UFC Puts Boxing Out For The Count

by: DarthMolen August 30 2006

There is something about UFC right now that breathes vitality. Boxing on the other hand smells like Bengay. Seems the critics are finally starting to agree.

I am finding it hard to quantify why boxing bores me so much but maybe I can explain my feelings by the end of this column.

I want to first qualify this editorial by saying that I am not an un-biased opinion. I practice Mixed Martial Arts. Not necessarily the style you see in UFC and I wouldn’t say that I am anywhere near even amateur status, or good for that matter, but I am a practitioner. I will try to draw from my memory though from before I practiced martial arts to bring a more centered opinion to the table.

I used to watch boxing. It was an interesting sport. I would watch the bobbing and weaving and the punches and marvel at the speed and skill of the fighters. I never considered it mine though. Maybe it was the distanced feeling I felt watching these fighters work and comport themselves. Their skillsets were way above anything I could hope to accomplish. There always seemed to be a manager there warding off fans and generally setting up their charges on a pedestal. I can’t quite quantify my feelings but I didn’t belong in that world.

I can very distinctly remember the point that changed my mind forever. I was watching a K1 event back in 2001 on ESPN. It was the usual ones that they show still to this day and I was captivated. You can throw knees AND kicks also when you fight??? Their dance captivated me. The fluidity of the flurries as their whole bodies went into motion was spectacular in my mind. I then began to search out all the kickboxing events on TV that I could find. Back then, they were few and far between but with perseverance, I found them late at night and on the off-channels. I tried to go back to boxing, I really did but I found it boring. Where were the flurry of kicks and knees?

I became so captivated that when I found out a friend was teaching martial arts from his garage, I immediately went out to see if it was possible that I could learn what I saw on TV. From the very first night, they nicknamed me “Mr. Robot” because I was so stiff. I persevered and I grew to love the inward focus that came from physically training all aspects of my body and mind along with the new discipline I found within.

Then along came UFC. I had heard about these underground fights but had spurned them in my own mind because I had heard the rumble that they were just bestial bloodbaths and violence for the sake of violence. But this was 2004 and my mindset had changed. I was comfortable with martial arts and hungry to see it in action in a ring setting. I followed the stories online of the different UFC events but wasn’t in the financial position to watch these expensive events on PPV.

All this changed when they released “UFC Unleashed” and “The Ultimate Fighter” on the brand new channel SPIKE TV in 2005. I had found my soulmate. Here were young men trying to make it in the big times and the UFC was making their dreams come true. They would then show all the classic fights on Unleashed to tease the reality that these young men were fighting for.

Here was something I felt I could “belong” to. The action was intense. I understood the science behind what they were doing. The fans were kept close to the action. The organization that ran the events cared what the fans thought and actually catered to them. The fighters themselves seemed down-to-earth and actually had personality.

Finally, a fighting organization that could combine the marketing of the WWF/WWE with a valid fighting style (or styles since the UFC encompasses a lot of different ones). Marketing, unity, fan catering, fighter accessibility, high entertainment value, unified organization, high value free and paid events. All of these are why boxing will not survive the onslaught that is UFC.

Here is an article in the Baltimore Sun that backs up my steep claim so you know that I am not the only person that feels the same way