silentassasin

Just when I think that I am out they pull me back in!!! Always a good thing to throw in a Godfather reference if you can. baseball, as I have said before I have been hit with both kinds of gloves, and did not enjoy it so therefore I will be respectfully saying no to your invitation to train and then pound on you!! LOL. I have however trained as a freestyle wrestler, nothing big as I never did it in college because wasn't good enough. So just in high school and a little bit on a club team later on as an adult. I can not tell you what it is like to train as a boxer or for that matter as a true MMA fighter. But based on what the guys that I know that have done both or just one of the two I know that you are still banging the same drum. Boxing is not harder or better or whatever. UT is right, you are stating an opinion, as I am. Even if we did train and I somehow believed after doing both it would still be an opinion, not a fact. It is the same arguement the football only guys would use on me and my wrestler friends about how football ( a great sport for which I love and played as well, was even much better at it than wrestling) was harder than what we did. We disagreed obviously. So pretty much any football guy that showed up and went through our workouts got smoked, not because we were better athletes or it is a "harder" sport but because it was completely different to them than what they were used to pushing their bodies for. Doing wall sits while two guys are wrestling a three minute match is a lot harder than it sounds especially when you are the heavyweight class and the matches start with the 105 and 109 pound guys starting. Boxing is a great sport but whether or not MMA is better or harder is irrelevant. MMA is more popular right now and you can believe it is for the reasons you state and i disagree. I still believe that because of the popularity and exposure it is getting on cable and satelite as well as now ESPN and other bigger channels starting to show some love to MMA more and more people are wanting to get involved in it. It is the same reason why baseball had such a huge following, and still does obviously, at first. Kids grew up listening to the teams play and seeing the players as icons and larger than life heroes. The MMA guys are the same to this generation, it is just that guys like me who are alot older than the kids of today are also fans. I don't remember who said it but the statement about the boxing skill in boxing being far greater than MMA, well DUH! You just figured that out genius? Of course the boxing skill is greater in a sport called BOXING! That is also why boxers are probably not very good at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and if taken down would have a very hard time defending themselves. Most boxers I know don't train how to throw a punch from the ground lying in someone's guard. Could they figure it out, sure eventually just like I have said that a good MMA guys the level of GSP or Silva if they trained straight boxing would become very good at it. Why can't we all just admit that boxing is great, not as great as it used to be ( another opinion I realize ) but that MMA is also a great sport, and not a fad that will be going away soon as Buc stated between shifts at his 50 hour a week job. And while we are at it why don't we try and grow up and just say both sports have a lot to offer the fighters as well as the fans of the sports and leave it at that, instead of acting like Mayweather or any other fighter who is dogging out the other sport in order to get publicity. Just a thought fellas.

baseball have you ever stopped to think that maybe more kids and adults for that matter are trying MMA training due to the extreme rise in popularity and not because it is an easier sport. baseball I know that this may seem hard to comprehend but lets do a little math today shall we. Using your 400 punches statement. A boxing match that goes the distance is 10 three minute rounds or 30 minutes of boxing. MMA only goes to the 25 minute mark in championship matches while the others are a mere 15 minutes long. I am not saying that an MMA fighter would throw 500 punches if the fights were longer but the number would definitely be higher than it is. Plus you also have to figure in leg kicks and knee strikes also rising in total number thrown. Bottom line is that very few of us on this forum have said MMA is better or harder but you continue to keep banging the drum about boxing being tougher and using very weak examples to prove it. Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis were former boxers who found better success in MMA, fact. Noone denies that. But you what do you think your opinion would be if someone like a GSP who is in the prime of health and relatively young enough to step away from MMA and train straight boxing. I say that he would be as successful as you say Mayweather would be in MMA. I don't deny Mayweather is a bad dude in the ring, guy has speed in his hands that most MMA guys would never be able to handle in a straight striking contest. But how hard and fast would he be punching if he got taken to the ground and had someone skilled in submissions working a kimura on his arm, or if he had to spend considerable strength pulling off a rear naked choke that someone had locked in. My thought would be that he would drop down in some of the speed and power from before due to fatigue. I believe Mayweather would be successful if he fought MMA, not because it is easier but because he is a dedicated fighter who would train his butt off to be the best as he did in boxing. Bottom line is that you will continue to bang the same drum as you have been so I am choosing to spend my time on different threads after I post this. Call it agree to disagree.

