Barry Hearn says boxing's popularity could dwindle unless it pays heed to the rise of mixed martial arts (MMA). Hearn, who promoted Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed among others, said boxing has "too many mismatches", and "Mickey Mouse titles" were confusing the fans. "We've got to live with MMA, learn from it and innovate," Hearn told BBC Sport. "MMA attracts a younger crowd who want fast, physical action delivered in an entertaining style. Boxing promoters can't bury their heads in the sand." The UFC is the world's foremost brand within the sport of MMA, and competitors combine boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling and other disciplines while fighting in an octagonal 'cage'. On Saturday, Clitheroe's Michael Bisping headlines the latest UFC show at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena (NIA) which it is set to be a 10,000 sell-out. The event will be broadcast live by subscription channel Setanta and broadcast in approximately 150 countries. The show has already broken Amir Khan’s NIA box office record, set for his clash with Michael Gomez in June. The UFC has also outperformed Khan by some distance at London’s O2 Arena (17,000 v 9,000) and the MEN Arena in Manchester (16,500 v 8,000). UFC shows also hold box office records and/or merchandise records at the MEN, the O2, The Odyssey in Belfast and the Newcastle Arena. The UFC was founded in the United States in 1993 and originally marketed as an ultra-violent entertainment, leading Republican presidential candidate John McCain to label it "human cockfighting". But in 2001 the UFC was bought for $2m and repackaged as an authentic sport, with weight classes, judges, submissions and five-minute rounds, as well as gloves and gum-shields. By 2006, UFC was outstripping boxing in the US in terms of pay-per-view, and UFC president Dana White believes it can become as popular with British audiences. "We're the fastest growing sport there is but we're not even close to where we want to be. We want to be global, worldwide, just like soccer," White, whose UFC has been valued at $1bn by American business publication Forbes, recently said. "The UK media is getting more education about the UFC. They are realising that if boxing is a sport, then this is too and that they'd sell more newspapers covering us in their pages than bashing us. "The UK is a much smaller country than America so it will take a whole less convincing to get UFC to be as much part of the UK sports calendar as the FA Cup or next Ricky Hatton fight." British boxing's most high-profile promoter Frank Warren has repeatedly stated that his sport has nothing to fear from UFC, while fellow promoter Frank Maloney has said it will have "15 minutes of fame". But Hearn disagrees and recently launched his Prizefighter Series, which involves eight fighters taking part in a knockout tournament in a single night of boxing, in part as a reaction to UFC. He has already had two successful heavyweight events screened by Sky and the next, involving welterweights, takes place on 24 October. "It's three-round fights and it's quick action for a younger audience,” said Hearn. "Twelve-round fights can sometimes be painfully boring and young kids today want a quick adrenaline fix. UFC and Prizefighter give them that and are the future. "Other than the very big shows, which only happen occasionally and are usually on pay-per-view, boxing's not delivering the ratings, and promoters live and die by ratings. "Boxing ratings are not giving the broadcasters sufficient value for money. "Prizefighter's not for the purists, but it delivers as an entertainment. UFC does the same, it's a great night out. "If you rip the fans off by putting poor fights on and over-protecting fighters, they won't come back. Boxing promoters have got to move with the times. "If you stick your head in the sand and say, 'No, there's nothing like a good old British title fight over 12 rounds', but you don't sell tickets and don't get ratings, then you're doing something wrong. And boxing's been doing something wrong for some time." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7668498.stm
man It is a globe sport boxing, you notice it is the promoters who have no stars saying this stuff, look UFC is going to fall apart unless they start paying there fighter real money, The talent pool in MMA is rubbish they have **** all fighters, boxing has about 1000 per divison in the pro's. Hearn is trying to push his own apple cart which is just about ****ed with the likes of Hatton and Haye looking at DLH and what he has done in the sport by taking over the promotion side of the business, next it will be frank Warren saying all this because he will have no fighters who have star material.
What Hearns is saying is partly true. There are too many titles and MMA events have apparently been geeting good crowds and ppv sales.
As soon as I saw the title I knew the article was going to be "..so that's why I'm putting on the Prizefighter series."
exactly..........and offering a measely £25,000 to the winner.........up that to £100k and lets see some real talent fight it out.
Good post .... Some truth in the crowds UFC is getting though - and the talk it generates around pubs etc.
wouldnt put me off either jimbo........but if he wants to get the violins out about the sport then......he should step up to the plate :smoke
UFC is so boring compared to boxing for me anyway, i don't see a boxing fan ever saying "oh i'm going to stop watching and watch UFC instead"
MMA is so over rated .. half of the fighters that step in the octagon wouldnt last 2 rounds in the ring with a decent boxing fighter .. if you notice more then half of the fighters stand up game in MMA is absolute garbage.. what makes a good show in the UFC is the take downs and submissions and ground£ thats it .. their techniques are trash(excpet for a certian few)..how ever it is true that boxing does have way too many titles i think it should just be the WBC titles and weed out all the bad fighters.. boxing would be much more competitive without those mismatch fights
Pure ignorance. Would a boxer last 2 mins with a well schooled MMA fighter? Not a chance. Take downs, submissions and ground and pound are all exciting stuff to fight fans. Iv been a fan of both sports for a long time and always will be. I dont get why people need to pick a side and bash the other.