MMA vs. Boxing: It's no contest

Recently I saw a debate that was held between professional boxing authorities and members of the MMA community, UFC in particular. What I saw was a complete lack of respect among boxing peers for their MMA counterparts. At best, professional boxing authorities claim that members of the MMA community could possibly compete in a boxing environment. The subtle undertone of the arrogant stance of professional boxing for MMA became blunt when Floyd Mayweather, one of the best boxers today, stated, "MMA is the minor leagues of fighting. They couldn't last in the ring with us." Nothing could be further from the truth.

For those who do not know what MMA is, it stands for Mixed Martial Arts. It is a style of competitive fighting which allows multiples disciplines to be used in competition. Boxing, wrestling, judo, kickboxing, and other styles are readily used in the sport. It has seen a rapid rise in popularity in the past few years under the steady hand of Dana White, himself a former boxing promoter.

One misconception of the sport which has lingered among the public is that MMA is a bloodsport. This was partly true in the early days of MMA in this country with the creation of UFC in the 90s. During that period there were no weight classes allowing any and all body types to fight one another. It was not impossible to see a 150 pound fighter versus a three hundred pound monster. There were no gloves, blows could be landed anywhere save the groin, and rounds were non-existent with both opponents fighting for a pre-set time limit until the bell rang (usually ten to fifteen minutes). It was an anything goes atmosphere and it pretty much was. Hair pulling, eye gouging, brutal beat downs (including stomping, a move by which a fighter was allowed to literally stomp on their opponent while he was down), and bloody battles were the norm in the infancy of the UFC. This all changed with the introduction of Royce Gracie.

Royce Gracie revolutionized the sport of MMA in this country. A master of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he was a tiny fighter who proved himself capable of beating men twice his own size. It was how he went about doing it that altered the perception of fighting. He didn't charge in exchanging blows like in a Rocky movie. Gracie's talent lay in submissions and grappling, wearing out his opponent through strategy and holds rather than blunt force trauma. It opened another avenue for fighting that broadened the possibilities of matches from mere pugilism to true multi-style fighting.

Crowds had never seen this style of fighting before and very nearly never saw it again as Congress stepped in and pressure was put on venues not to show UFC/MMA fights because of their bloody past.

To the rescue came Dana White who helped to make the sport more palatable to officials by the creation of weight classes roughly equivalent to boxing standards, a creation of restrictions which helped to lessen the more savage aspects of MMA (no more punches to the back of the head, stomping, etc.), and acceptance of states to determine eligibility of fighters to fight through licensing. Once Congress backed off, the show truly began.

To compare MMA to boxing it will take an analogy. Fighting is war on a personal scale. Two forces come up against one another. Only one may walk out the victor after a battle. It is the weapons used and the environment within which these tools are applied which determine the battle's action, length, and overall appearance. To compare MMA to boxing is to compare World War II to World War I respectively.

Boxing is nothing more than a battle of attrition. Each fighter begins limited in the tools allowed, their fists being the sole weapons legally used. These weapons are protected by thick gloves worn to help soften the impact of the blows on a fighter's fists helping to prolong their use throughout the fight. Only the head and body may be targeted creating a zone of interest. Both fighters engage one another in attempts to deliver blows to the chest or face in hopes of weakening and ultimately dropping their opponent. They may go about this via uppercuts, jabs, straights, and hooks; using combinations or power shots. The goal is to systematically break down the other fighter until such time as he is unable to continue.

Victory is not simply one quick battle but a series of conflicts as one fighter attempts to batter his opponent into absolute surrender. The goal is to knock his challenger down until such time as he is unable to rise. The knockdown rule is a type of gentleman's agreement. It is there to define the strength and will of the fallen, to see whether he is man enough to rise and continue. He is not beaten while he is down but given the chance to defend himself. If he is unable to do so then the fight is over.

The sport is very primitive in its focus with victory solely by the exhaustion of the loser. It is plodding and at times predictable. Each opponent knows what is vulnerable (the head and body) and quite easily defend these two simple places. Should the opponent begin to gain an advantage, a fighter may clinch his opponent to stop the action and give himself time to recover. Thus action is rarely constant. It is far more defensive than offensive with strategic thinking being of prime concern. A match is roughly nothing more than two men probing one another for a weakness and attempting to exploit it. There will be periodic flare ups but for the most part a match will simply be two men following one another around trying to create openings in a tightly defended front over the course of twelve rounds.

