I agree the debate is played out but let's see how long UFC can give the fans the fights they want to see. With the sport in its formative stages, the athletes need UFC more than UFC needs the athletes. Once the sport becomes truly established, it'll be the other way around and MMA and boxing will be in the exact same boat.

I respect MMA but I always feel like I'm watching a street fight. Uninteresting to me, though I could see how the nuances could be intensely fascinating to anybody from a wrestling or fighting background.

It is, because YOU CANT STOP Boxing even with all of its problems.

and this is coming from a "super" fan, i guess the days where 2 men got in a ring to fight to see who can win just to feed their family is over. we need storyline!

You are very wrong in many of your statements and you also contradict yourself your whole article ,you talk about how much bigger mma is than boxing,then you admit that this weekends boxing show is going to probably surpass mma. So i see you are stating your opinion but then you punk out cause you know that boxing will get more ppv this weekend. You should just keep your opinion to yourself if you know you are going to be proven wrong. Bottom line a big boxing match will outdraw a big mma match.Numbers dont lie,and if mma is so big why do mmas best fighters make considerably less than top boxers. As for evolution,well although there are different arts to mma, i havent seen any to master every art. Bottom line for the most part boxers have perfected their craft since childhood or young teens,well as mma (for the most part) have maybe started out as highschool wrestlers,and maybe taken a little ju jitsu , here a few monts of boxin maybe a little kickboxing and WALA! They are know mma fighters master of there art.Bottom line mma is in the primitive stage of their sport kind of how boxing was 100 years ago

Look, I'm a big MMA fan. I watch stuff that's not UFC, etc . . . but you can't make these kinds of claims without backing the stuff up with numbers. It's not too hard to look up the buys and gates and make the comparison legit.

The only way MMA can be more successful than boxing is for the movie character "Rocky" to become an aspiring MMArtist in the next installment of Rocky movies LOL. Randy Couture has and had an interesting life and career as an MMArtist. Rocky can play Randy Couture to show the challenges of becoming a MMA Champion but then retire and live happily with his family.

Unfortunately, Rocky isn't too popular anymore and the movie would probably not be recieved well by casual persons to make it a successful presentation for the movie or the sport of MMA. However, I think it is a very quirky and interesting idea.

Your article is a joke.

Mark C. looks so gay. UFC fan. No surprise there.

This seems really convenient. If UFC outsells boxing then people like you will be singing to high heaven.

If it fails to do it, UFC is bigger anyways.

The fact remains boxing is still far more popular than MMA amongst ethnic minorities and globally as well.

I believe that the best MMA fights will never be able to come close to the best boxing fights.

Yes you may punch, kick, scream and elbow but according to the vast majority of studies boxing is still the more dangerous sport.

If watching people doing jack-of-all trades fighting in a mediocre fashion is your thing - then I guess MMA is for you.

Bryan- good point about the fighters needing the UFC more. I don't expect that to change in the next few years though but it could be an issue 5+ years from now.

As for the people citing numbers, it's been done before and boxing cannot stack up. I conceded that the boxing show will outdraw the UFC show this weekend merely because the UFC 103 card wasn't that strong to begin with and was hurt by injuries.

A big boxing fight against a big UFC show, like UFC 100? Won't stack up. And you have to look at the consistency that the UFC puts together big cards. The UFC usually has a big show every month (usually, there are some exceptions) whereas boxing has one every 3-4 months. The last time a major boxing card went up against a major MMA card was GSP v. Hughes several years back. The UFC show drew more pay-per-view buys.

And the numbers of UFN shows and other UFC programming on Spike routinely beats MLB and the NBA (among other "major" sports) in males 18-34. Boxing isn't even in that conversation.

This weekend really proves nothing in terms of the boxing v. MMA debate. My main question was more in terms of whether this is even a debate anymore.

Only a biased mma fan would write such an article. That's not horrible, but most readers would prefer a neutral writer.

I tuned out of boxing because they stopped giving me good fights (De La Hoya - Mayweather was the last straw), my substitue was MMA (UFC). I loved it, now THEY have stopped giving me good fights (Couture - Noguiera, what a joke). I think Boxing is making a comeback. I like both sports, but I think UFC fights go to the ground too often I hate that, I like to see people trade, and in UFC that almost always means someone is going to sleep. Not too entertaining.

There's a bit of irony in your article, because you make the argument that there should be no debate on boxing vs. MMA, and then go about debating it.

I am a casual fan of both, but I really treat them as two entirely different sports. I like them equally but for different reasons. The best boxers are extremely technically sound and the fights are exciting because they have to pound away at each other. They only have to worry about one basic form of attack, however, even though those punches can come from different angles.

There will always be comments like the one above where the guy derides MMA basically because they don't like grappling and submissions. If you don't like that sort of thing, that's fine but MMA is clearly not your sport. In MMA you are forced to train in multiple styles of combat, because even if you're not the best at a certain style you still have to get good enough at it to defend it. The mix of styles is what makes MMA attractive to its fan base.

Also someone made the non-point of MMA fighters not being the best in every fighting style. First of all, so what? And secondly, that's not a very realistic request to make.

