Back in high school our athletic department was deep in a bitter rivalry. The two opposing sides however, attended the same school. Either you played soccer, or you played baseball. The two sides hated each other. Soccer players continually questioned the intelligence of the baseball squad. The baseball squad constantly questioned the sexual preference of the soccer team. Pranks were also commonplace. One day we arrived at practice to find that someone (gee I wonder who), relieved themselves on home plate. Subsequently, later that evening, the soccer nets found themselves with a few extra holes in it. The point is the rivalry was costly to both teams, and the sad part is, we really didn't seem to care.
Boxing and MMA have found themselves in a similar situation. Boxing writers would like you to believe that MMA is human cockfighting and the fans that enjoy it are blood thirsty savages. MMA on the other hand would label boxing as boring and its fighters as "wussies" for having to wear padded gloves. I'm going to do my best to make a case for both.
As a youngster I was not a huge boxing fan. My dad loved to watch the fights on TV and I would often wander in and watch for a few minutes in the hopes of seeing a big knockout. Often times it wouldn't come and I would quickly lose interest and return to my video game system. As I got older however, my dad started taking me to the "Friday Night Smoker" at our local military base. This is where my love for the sport grew. The gym on the base was awful. The bleachers were hard and the smell of stale popcorn was stuck in the air. The lighting was terrible. The great part is though, the seats were all close. One time a guy was getting beat in the corner and the sweat flying off his head was landing on us. It was gross, but it was cool. I got to sit ringside and really grew an appreciation for the "Sweet Science." Typically, only one or two of the bouts each night featured any fighters with experience, but watching up close as two men engaged in a 10 round chess match was thrilling. Equally exciting were the fights that featured two Navy boys fresh off the boat standing in the middle of the ring and throwing hay makers until one collapsed. Sometimes the collapse was a result of a punch but more often than not it was due to exhaustion. I found myself looking forward to Friday nights the older I got.
UFC 1 was held on my 19th birthday. I didn't see it live, but a buddy and I found the videotape on the bottom row at the local video store. We had heard about it but didn't really know what we were getting into. We rented it, and within the first few minutes, I was hooked. Watching Royce Gracie dominate guys on the ground was a whole new world for me. I had never seen such skill in the way these guys were winning fights. We also say a 400 pound sumo wrestler get a tooth knocked out just 30 seconds in to his fight by a guy much smaller. Watching David vs. Goliath was thrilling, certainly something I had never seen in boxing with its weight divisions. The concept was flawed however. No time limits or rounds would sometimes produce fights that lasted over 30 minutes, most of it on the ground. Some fans labeled it as boring and not being action packed. Zuffa came along and purchased the UFC, introducing weight classes, timed rounds, and abandoning the tournament format in favor of single fighting with championship belts in each class. The sport took off and is considered to be the fastest growing sport in the world.
The biggest argument is safety. Un-educated watchers see cuts and blood in MMA and assume the worst. Turn on a boxing match after 10 rounds and usually one if not both of the fighters have at least an eye swollen shut. Boxing certainly has more fatalities than MMA even when compared on a percentage basis. I have only ever heard of one fight related death in the history of organized MMA. On the other hand, small injuries are much more liable to occur in MMA and often times fighters are injured in training and forced to withdraw from a fight. This can most certainly be attributed to the different chokes and submissions used when training for an MMA bout. I believe however that non padded gloves and choke holds actually improve fighter safety. Unlike boxing, there is no standing 8 count in MMA. Once a fighter is down and not intelligently defending himself, the fight is over. Also, the use of submission holds greatly reduces the amount of blows to the head a fighter is subjected to in a fight. Lastly, non padded gloves can easily produce cuts which can also cause a fight to be stopped early. In short, while the abuse taken by an MMA fighter is certainly high and potentially dangerous, it pales in comparison to a boxer taking shots to the head for over 30 minutes in a night. Typical MMA fights are only 3 five minute rounds and with the likely hood that some of that is spent on the ground, the damage toll is much smaller that that of a 12 round boxing match.
So which is better? Both sports have their disadvantages. While some MMA fights can drag on when the fight is on the ground and neither fighter is trying to better position, the same can be said for two boxers that throw a punch or two and then clinch. Both also provide excitement. While boxing can be fascinating while two men pick each other apart round after round, a true display of MMA skills is equally exhilarating.
As far as my personal opinion, if I know an MMA event is on at the same time as a boxing match, without question I will tune into the MMA event every time. I find the pace of the action to be quicker and more involved. I also like the fact that MMA develops its fighters and their characters, through marketing, TV shows, and fighter interviews. I feel that MMA is making a greater push to put its product out there and develop rivalries and subplots for each fight. Fight fans like to know who the underdog or favorite, the hero or the villain. This makes for a better overall watching experience.
Hopefully MMA will one day garner the same respect as the sport of boxing. The fighters are far from the knuckle dragging neanderthals that the boxing press would like you to believe. They are highly skilled athletes who put their bodies on the line to entertain the fans. If you have never seen an event, you can turn on Spike TV or the VS network almost anytime and see some fights. You will be glad you did.
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