UFC vs. Boxing: Who Will Still Be Standing?

There is an ongoing battle between the hardcore fans of boxing and the UFC.

It seems the world is not big enough for these two sports and their diehard fans.

Ask a loyal boxing fan what he thinks of UFC, and he'll most likely diss it by saying: It's too much wrestling. Real men don't kick. Real men don't grope each other on the ground.

Ask a loyal UFC fan what he thinks about boxing and he'll most likely say something along the lines of: Boxing is boring. 12-round decisions are wack. There is so much corruption taking place. The sport does not have enough action and excitement.

Boxing as a popular sport has been around for hundreds of years. If you want to get technical, the origins of boxing go back to 600 B.C. The sport of the sweet science has been around for a long time and has had its ups and downs.

Legendary stars Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson are just some of the key figures of the sport that kept it alive and famous worldwide.

Back in Ali's day, if you were the heavyweight champion of the world, then you were the strongest, most popular, famous athlete in the world.

A lot has changed since then.

If you were to ask the casual random fan who the current heavyweight champion is, they would probably either give you a blank stare or they would probably think Lennox Lewis is still the champ.

There are many reasons why boxing as a sport has been in severe decline in terms of its popularity. Shady promoters, corruption, politics, boring fighters and boring match ups, lack of star power, too many PPV's are just some of the reasons.

The UFC has been spreading like wildfire. You might see promos for upcoming UFC fights while walking in the street, and you can even see wannabes sporting Affliction shirts as if it helps enhance their fighting ability. 

You can pretty much go to any sports bar or Hooters, and catch a UFC fight playing while you're eating your chicken wings.

This is another reason why boxing is declining.

You have to go out of your way to find a spot that will show your boxing Pay-Per-Views and more than likely you will not find a local spot showing it.

The UFC too has had its ups and downs from the early 1990s until now. The UFC almost got outlawed and banned, and it even almost went bankrupt.

But these days, the UFC is far from bankrupt.

Dana White, president  of the UFC, is sitting pretty on a very lucrative empire that keeps growing and growing, literally week-to-week.

UFC also constantly puts on fights, and packs their cards with all of the top stars on one night, while in boxing shady, greedy promoters fight with each other instead of matching up the best fighters.

If boxing had just one greedy shady guy like Dana White running the whole entire sport then we would see a whole lot more quality fights.

Even though the UFC is hot right now, the biggest stars' six-figure salary purses are still a fraction of the biggest boxing stars' seven-figure and even eight-figure salaries.

I wonder how much longer this will go on for? Or, maybe Dana White is even wealthier than we think.

On a personal level, I am a huge boxing fan first and foremost. I love boxing. It's my favorite sport to watch, and it's a great way to keep in shape.

I often sit ringside at my favorite fighter's fights. But at the same time, I am also a martial artist at heart.  My family's ancestry can be traced back to the most dominant military dynasty of all time. My father was a Grandmaster of several various martial arts and trained and taught the United States Special Forces how to fight during the Viet Nam War. So yes martial arts is in my blood, and this is one of the issues I have with UFC.

A true martial artist knows it's all about the art and discipline. For the most part the UFC is a bastardized version and even an exploitation of what true martial arts is. Mixed martial arts such as PRIDE and K1 for example is more true to martial arts elements than UFC currently is.

Where is the art when you have trash kids with mohawks and no teeth trying to pick fights outside of bars, copying their favorite UFC idol's takedown and grappling moves. 

Where is the art? Where is the discipline?

I've partied and met some of the biggest UFC stars, and I must admit they are real cool, down-to-earth people. But it is the wannabes, the aforementioned overweight trash kids with mohawks and no teeth looking for trouble, that I have a problem with.

Growing up in Chicago in the 1990s you had to be down for whatever may come your way whether it be trouble or fights.

This is just what you had to do unless you were content with staying home with mom watching TGIF on ABC.

Every real street fight I've seen or experienced usually turns sloppy and ends up on the ground. This is where MMA skills will obviously be to one's advantage over boxing.

When fighting a significantly larger opponent, I would always prefer to use martial arts to kickbox rather than box.

But in hindsight, being much older and wiser now, the best thing to do is to be the bigger man and walk away. True martial arts is for self defense and discipline.

Don't go around looking to try out your new takedown or submission moves at bars. If I'm at a bar, I'm not looking to do any takedown moves with men, but maybe with the ladies, if they are good looking enough enough of course.

Will both boxing and UFC be here 'til the end?

Why not?

I'm sure soon there will be some hybrid crossover stars who end up competing in both sports.

In this capitalistic society, as long as these sports keep generating money, they will always be around to entertain the masses.

GOD Bless,

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