I posted this in the Lounge, but figured it belonged here too.

MMA... Boxing... to their fans, there's one simple common denominator - physical combat. It's why we watch - to see two grown men of similar sizes display their fighting wares in a ring, with the hopes that one will inflict enough pain on the other to end the match in entertaining fashion.

The one major difference, is that for boxing fans, the sport has existed at a certain level all their lives. We've all had the opportunity to get into the sport. Only the "when" is what mattered. Were you a kid? An adult? When did you discover the sport? Like anything else, it's the timing of your introduction to it. Boxing has always been there to earn your fandom for it.

The same can't be said for MMA. The organized sport as we know it today (without arguing the semantics of when it evolved fully as a true mixed martial art coming into discussion) didn't exist - in a publicisized fashion - until the mid-90's; a time when most people had already discovered and appreciated boxing.

Yet, in spite of the head start that boxing has always had on MMA, the manner in which the sport was promoted and organized has given fly to the likes of the UFC to reach out and take a share of the boxing audience for it's own. For example, Anderson Silva is considered by many to be the best MMA fighter in the world. In his last two fights, against opponents who weren't particularly enthralled about engaging with him, Silva gave two listless efforts - as compared to his usual blistering assaults on his opposition.

How did the president of the UFC react? Put Silva in the ring with Forrest Griffin - a fighter of limited skill (in comparison to Silva), but great spirit, thereby guaranteeing a fight that will have to be action packed. The power to force the greatest boxers into fighting opponents who offer an exciting contest for them doesn't exist. Nobody can make Mayweather or Pacquiao get in the ring with Shane Moseley. The fight the fans want most can't be "made" by the sanctioning bodies, the way they can in the UFC. That appeals to fans of the combat arts.

Also, in the UFC, the weight divisions and the champion of that division is clear to see. There's one man who holds the belt and the best challengers for that title are going to get their shot at it. Nobody argues that Georges St. Pierre is "The Man" at 170 lbs. Fans like to have a king of the mountain and a clear line of challengers who are working to knock him off. They're not as excited about their being two or three Kings and a couple more paper Kings.

Another thing that the UFC has working in it's favor, to those who are willing to appreciate MMA and all it's nuances, is the chance that a fight can go in many different directions. In boxing, the best fights are when the action see-saws. One fighter controls the action, until the other finds a way to take it. The requirement for this to happen, is fighters willingly engaging each other and having the ability to do so. When that doesn't happen, you get what happened with Anderson Silva - a fighter waiting to be challenged, little action and an unsatisfied audience. This happens much more often in boxing, since it's easier to match a fighter against a less skilled fighter.

Boxing is the art of not getting hit and hitting your opponent. If the skill set differential is off, one fighter picks a guy apart and the other guy looks like a novice - mostly due to the fact that boxing is limited by hand-to-hand combat. All you have to worry about is the other dude's fists (unless you're talking about a John Ruiz or Evander Holyfield's noggin). Avoid the gloves and your night is relatively easy.

In MMA, the whole body is in play. Hands... elbows... knees... feet... shins. You can knock a guy out with your fists or choke him with your arms and legs. Since the UFC can dictate who fights who, you get fighters of equal talents who can defeat each other in a multitude of ways. In boxing, if a guy has no defense and weak punches, there's no submissions he can turn to keep the action going. He basically a punching bag for a better opponent (see, a typical Bernard Hopkins middleweight fight for verification purposes). In MMA, a fighter has other options. You're less likely to get a fight that's entirely one sided.

I love MMA and the UFC, because I appreciate all the varying kinds of ways fighters can win a fight. I appreciate two guys standing and striking. I appreciate ground fighting. Many boxing fans don't want to take the time to learn about MMA, convincing themselves that unless two men stand and trade punches, it's stupid. I believe that mindset is assinine, but the average boxing fan has been following the sport most of their life; for as long as the UFC and MMA has basically existed.

Sports fans today have so many different kinds of sport to follow, that we have a limited number of hours in a week to follow it - especially since we like to consider ourselves knowledgable. We don't have time to know boxing and football and basketball and baseball and cricket and rugby and MMA and volleyball and etc., etc.. Boxing is a global sport, as is MMA, but without the organizational focus of companies like the UFC or Pride (back in the day), it's hard to possess a truly knowledgable understanding of the best talents that exist today - as compared to MMA, where fans can pretty much know who's who and what's what. There are exceptions, but it's not like in boxing.

So, we pick and choose our favorites, follow them as intensely as possible and make no room for others. Since boxing and MMA are combat sports, competing against each other in that particular arena, many old time boxing fans choose to ignore MMA, not understand what it totally encompasses as a fighting form and treat it (almost) as an enemy to the sport they truly love.

I made the time and wish more boxing fans would to, but for now, it's just not likely. It'll take a few new generations of MMA fans to come along and pass their love of the sport to their kids, before MMA has the same provincial audience that boxing has. I believe it will happen though.