MMA, in contrast, is lighting fast, unpredictable, and literally a living version of combined arms warfare. One does not simply use their hands, which in this case are protected by streamlined gloves which allow for use of fingers. One may use their legs, one may use their shoulders, and one may also use holds. The fighting isn't merely two men standing toe-to-toe. The battle can go to the mat as one opponent tries to either pound the other into unconsciousness, submit him, or choke him out. One can never be sure which way a fight may proceed. It is because of this that MMA fights do not always go the distance. Most don't even last longer than the first round.

Because every part of the body may be a weapon or a target, protecting the body is impossible. Both fighters have to think largely offensively rather than defensively. If one plants their feet they may leave themself open to a lunge meant to take them down to the mat for a submission. Guarding the body leaves the legs open to kicks which can weaken one's abilities to move and thus hinder the possibility of moving out of harm's way. One must constantly being moving forward or trying to seize the offense as there is no sure way to win defensively in MMA. One cannot defend against everything and if one stays on the defensive, his opponent will eventually find a weakness. There are exceptions such as Tim "The Maniac" Sylvia or Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, two men who allow their opponents to come in and then wait for a mistake before seizing the offensive. But these two are the exception rather than the rule. Largely defensive fighters fare poorly. In fact, these two men, once dominant, have lost recent fights due to their styles of defensive fighting. This is in contrast to boxing where men who fight largely defensive styles (Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, and Winky Wright) go long stretches victorious because they exhaust their opponents'.

There are multiple paths to victory rather than a stand-up punching battle. This is the difference between the static monotony of boxing versus the fluid, dynamic style of MMA. It is also why brain damage is far more prevalent in boxing versus MMA. In MMA, should a fighter get knocked out the fight is immediately called. There is no waiting to see if he can get up or giving him the chance to clear his head. MMA fighters go in for the kill and one knockdown is usually all it takes. Boxing on the other hand encourages men to keep going despite the trauma they take leading to short careers and long lasting physical effects.

One can see from the above the differences between MMA and boxing. In fact, it is startling that anyone would claim boxers are superior to MMA fighters. There have been hard charging boxers in MMA. Men like Tank Abbott and Bob Sapp are good examples of successful boxers, or brawlers, in MMA competition. But this style of fighting has only proven successful via quick rushes at the opponent, overwhelming him with blows before he can put up a viable defense. These two men (Sapp and Abbott) found themselves on the losing end of many of their fights once their opponents found ways to blunt their charging and brawling (kicks, throws to the ground, etc.). It is telling that MMA forced boxing to "evolve" in the UFC, Pride, and elsewhere, because of the vulnerabilities of more than the body and the head. With so many possibilities and avenues of attack, UFC and other organizations have forced fighters to think offensively, to attack constantly, and to energize fights leading to continual action. This has been lacking in boxing much to the fans' dismay.

It is the outright arrogance of men like Mayweather which irritates me. His belief that boxing is superior to MMA has been disproven time and again as boxers have fought in MMA and found themselves rapidly beaten by men of other disciplines (Abbott, Sapp). Mayweather himself is a true symbol of what boxing represents. His hands are fragile from years of boxing having broken the bones in his hands constant times, thus he is a highly defensive fighter. He consistently retreats and guards, throwing punches when he must to keep his opponent at bay. He has mastered the shoulder roll to guide punches away and open the avenue for a counterpunch. His style is meant for a battle of attrition, to go long rounds, to wear out the opponent as he fails time and again to break through his defenses. The problem is Mayweather would quickly find himself in trouble were he to fight MMA. Though he may be able to guard against punches, could he also defend his legs against kicks? If his legs start getting chopped and become bruised, sensitive, and non-responsive then his punches would start to wane in power as he would be unable to plant himself, a necessary point in throwing a punch in boxing. His mobility would shrink preventing continual escape from his opponent. Thus he would have to start defending his legs leaving his body or head open to a kick or punch. Would he clinch? Not a good idea in MMA as Mayweather's opponent could deliver knees to his abdomen or even higher should he lock his own hands behind Floyd's neck. Or maybe Floyd's opponent instead decides to lunge at him and take him to the mat. How would Mayweather defend against a chokehold or a submission move if all he knows is how to throw punches? On the mat, his leverage gone, how would boxing alone save him? This and more brings great doubt to Mayweather's belief that MMA is for individuals who couldn't make it in boxing. In fact, it is boxers who can't make it in MMA with pugilist skills alone.

The fact is that fans want action. They want men who are going to compete. They don't want to watch two figures simply wear each other out. They want to see actual competition. It is not simply a question as to why MMA is the dominant form of fighting in the U.S. and world today, it is a question as to why boxing is even still legal.