MMA And Boxing – Brothers From Another Mother

It’s been said that MMA and boxing are a bit like cats and dogs, who just can’t get along. The reality however couldn’t be further from the truth.

Very Similar Fans

As a guy who’s been covering boxing for the last number of years I might get blasted by some of our hardcore fans for this, but it’s time a shrinking elephant in the room was addressed.

Simply put, MMA and boxing fans are very alike. In fact, they’re the same people in many instances.

The crossover is there for all to see, so clear you’d want to be blind as a bat not to notice it.

Remarks from Hall of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum (in a now infamous interview) a few years back that said otherwise were unfounded, uneducated and false.

I’ve long enjoyed the UFC. if you’re a fan of good fights – how couldn’t you? But I’m also a diehard boxing fan and I’m not alone in being fans of the two, not by a long shot.

I’ve grown up in a generation in Ireland where most of my friends have been fans of both sports, from the scintillating Chuck Liddell knockout streak in the ‘Bravo TV’ days (for those old enough to remember) to when a milk bottled fella called Ricky Hatton burst onto the scene in boxing, cleaning people out with single-wounding body shots.

Yeah, if you’re a fan of good fights and combat sports, the two industries are peas in a pod, really.

UFC head honcho Dana White mentions all the time how he still loves boxing, yet there still seems to be a divide in some quarters between the two sports from some of the older fans.

Maybe it’s a generational thing. But like everything, time waits for no man and old attitudes are dying out like the dodo bird.

The connected digital age we now live in that has empowered fans to have their say like never before, has only added to this transparent trend in attitude shift.

Apples and Oranges

Of course, there’ll always be some folks that just prefer one sport to another – and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’m not particular fond of Jiu-Jitsu in truth, but really enjoy the ground and pound aspect of MMA exhibited by relentless fighting machines like Cain Velasquez, along with obviously loving all the stand-up part of the sport.

But I also understand that everyone has their own different parts of the fight game they prefer, as they are very much entitled to.

But to continue to pit the two sports against one another is just down right naive, when you sit back and think about it.

Perhaps it was the old argument that was revelled in by so many in pubs in the past, pertaining to who would win between a boxer or an MMA fighter, that riled up so much divide initially.

As we all know, the MMA fighter would obviously beat a boxer in a street fight, as they have more tools to their belt, but put an MMA fighter into a boxing ring with a boxer and the boot would be likewise on the other foot.

Randy Couture answered the first question some years ago against legendary boxer James Toney in the Octagon, so that argument has well and truly died.

Yet garbage talk of UFC female starlet Ronda Rousey fighting boxer Floyd Mayweather emerged online this year, which re-ignited a similar, but equally as futile debate again.

Say what you will, but these two sports are linked together and will be for the foreseeable future.

Room For Both In 2015 and Beyond

If you’re being logical and rational, you’d have to admit that both sports are in great shape as of 2015.

MMA’s premier global brand the UFC continues to go from strength to strength with standout superstars Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor perpetually excelling in and outside of their chosen profession.

Boxing likewise is in a fantastic time, where the sport is once again on major network television in the United States, has generated the single highest grossing night of all time in sports history (Mayweather vs Pacquiao in May 2015) and is beginning to churn out a new generation of stars like Gennady Golovkin, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua, to name but a few.

As the global combat sports landscape looks set to grow all around the world for both sports over the coming years, you never know, it could be possible down the line where you might see more jointly promoted MMA and boxing events.

Maybe it’s the future of the fight game, ultimately.

Floyd Mayweather has already stated he’s open to promoting MMA athletes in the past, and with the strong boxing background from the ownership of the UFC, you just never know what the future might hold.

As of 2015 these cats and dogs look like they are running in the same direction, it’s time some be-grudgers let them off the leash, out into the garden and let modern day fighting nature take it’s course.

By Niall Doran of BoxingNewsAndViews.com