I am a boxing aficionado and student as well. I love learning about the the Ezzard Charles' and Emile Griffiths' of boxing as much as watching a classic boxing match. There for I concede I am bias in my comparison of boxing and mixed martial arts. However, I am a sports fan in general and can appreciate most sports. I respect the athletisim of mma fighters and am particularly fond of the mastery of multiple martial art techniques some mma fighters posess. But yet I struggle to watch a MMA match and fail to comprehend the ethusiasm of it's rapidly growing fan base. So I ask my fellow sweet science loyalist to give me an comprehensive argument pro mixed martial arts, and why boxing fans should embrace it. Your help is respected and appreciated.
It's an art of multiple arts. So many disciplines apply to MMA. While with boxing, you just get striking.
Boxing is the way of warriors.... two men trying to beat the other with their fists, toe to toe, on their feet. Its a sport of heart, soul, and chin, its a sport of power, speed, and accuracy, It iss a sport of toughness, intelligance, timing, and skills, and through these, boxing finds its champions. It is the ultimate perfection through reduction.... seperating all that is base from combat and leaving you with the substance that is the essence of the ultimate warrior..... and boxers take the most punishment, and are some of the toughest people in the world. To say 'boxing is just striking' is such an oversimplification.... of course its just striking. But how many differant styles do you have within that? You have the toney style, the whitaker style, the hatton style, the spinks style, the judah style, the cotto style, the trinidad style, the winky style, the foreman style, the ali style, the frazier style, Got pitty patters like JC Got brawlers like mayorga Got pure boxers like malignaggi Got killers like Tyson Got ferocity monsters like Kirkland Got technicions like Marquez You have differant styles of defence, shell defence, philly defence, differant style of footwork, ect, ect Boxing is more then 'just striking', in the same way music is more then just a man saying words. Boxing is perfection through reduction, fighting at its purest level. MMA is also an art form, and i respect it.... but its just like trying to hold a match next to a star, and asking me to be impressed with the match. its hard to be effected by one when the other is so grand. Am i romanticising it? yes i am.... but thats what boxing does to me. how that at all answeres your question lol.... i dont know, i just had to post that lol. sorry
It's like a Fraiser fan trying to convince a Seinfeld fan to watch. MMA takes just as much effort and skill as boxing, if for no other reason, than to avoid trying to get your ass crucified by your opponent. Both boxing and MMA matches can be dull. But great MMA fights are just as exciting as great boxing fights. One advantage that UFC has managed to have is to create more competative match ups more frequently, to the extent that its rare for a fighter to have a long undefeated record and next to impossible for fighters to pad their records for very long. Also, the greats of MMA stack up very well athletically and skill wise against boxing elites. I mean can you imagine a cream puff like W. Klit. taking on someone like Emelianenko in a street fight?
even the most exiting MMA fights are not much compared to Boxing's most exiting matches, to me atleast. all that wrestling to me is BORING AS ****, not to mention gay.
Jack of all trades, master of none. P.S. Don't forget the main discipline they must master: the missionary position.
Greco-Roman wrestling has a rich history in sports, that is very likely older than boxing. Also, not all MMA fights involve a lot of wrestling. It all depends on the fighters' martial arts expertise, pointing to another MMA strength - its versatility and variety. I like and can enjoy both. I can understand the backlash of some fans that feel MMA has been hyped up and propped up by pimply teenagers, ex-fans of WWF and psychos who just like to watch street brawls. But I think the hype is beggning to scale down and the sport has entered its mature phase. Both sports can learn a lot from each other.
I'm a boxing fan and I understand you. A lot of my co-workers get caught up with MMA but what I like best about boxing is that it is a one to one match up that features fist against fist. Through this, there are many different arts of it. There are fighters who are brawlers, technicians, pressure fighters, defensive fighters, speed fighters, body punchers, etc. Boxing is a fight of skill, heart, stamina, intelligence, and perseverence.