Boxing and MMA

Anyone on here a fan of both boxng and MMA? Im more of a MMA fan and thats the sport I do but I follow boxing as well.

I am.

Used to follow both but find MMA quite boring. I still grapple (submission wrestling and BJJ) so whilst I appreciate the skill I find it boring as hell to watch.

Also find the lack of cardio shown by MMA fighters a disgrace.

I'd expect you to get a lot of stick for that comment LJ.

I find MMA more interesting than boxing. The top fighters dont fight each other enough in boxing and thers too many boring fights. It need more guys like Haye and Froch to keep it interesting but we had a top Olympics so hoping to see some of these guys kick on and we have some top prospects at the moment like Fury and Price.

I cant get into it myself. Then again it is completely different to boxing and not really comparable. When I go round one of my mates for the boxing he shows me some of it and it just so happens that nearly everytime its been on its been rolling around on the floor stuff.

I respect its highly skillful as people I know that watch it remind me!! But I just find it dull. Though there are plenty that see boxing the same so each to their own.

It just seems unnecessarily brutal at times. Im not squeemish by any means but I prefer the rules of boxing. Sometimes in mma people lookcompletely out of it and yet the fight goes on. I realise this happens sometimes in boxing but usually takes a bad ref or corner.

I prefer the frequency of boxing too. I would be happy if boxing was on every night!

Much of the gassing is due to weight cutting I reckon. Guys like GSP, Anderson, Cain, the Diaz brothers and many more seem to be able to fight all night long. They have serious cardio.

I have a very good friend who has done both boxing and mma and he reckons its a totally different type of fitness required for both sports.

Exactly az which is why at times I wonder why theres such anamosity between the two sport.They are different and tend to attract different people. It doesnt make one better than the other. Its kind of the same stupid argument that rears its head although time between football and rugby.

TheMackemMawler wrote:I'd expect you to get a lot of stick for that comment LJ.

I know. Don't know why I forgot MMA is just homosexuals rolling round in hot pants.

Ooooh, someone trying hard to make a controversial statement. Its boring.

azania wrote:Much of the gassing is due to weight cutting I reckon. Guys like GSP, Anderson, Cain, the Diaz brothers and many more seem to be able to fight all night long. They have serious cardio.

I have a very good friend who has done both boxing and mma and he reckons its a totally different type of fitness required for both sports.

I wouldn't say they are massively different. If it turns into a grappling match then you'd need good muscular endurance and in close quarters you'd maybe need that explosive first 6 inches to create space. I think a fit boxer could compete on the cardio side.

It doesn't always turn into a grappling match. Hence the "mixed" aspect in the sport's name.

azania wrote:It doesn't always turn into a grappling match. Hence the "mixed" aspect in the sport's name.

If they are not grappling then they are striking. Which is usually boxing with the odd kick.

Dirty boxing? A mixture of elbows and punches and grappling thrown into the equation whilst grappling standing up. Randy Couture was an expert at that.

To be honest I loved UFC back in the days of Sevren, Gracie and Shamrock since when it's become a bit too jack of all trades for my liking.

I watch bits and pieces of MMA but don't follow it really. The several organisations with slightly different rules make it a touch confusing at times and I get enough of that from boxing to last me a life time. I do find the clash of styles fascinating when you get people who specialise in fields competing against each other.

azania wrote:Dirty boxing? A mixture of elbows and punches and grappling thrown into the equation whilst grappling standing up. Randy Couture was an expert at that.

Very similar to boxing.

azania wrote:It doesn't always turn into a grappling match. Hence the "mixed" aspect in the sport's name.

Come on the matches invariably end up on the ground and zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Its like watching extreme Chess. You know its really skillfull and that they have practised long and hard to become so skilled and that you should appreciate that skill and dedication, but its just dull.

Its like watching two drunk blokes fighting in a pub car park after a fetish fancy dress party.

Speaking from experience about that party, dragon?

azania wrote:Much of the gassing is due to weight cutting I reckon. Guys like GSP, Anderson, Cain, the Diaz brothers and many more seem to be able to fight all night long. They have serious cardio.

