Posted on 05/01/2006 5:11:28 AM PDT by SShultz460
When Marc Ratner resigned his office and took a position with the UFC, it signaled a major death toll for the sport of boxing. With mixed martial arts already grabbing a huge market share from boxing, the intelligent addition of Ratner as a mouthpiece to commissioners and politicians nationwide shows the dedication that UFC has to becoming the evolutionary replacement for our sport.
Ratner, who is a fervent advocate for fighter safety, adds credibility to the UFC and further assists the genius business plan that someone has developed in that company. Or perhaps all the UFC executives had to do was collect all the articles written by boxing people over the last two decades that have warned of boxing's demise if changes were not made and applied the cure to the UFC business plan. Intelligently they decided that it is better to build the business of MMA instead of any one athlete. Competitive matchups, entertaining shows, a focus on the sport similar to the NFL model instead of a focus on individual hype, joined with positive reporting. Writers have been pointing out boxing's deficiencies for years only to be blown off by promoters as sensationalism. The difference now is that an alternative is available that excites people and absconds with our fan base.
Now the UFC is successfully recruiting our most intelligent executives.
All we fans warned you for three decades now that a couple of good fights a year would not keep us happy, yet you continue to feed us with bouts like Samuel Peter versus Julius Long. When pro wrestling and martial arts took a large percentage of our audience in the '80s, promoters thought they would come back and it was business as usual. They didn't.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
UFC/MMA Ping!
Good. UFC is quite entertaining.
I used to love watching boxing, but pay no attention to it anymore. UFC is great. Fighter safety is not as much a problem now as it used to be back in the early days when a kick to the head of a fighter down on the mat was allowed.
I predict that Royce Gracie is going to kick the crap out of Matt Hughes.
I used to love watching boxing, but pay no attention to it anymore. UFC is great. Fighter safety is not as much a problem now as it used to be back in the early days when a kick to the head of a fighter down on the mat was allowed.
whoops...double post. I guess my trigger finger was a bit itchy
Gracie will probably win, but there won't be any crap kicking going on. Just one b-o-r-i-n-g match once it goes to the ground.
I'm looking forward to the fight, however it will be a yawner. I'll take Hughes by Decision
Boxing would hold my interested better if it went back to 8 weight classes/divisions -- 8 champs, one champ per division. Nowadays with all the "junior" and "super" divisions there are at least double that amount, and with all the world governing bodies there are often more than 4 champs per weight class. Who can follow the sport when there are over 50 "champions?"
I like to watch it (Boxing and UFC), but I learned a long time ago (Holmes/Leon Spinks), that $50.00 for 59 seconds isn't a very good deal.
Thats when I stopped being a fan.
Free UFC on Spike TV every Thursday night. Plus about every other Month they do Ultimate Fight Night Live.
For the PPVs, I go to a Bar with my friends and fork over $5 for a cover charge.
Also Fox Sports Net has PrideFC weekly and will be running the new International Fight League (IFL) in a few weeks.
"Can one watch a UFC event these days without forking out $30 - $40?"
Spike TV.
I love UFC !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the tips; I'll be checking it out.
I havent seen a UFC event where they showed fewer than 5 fights. If any of the fights Go fast they air the Undercard.
It's done well, Heck UFC 49 (probably one of the best ever) was like Ultimate Knockouts and still went 3 hours with probably one of the most brutal dominating fights I have ever seen (Couture/Belfort 3)
I can't even watch boxing anymore because it seems so limited, and lacks all the excitement of MMA.
30 seconds of UFC is usually more entertaining that 2 hours of boxing. Given a choice I would take the first every time.
I actually tried to watch boxing again the other day. It was interesting to watch the difference in the level of striking, but I was bored because that's all it was.
Man, I look forward to those shoots and the exciting grappling where people are chaining subs, dropping elbows, reversing postions, etx.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.