If UFC is taking over Boxing then why....?

People answering this question who are friends with people who can't name a single boxer?

So you say to your friend Muhammad Ali, "no, never heard of him"

Mike Tyson, "no never heard of him either" Not even Roy Jones jr! "Roy jones who?"

That's utter crap and you really need to find new friends.

Boxing has struggled for a couple of reasons. First demographics and the aging of America have taken its toll and many older people don't follow it like they did when they were younger. The older generation is the largest segment of the population but boxing does not generate near the amount of interest and following like it once did. There are fewer fighters that have been able to do this the last twenty years and lets face it half the old folks are in bed by 9 PM. I bet if you asked fifty people over the age of fifty to name five boxers they would name fighters from the 70s and 80s for the majority of them. At the same time MMA comes on line and gets legalized in some states and the UFC on Spike comes along and it becomes embraced by the younger, but smaller in number, generation. I do see a potential problem though in that it like boxing had its ups and downs which you can associate in part with fighters and their popularity and the public embracing them and following their careers. MMA will also follow the same pattern I think and this is one of the reasons why the UFC is struggling to find and infuse some new talent into some of its weight divisions. MMA is slowly overtaking boxing but that has not happened yet and if it is going to it will need to continue to find and infuse new talent and fighters into it as the older guys retire and fade. Chuck Liddell is a prime example of how this happens and goes and most people in general were aware of him and began to embrace him before his career stalled even if they were not UFC or MMA fans. I bet half of those people though don't know who Keith Jardin is who is one of the people that beat him. If MMA can continue to find and infuse good, popular talent into itself that the public will embrace then it wll overtake boxing I think. Some of the fighters that are now fighting or starting out in their careers have not shown that they are capable of this so far and as the older guys age, fade and retire someone will have to pick up and carry the banner or it won't happen anytime soon.

Boxing has been the number 1 fighting sport for over 100 years. MMA has been big and hyped for maybe 10. So it has a long way to go to catch up to boxing. The best fighters in boxing get paid millions and millions while the best fighters in the UFC are not even close to that. I read somewhere that Cain Velázquez got 400k for his first fight against JDS.

No it's not "taking over boxing".

I'm not sure which is more popular but boxing has a long history while MMA is fairly new.

With that said, MMA has quickly become popular so who knows where things will be in 5 or 10 years.

I do see both existing and both having a place in sports for a long long time.

No the UFC is not taking over boxing. There is room for both. MMA has gained in popularity. But boxing has a rich history and long line of supporters and still gaining more supporters.

Boxing is not dead and mma has had very little affect of boxing and its revenue. When a mma event get 2.2 million views on the 1st night then we can talk about how mma is catching up to boxing in terms of viewers, popularity, etc. Until it is what it is.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/9694996/floyd...

I enjoy them both.

The most popular boxers may be more common knowledge, but there are only 3 or 4 that are of that staus. There are a lot more popular MMA fighters.

ufc is not taking over boxing, its got a long long way to go before that even happens. mma fighters dont even make as much money as boxers yet.

i seriously doubt mma will every take over boxing

thats very incorrect everybody knows mma fighters nobody knows boxers i know ppl who dont even watch fights they can name 2 boxers the 2 guys you said and thats it but they can name jon jones brock lesnar anderson silva gsp even guys like tito ortiz and forest griffin but if i say andre ward there like who? your obviously Friends with ppl who like boxing and not mma

mma is totally taking over combat sports