the fact is that in 20 years mma has come to rival what took boxing over a hundred years to achieve.. and mma aint done yet.. lets talk about this again in 40 years
This statement is incorrect, i live in Australia and UFC was not mentioned and is never mentioned on Free to air TV or print media. PayTV does show events, but in Australia Main event PPV channel showed Vic Darchinyan v King Kong............ UFC was shown as a replay the next day.
In North America, MMA is almost at par with Boxing. As a single event, UFC is a bigger draw most of the time. As far as collectively if you do yearly gross of all PPVs , Boxing PPvs are still a bit larger. UFC has also been marketed very well, it is more mainstream now than boxing in North America. As for Worldwide, Boxing is more popular and generates far more money.
Theres not much point in comparing boxing promotions and individual fighters with a brand like the UFC. There two entirely diffrent economic strategies with differing appeals market and underlying economic driving factors. Boxing promotions have to satisfy a number of people in order to make a fight. The UFC only have to satisfy themselves and ensure they get the most bang for their buck. If they didnt they'd be down the toilet faster than EliteXC was. Having a billionaire benefactor also cushions them somewhat. Either way i dont think they can really expand much more than they already have. Im not as optimistic as everyone else for a number of reasons.
the rule changes and weight classes made it better. Can you imagine brock lesnar fighting bj penn. That's a total mismatch. Back then it was a fighting syle vs style like kung fu vs karate or bjj vs boxing. Now most fighters are well rounded that's why you dont see a 180 lbs fighter submitting 250 lbs fighter anymore.
you could not be more wrong. The paydays don't even match what Dempsey and Tunney were being paid in the ****ing 1920's for christ sakes! There was just a Boxing match in Germany that drew over 60,000 people. Dempsey/Tunney II drew 120,000 in 1927 MMA is WAY behind Boxing at the cash register which is what matters most. The fact that the MMA pay level has not even reached what Boxers were making in the 1920's proves you are wrong. Dana White does not pay these guys what they are worth and signs them to slave contracts that make a Don King contract look tame.
Why do people think that because boxers make more money in general that's it's a better sport? All that means is the fight card is very thin and your paying for 1 main fight instead of a good fight card. Just because money mayweather makes a ton of money doesn't do anything for the fans of the sport.
They just had a guy fight for their Heavyweight Championship and he made 45k (Mir) That is AWFUL. My point was their pay scale has not even reached where Boxing was in the ****ing 1920's. Think about that for a second. It is sad. Dana White is a greedy POS and I would leave that joke of an organization and their slave contracts ASAP. Affliction and Strikeforce pay better than they do. The UFC is becoming like the WWE and it will come back to bite them in the ass one day.
Too many people get baffed by these numbers, Brock apperently made over 3 million in this fight. those are just base salary numbers and are not even close to what they really make.