I have a very good friend who has done both boxing and mma and he reckons its a totally different type of fitness required for both sports.

I think David Haye said the same when he did some grappling/BJJ stuff a couple of years back. As i discussed with LJ on the MMA forum no real excuse for any top sportsman to be lacking fitness/cardio & its down to the individual not the sport but did concede their seems to have been a higher number of top level fighters gassing on big cards but like az said we always have the GSP's, Diaz bros & Cains of the world.

I am a fan of both although probably a bigger boxing fan but do like the way the UFC market MMA, the stacked cards & the reality shows like TUF. Like boxing though it does have its problems with its ranking (or lack of) system & some of the choices for title challengers. Do prefer the stand up side of it but its always good to see varied styles in a fight, wrestlers that look to take it straight to the ground & ground n pound is not my thing but its part of the sport.

Train and compete in both. Boxing's my 1st love though. Definitely prefer stand up stuff and I love my Muay Thai.

Totally agree that the ground stuff will appear very boring to the casual viewer but ironically that's the most impressive/ difficult aspect. A good ground match is a real chess match and if you know what to look for it's very exciting, but no doubt dull as dishwater if you have no interest in it.

Just like boxing, there's plenty of terrible fights and plenty of great ones. Boxing still edges if for me though.

I agree too that some of the "big" names have terrible cardio. If anyone saw Rampage's fight at the weekend, that was a perfect example. Interesting to see Bob Shannon coaching him though and I have to say his boxing looked very good. Way better than most MMA fighters.

Fitness wise, the core training is the same for both boxing and MMA. Probably slightly more focus on strength stuff in MMA as it's vitally important for takedowns. We do a beasting strength and conditioning session that's geared around MMA so lots of deadlifts, squats etc and stuff to develop explosive power. There's no one in our gym that trains regularly in a wide range of styles and lacks cardio. It's simply not possible so I can only assume these big name MMA guys are focussing too much on the strength side rather than the overall conditioning.

If you're new to MMA then I'd recommend watching some fights with someone who knows it and get them to talk you through the more technical aspects.

Huge fan of both.

I will always prefer a good boxing fight to a good MMA fight but MMA (UFC in particular) is so much better to follow and fan friendly and generally the top figts/anticpated bouts are made.

UFC's promotion is very slick and packing the fight cards gives value for money. For example this weekend has so many big fights it has 4/5 fights that in boxing would have their own event each with rubbish undercards.

I understand why a boxing fan wouldn't like MMA which is fine, I just hate the total disrespect it sometimes gets when MMA fans are generally quite supportive of boxing.

In fact when the Rios/Alvarado fight happened (and other good fights), Dana White, the president of the UFC tells his fans on Twitter to watch them!

Used to like MMA back in the day - Ric Flair, Andre the Giant and the Hulkster etc. Too commercialised these days.

seanmichaels wrote:Used to like MMA back in the day - Ric Flair, Andre the Giant and the Hulkster etc. Too commercialised these days.

Sean you s!@&

boxing is my first love, and always will be but jesus dana white knows how to run a sport, if there was anyone in boxing like him it would be back in the mainstream. i think the power comes from the one governing body, they can tell fighters who and when there fighting, which makes for 50/50 fights and deserved champions/challengers. they are tough with their prospects and match them together after 3-4 fights sometimes, making sure real talent gets recognised and have been shrewd in buisness buying/working with ecw, wec, strikefore, pride (i think) etc making the best of taking all the top talents, and although i hate reality shows TUF does bring in top quality fighters also.

the lesson boxing needs to learn is there should be no easy fights for a champion, the should defend against the most deserving, and also a loss is not the end of the world, you can come back if you put in a good effort.

I used to love watching guys like Fedor, Crocop, Nog etc. in Pride a few years back.
When Pride went, I lost interest as I didnt find the UFC as entertaining. However, I do watch the main fights and appreciate the skill involved, especially shown by fighters like Jon Jones