Article "MMA has Stranglehold on Boxing"

David Haye....."I've rolled around with MMA guys in the past - and even use British mixed martial artist James Zikic for sparring - and I know how hard it is to fight these guys," Haye said. "They are very physically strong and very dangerous in the clinch and on the ground. Those are two positions that pro boxers are not used to. Also, despite always starting on my feet with these guys, I was finding myself taken to the mat eight out of ten times. That gives me a two in ten chance of landing a punch and knocking my MMA opponent out."


But we're talking prime Tyson here so he'd do better than Haye, but to think Tyson would go never lose @ a sport he'd never specifically trained for is.....:nut

 

While technically true, it's a meaningless thing to say.

MMA fans get to see the matches they want with far more regularity than boxing fans because boxers dont have someone forcing them to fight the best. Absolutely no restrictions? The only difference is the fighters get to make their own restrictions. Pac fought ODLH at 147, but he refuses to fight Cotto at anything higher than like 143. That is a RESTRICTION. Fighters routinely force other fighters to wear the gloves they want them to wear, to get the ring size they want to have etc. etc. At least in MMA, you get the same gloves, you get the same size ring, and you don't get to rack up a bunch of unfair advantages at the negotiating table just because you are more popular.

 

I agree with some of the things you said.

If Fedor were to fight in the UFC, he'd be fighting under different rules than he'd be accustomed to be fighting in outside the UFC.

And no, MMA fans do not get to see the fights they want to see more regularly than boxing fans. How long did people want to see Couture/Fedor? Long time but never happened, Brock/Fedor may never happen either. Not to mention, Aoki will likely never fight Penn, Yamamoto never fought Faber. The bottom line UFC has a monopoly on the sport and the fights that hardcore fans want to see wont ever happen because the UFC refuses to cross promote. Instead we get Penn/Stevenson and Penn/Florian PPV's as well Lesnar/Mir or Silva/Leites, Silva/Cote.

The bottom line is in todays MMA landscape something like the Super Middleweight Tournament in boxing WOULD NEVER happen in MMA. Boxing is truly a global sport and this is why. 3 Fighters from different countries in Europe fighting 3 Americans across the globe.

And the same demands that you say the popular boxers place on others is exactly what Fedor does. UFC have had no problems signing guys like Noguiera, Wand, Rampage, Crocop and some of the other Pride fighters and yet the best in the world has these outrageous demands and along with the UFC's outrageous demands they arent even close to making a deal. And I seem to remember a few catchweight fights in MMA. And I also seem to remember MMA essentially creating a new weight class for their main attraction Gina Carano.

Thats the bottom line, in both sports. Its not an isolated problem that occurs in just boxing. It happens in MMA just as much. But at least in boxing, the popular fighters have to earn that title. In MMA, the popular fighters have everything handed to them on a silver platter.

 

We just had a boxing vs. MMA in 48 yr old Ray Mercer vs. 33 yr old ex UFC HW champion Tim Slyvia. We all know what happened with that so we know which sports is superior. Boxing! LOL.