get approved by the IOC. **** look at the mess they turned boxing into. You think they'll approve MMA? Plus MMA already has aspects of itself in the Olympics IE: TKD, Wrestling, Judo, Karate, Boxing etc. They all compete under there own banner. Because of this i doubt well ever see a "true" amateur system. As far as im concerned MMA's light has already shone bright. Im not optimistic for its future as all the stars have gotten older and none have been replaced.

 

You havent been watching MMA that long have you. Take it you never saw any of the PRIDE shows? Or even the early UFC's? Its Golden Era has already come and gone.

 

MMA HAS NOT eclipsed boxing. A bunch of UFC frat boys is hardly an indication of that or Dana trying to use the SPORT of Boxing as leverage. Boxing is far more lucrative, more entrenched socially as well as historically and far more pervasive globally. MMA (not the UFC) isnt even close to that yet. The UFC is yet to be a hit in the East and because of shrewd marketing has only made edgeways in places like the UK because of TUF and there "push" for Micheal Bisping. To be honest the UFC reminds me alot of WWE/OVW. Its just one big marketing gimmick with the shoulders of the brand resting on a few fighters.

 

atsch

 

Not quite. If Zuffa can match the genius of McMahon, then I see MMA having a steady profitable future for a long time. The problem is that they need more guys like Brock and less guys like Swick, Fitch etc etc who has as much charisma as a piece of cardboard.

But heres the dilemma, you have to choose, guys like Brock or guys like MAia? Id say the former. This is what Pride did, they developed interesting characters, Look no further than Sakuraba, Wand, Sapp or how they portrayed Rickson as some samurai against Takada, Funaki etc., there was always a subplot and drama and it was great entertainment.

Id say go for entertainment just like WWE because as a sport, it will not be taken seriously at the same level as lets say Boxing or Hockey. And frankly Id rather see the UFC go the way of WWE than Sanshou.

 

When i say there comparable im talking about how they "push" popular fighters for there brand that is all. If Dana had a fraction of the business acumen Vince possess's the UFC would have kept PRIDE longterm it would have made far more sense. Facts remain this sport is about entertainment first. That is all that matters and is why PRIDE was so succesful. Apart from having the best fighters in the world at the time it was all about the show the entertainment the rivalry Bushido etc. The UFC on the other hand is like a stale keg of beer producing non descript products from TUF and then marketing the life out of guys who wouldnt have been good enough to hold a Prime Sakuraba's spit bucket.