Horrible example baseball. Most of the guys who go on TUF have been fighting already for a few years before going on the show including Rashad. One of the few that had no experience was Matt Hamill, another one was a few years ago and he was a lightweight and lied to the producers about how many fights he had. Brock Lesnar is an exception to the rule to MMA and most people realize it. Again, I am going to stand by and say that if someone in MMA of the caliber of a GSP or Silva trains straight boxing he would reach a high level very quickly. It is comparing apples and oranges.

Same here. I feel bad for Silva a little because it is an unfortunate result of the younger crowd with the attitude of wanting to see blood or KO's. People like most of us on here who love MMA and are fans of all aspects of it understand what Anderson was doing and don't fault him for it. I mean if I was fighting a guy who was known for doing one thing great then I would definitely game plan around that and not worry about the fans as much.

BJJ, wrestling, Muay Thay and every other fighting sport are all sciences baseball. This bullcorn of calling boxing and only boxing a science is outdated. have you every trained in any of the fighting arts, if you have then you would know that they are all sciences to an extent. BJJ as well as judo and wrestling are all about using leverage against your opponent and all the striking forms like boxing, karate, hapkido etc. are all very difficult to master. The only reason why MMA guys say boxing is harder, and i have heard similar things baseball, is because with boxing you are constantly working on only one aspect of fighting. Most MMA guys I know enjoy working in all the disciplines while having a favorite one that depends on what they are better at. For example, I was a wrestler and have learned a little BJJ from guys that i know that have taken it. I would hate to have to box because I would be thinking about how I could shoot for this guys legs and get him to the ground and pound him out or submit him. I am definitely not saying Mayweather could not possibly be successful in MMA, I am more about that all fighters need to learn to respect the other types of athletes out there instead of trying to spout off at the mouth to get some more interest in their career. Face it MMA shows, especially the UFC ones are making money big time and boxing promoters are not scared necessarily but rather they are ticked at having to compete for the dollars of the American and foreign public that they once owned exclusively pretty much. Now MMA shows are raking in big bucks and celebs are showing up at their shows like they used to do very often at the big fights like when Tyson or Leonard or people like that fought. It is kind of like the NFL. Noone has really been able to find a product that can compete successfully with the NFL, which is why the UFL won't last. I feel like boxing promoters felt the same way and now that Dana and other MMA promoters have done what was necessary to keep the animal alive, MMA is no longer the upstart. They are now a player that boxing and boxers need to recognize.

Not applicable at all to the high school game. For the most part I feel high school officials do a decent job. I know for one thing most of the smaller schools say from big 3A down could for sure not afford something like this and even most of the smaller 4A's. Not to mention how much more time it would make the games. I am from the Panhandle and sometimes Amarillo teams have to go 4 hours to San Angelo to play a game can you imagine a game starting at 7:00 and ending somewhere after 11:30 with even minimal tv delays and then driving back home, getting to the field house at 3:00 or so in the morning and then having to get up in a few hours to start working on next weeks plans. Completely ridiculous. Most of the people, not necessarily the starter of this thread, whom I have heard make this statement are people who live and die by what their high school teams in their towns do. Football is great but come on.

venom you crack me up with the line about the TUF noobs not having an opinion that matters!! It is exactly how I feel. It is like the kids who go out in the TAPOUT or Affliction gear but have no idea who the fighters are.

No actually Bu the statement that DAna said on the show last night was a replay of the show the same channel did over a year ago. And White has made that same statement on more than that venue. I do not base my opinions on what is said on a TV program. I base it on years of being a fan of both boxing and MMA, and having done part of one of the disciplines that goes into MMA. AS well as being friends with guys who have participated in both sports. And, "Big Guy", I quoted one line from one thing that Dana said. I did not post anything else from the program. If I was going to do that I would have mentioned how the UFC has been a total shark and that the parts of the program where they showed Trump and Cuban backing the Affliction cards was not valid anymore and something should have been said about their going under. Baseball you are making the point that I am trying to. I believe that a fighter like Mayweather IF he trained for a year just learning the basics of the grappling game and striking with the legs through Muay Thai would be good at it. He would have an edge in the boxing and for sure he would probably rely on it due to his prior experience the same as Matt Hughes relied more on his wrestling ability to get guys on the ground. But Hughes became a student of submissions and BJJ to give himself another facet to use. I also think that the opposite of the Mayweather situation is true. I believe you could take a guy like Anderson Silva or GSP and have them train with a straight boxing coach for a year and they would be a successful fighter in that sport as well. I believe that these guys in both sports are given a little extra something by God that makes them good at fighting and I respect guys from both sports who choose to train and get good at which ever one they choose. But they should respect the other sport and not try and use it to get their own hype up. And another point Buc, I could care less if you think I am some guy who jumped on the bandwagon, not the case because I have watched the UFC and other MMA fights once I was made aware of it since the first UFC tournament. People said rap was a fad too back in the day and now it is one of the biggest money makers in music. People said that the DH was a horrible idea for baseball but it is still here isn't it. The XFL was a fad, the USFL was a fad (although it stayed around longer than I thought it would). MMA is not a fad. Now I will say that the sport is growing due to the fact that it is marketed to a younger crowd and I am the first to say that the young Bucs of the world who don't know much of the sport other than what they see on The Ultimate Fighter or the occasional UFC Unleashed will either grow to appreciate what goes into MMA training and become more of a student of it as I did or they may just get into it for the violence. But how is that any different than a boxing fan. I can tell you that I got introduced to fighting because of Marvin Hagler back in the day and then it grew with Tyson. I have tremendous respect and love for boxing. I love to watch fighing of any kind because I respect any man or woman who can say I will go into a cage, ring or whatever and stand there and trade strikes with another person and may the better fighter win. I am not that brave, I don't like getting punched without gear on to cover my already ugly mug. I just happen to like MMA more than boxing but respect both.