Boxing is slick and highly professional. MMA is a street brawl. They both are highly technical in their own right, whether each side decides to recognize it for the other or not. I agree there is no debate, but I won't make my argument based on PPV views, ticket sales or TV ratings. I don't think there's a debate because once you get by the fact that it's two dudes fighting each other, all the similarities stop.

what a redundant argument. who knows what the future holds but at the moment mma as a global commodity cant touch boxing. im english and most people couldnt name one mma star. im sure the case would be the same in africa and asia. boxing is worldwide, funnily enough the usa isnt the be all and end all.

I find it interesting that so much has been said about MMA being the evolution of Boxing. If you recall in other sports specialization has followed the full range athlete. In Baseball pitchers used to try to go the distance and if they couldn’t a reliever were brought in. Now there is a long reliever a short reliever and a closer. There is also a designated hitter that didn't exist years ago. In Football players used to play both ways and there were no kicking specialists. Usually it was a lineman kicking and the QB or RB punting. It is the same in other sports like Hockey and Lacrosse as well. If you devote your time and energy to one aspect of a sport you will be better than if you have to share time among all disciplines. However that in itself does not make it more interesting. I like both for different reasons but have lost touch will boxing because the only put on the occasional big show, not enough cards on a regular basis to give exposure to the up and coming fighters. This is where they could learn something from the younger UFC. Just some thoughts.

OMG..I'm a completely neurtal educated sports fan..im ONLY fanatical about NFL,and even I know that every boxing fan comment so far has been ignorant in its entirety..boxing is a dyng sport with irrelevant fans and even more irrelevant fighters...like the author CORRECTLY stated..UFC is having ten solid PPV"s a year...(MMA as a whole is about 15) the UFC by itself is outperforming the industry of boxing worldwide,so the industry of MMA is running away with it..when UFC goes to England,Germany,ETC..its like the super bowl,nobody cares about mayweather running away from paquio and making racist comments etc..even showtime sees the writing on the wall and partnered with strikeforce WHILE simultaneously tries to renogotiate its boxing deal to spend less money and total compensation,explain that boxing fans,HBO was the leading bidder to pick up UFC fights before ESPN won out,so if boxing's biggest networks see it coming,you losers should too...

1 mil > 300,000 Boxing is better. All I heard on ESPN was coverage of Boxing. MMA didn't get 1 second on any major sports network.

Personaly i am a ufc fan. i like boxing and watching it but go to high schools and bars and see wut everyone's talkin about its the ufc. Boxing is a great sport but mma has taken over. it's the world fastest growing sport and everyone wants to learn mma. Like someone else said boxin fight cards dont match up with ufc cards. floyd vs oscar or brock vs mir II? I love mma and i will be in the ufc one day. honestly i wanted to be a boxer growing up then i say bodog fights then i saw ifl fights then i saw ufc fights. I was like forget that i wanna be mixed martial artist. If people like floyd and joy jones jr dont start evolving boxing will be dead.

i love the ufc and i enjoy watching a great boxing match. but lets face it, mma is the worlds fastest growing sport in the world right now and has been on a uprise for the past few years. mma on tv gets more viewers than boxing gets rated higher on ppv. Everyone growing up is saying i wanna be jus like anderson or just like rampage or jus like brock or just like GSP. They rnt saying they wanna be like mike or be like floyd. boxing is becoming a thing in the past and will soon be dead.

Had to weigh in on this topic here. I wouldn't call the writer an idiot, but he is clearly biased. I am a huge boxing fan and not really into UFC. Although I do respect its GROWTH, the appeal of some guy bouncing another guy's head against the ground like a basketball until he submits doesn't really scream 'skill' to me. I run with a crowd who likes both, and have seen most of the big UFC ones the past couple of years. To me, the best MMA fights don't compare to the best recent boxing matches. Coming to mind are Froch/Taylor, Vazquez/Marquez's, Judah/Cotto, Margarito/Cotto and any fight Pacquiao is in. You don't even want to sniff the all-time greatest fights. There was a time in America where the only real sports that mattered besides baseball were horse racing and boxing. That is not the case anymore, but it always makes me chuckle when the ignorant individuals come out and comment how boxing is dying, getting swallowed. The sport is older than our country itself. Everybody was all up in arms about kickboxing in the mid 1990's, remember that? Kickboxing was supposed to take over boxing and never look back, turns out that was a fad. MMA as well, only time will tell. Fact is, a big boxing match (like the upcoming Cotto/Pacquiao) is a Saturday night in Montecarlo, Monaco, at the casino. Guys in tuxes, a certain sophistication in the air, celebrities in attendance; its an event. Your big MMA match is along the lines of a fleamarket in the middle of June. In Southern Arkansas. Blah. And if that isn't enough (not to say Merchant or Kellerman are beacons of light), but, ahem, Joe Rogan?!? Enough said...

dood, you cant compare boxers perfecting their craft to MMA fighters profecting theirs. simply put, boxing is standing and punching, much easier to perfect than MMA, which is much more dynamic than boxing....