UFC 1 on FOX: This Is the End of Professional Boxing as We Know It

UFC 1 on Fox is coming up this Saturday night, and will thrust MMA into the mainstream of America, appearing on television in just about every home in the country. This exposure is no doubt a bad thing for boxing.

UFC has overtaken boxing as the No. 1 fighting sport in the world. Spanning the entire globe, MMA finds itself at the top of it's popularity.

Boxing, on the other hand, is dying faster than anyone can imagine, and has been going through this slow death for quite some time now.

Now the UFC will be on a major network, and more importantly, will be free. President Dana White has made a great decision by having the Heavyweight title on the line for UFC's first venture on network television. Since he's taken over, White has made nothing but good decisions for his sport.

Boxing doesn't have such exposure. The only way to watch a title fight in boxing is to pay $60 for a pay-per-view that will give you a decent main event and a bunch of unimportant fights before it.

If we've learned anything from boxing's history, that main event is never guaranteed to be good.

UFC is much different, normally loading up their cards with big names and great fights before the main event even takes place. Not to mention, you can always expect at the very least, one good fight to occur, even if it isn't the main event.

They will carry this popular formula to Fox this Saturday.

Boxing does have one hope to temporarily overshadow the UFC: a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Only Mayweather Jr. knows if and when that fight will occur, but right now it doesn't look like it will. If Mayweather Jr. cares about the sport that pays him, he will make that fight happen to give his sport a boost.

Even if that fight occurs, it will only create a temporary push for boxing, but will not help the sport sustain a winning movement over MMA.

UFC has gained popularity on lesser networks and with paid pay-per-view events, but now their move to free network television can help gain more fans who have yet to show interest in the sport.

There are many fans-to-be out there who aren't sure of MMA, and aren't willing to spend the money to find out.

Now they have a free avenue to get a sample of the sport they may not be sure of, and that kind of exposure will only help Dana White and the UFC.

I would expect doubters of the sport—boxing fans or not—to at least tune in this Saturday to see it for themselves.

This may be the end of boxing as we know it.