And Fedor is one of the best fighters ever in most opinions of the fans. Why does a good career allow someone to constantly play with the emotions of the fans that support them. It shouldn't. Favre is a great player but the meaning of the post was that I am sick of hearing "I still want to play" " No I want to retire." Poop or get off the pot is more to the point I am making with both Favre and Fedor. Make up your freakin mind what you want to do and do it. Then the rest of us will adjust accordingly depending on our involvement.

Great points venom33. I know that I for one look at the numbers and say man I would not pass on it. But then again I am not making my life as a fighter. Fedor on the one hand should want to do what is best for MMA if he wants to help the sport to grow and continue in the direction it is now going. NOT A FAD LIKE BUC THINK!!!!!!!!! But on the other hand this is his life and he has to look out for his rights and what he feels is okay and acceptable for him to submit himself too. If Fedor does not like the contracts then he can choose to fight elsewhere and true MMA fans like myself will continue to watch. The UFC is obviously not hurting without him, so if they can't land him then so bet it. BUt I am proud of Dana trying to get Fedor. But Dana is not going to bow down to anyone because he is as much or more headstrong than Fedor's camp is. I guess we won't see the fight against Lesnar like we want for now, maybe some other place or time. But kind of like the Brett Favre stuff, I am sick of hearing about this crap anymore. I will try and vow to now post any more on Fedor, other than how good I think he is, and UFC contracts until the announcement goes out that he signs.

That statement is about as moronic as I have ever heard. First off the UFC is one of a few MMA (the sport) organizations. It stopped being a fad around the year 2003. The first version was a fad and had limited capability of growing for various reasons like no rules, weight classes along with the squeamish nature of most of conservative America. The current version of MMA the sport as presented by groups such as the UFC as well as Strikeforce and the smaller groups in America as well as in Japan is a much better product and is not a fad. The UFC was bought by the Fertita brothers for 2 million and the latest numbers on them has their company alone being worth nearly or just over a billion dollars. Other groups like the local guys putting on shows are the breeding ground for the talent that the big boys are signing. You can go to a show in a lot of states now, whereas it was banned in most before. Like Dana White said once, porn is on PPV but at one point you could not watch the UFC or any MMA events on PPV. For you guys that sit there and say you like boxing more I say Great. You can not truly compare the two sports because the skill with the hands at striking is unparalled in boxing compared to MMA but only because MMA fighters have to concentrate on more than one type of attack. I would get great with my hands too if I did not have to worry about being taken down and having my neck choked or my arm potentially broken. Just like a wrestler has to learn to use his hand to punch and block when he first gets into MMA a straight boxer (no matter how great) would have to learn some BJJ or submission wrestling skills along with some kicking skills. I am not saying that Mayweather needs to become an Olympic level wrestler or a blackbelt from the Gracie academy to become an MMA guy. But to use the one punch can land works both ways. I mean I have boxed before with the headgear and gloves and it still hurt. I have also hit the bags with the 4 oz. MMA gloves and it is no comparison how much harder I felt the hit myself. I also have gotten punched by both sets of gloves and the lighter ones hurt more, and boxing gloves hurt more than people think. I feel like someone like an Anderson Silva could beat a boxer of equal status in a straight MMA event. Where the boxer would dominate him in a straight boxing match. You guys are right that a boxer will not make a camp like he should but that is because most of them are too arrogant to give the respect due to MMA that it deserves. I find it funny that you don't catch the MMA guys going and saying stuff like they could kill a champion boxer. WHy, it is not because they are not confident but it is because most of them respect the boxers for the dedication it took to get them to the top of their chosen sport. My main point is that instead of trying to get the hooplah from running his mouth Mayweather should give true MMA training a try and see if he can find it somewhere in his greatness to learn that he should respect the kind of training it takes the MMA champs to get to their top levels. I also want to point out that Sylvia was the champ but only because he won a vacated belt, not from someone the first time, and I believe that was because Barnett or some other fighter possibly left and vacated the title. People who come out and say things that put down MMA guys are not recognizing the true athleticism that it takes to do this stuff. I am a former wrestler who had to hear from the straight football guys that if I was a real man I would drop the other sport I was doing and get real. I would then challenge them to go through a workout and watch them puke their guts out after five minutes of warming up. Same with this. I am not trying to say that a boxer could not be successful but rather that if they actually took the time to truly investigate things that they would learn something. Sorry to ramble but have heard these same dumb arguements for over 20 years with the wrestling and now the last 10 or so with MMA. Ticks me off.

But the same goes the other way, if the MMA guy gets it to the ground then the boxer is toast.

I hope so but will believe when I see it happen.

I tend to agree with Torres, most of the boxers (not all) who bash MMA are not ever going to get in the cage. Most would lose, not because they can't hit hard because we all know that can. But a true MMA fighter is not going to play into a boxer's forte which is his hands. Most of them are going to test his ground game and sprawl ability and try to submit them or ground and pound them. Mayweather if a bit nuts if he says that MMA is only around because white fighters can't dominate boxing. There has not been many white champions in most of the weight classes since Marciano. Boxing has been and will continue to be dominated in this country by the Latino and African-American fighters. White kids do not grow up, except in inner cities, boxing or fighting as a way out of their situations. They grow up playing baseball and football and now soccer. Mayweather is showing his ignorance here. I say that if he thinks that MMA is not that hard or that big of a deal then he should call up Dana White and say I want to fight in the cage against your best guy available. No middle of the ground rules. Straight MMA rules applied. If he does not train for the ground game and wants to straight box let him, he will lose if he does. But what I think will happen is that he will do the smart thing and get a real camp together of his boxing coach, a Muay Thai guy and a BJJ/wrestling guy to show him the stuff he needs to learn. he will then see what real MMA guys go through in preparation for fights and for less money than boxers btw and learn some respect. The outcome of the fight will be a win win for the fans either way. He fights and loses and then the MMA world grows because an MMA guy shut him up. He wins the fight but and this is a huge but, he admits based on his training a new respect for MMA and in which case it cause MMA to grow even more.

I tend to have to agree with baseball on this one. Fedor is financially well enough off that he does not need the money so if he is really interested in being known truly as the best, and he has easily defeated the competition in the other organizations he has fought in, then why does he not just make the move to UFC? I mean I am not going as far as saying he is scared of Lesnar or anyone else for that matter but I will say that as long as he stays out he can always use the allure of Fedor being the #1 PFP fighter tag people have put on him. But if he fights and loses then he for sure loses that appeal. He is slowly doing more damage to his rep than he is helping it by continuing to do business like this. I for one hope either he dumps M-1 as his representation or Dana takes look at his demands and tells them to take a hike. The UFC has done fine without Fedor and will continue to do so because now they can spin it against his camp saying he is asking for too many concessions. etc. But then again, Dana could sign him and we could all be wrong!

I am all tingly inside just like when we climbed the rope in gym class. Had to throw a Wayne's World reference in there.

That is phenomenal news for all of us fans. Maybe Fedor versus Couture soon.

Heck I'll fight Fedor for half a million!!! I mean the hospital bills with my insurance would only take about 1/3 of it and then after taxes I could still end up with 150,000 or so. On second thought!!! Nevermind.

Mir/Kongo would be a good fight. But it won't get the attention of Rampage/Rashad.

Fedor no matter who he fights! Belfort if he is not fighting Fedor Babalu Sobral Buentello Santiago Hieron Gomi Lauzon Rothwell Arreola Vazquez Hominick Broughton Linhares

So in other words, Dana is going to have to make some big concessions if he wants Fedor. Gotta hand it to him by continually dangling the possibility of his joining them Fedor keeps his popularity and mystique growing.

I won't mind watching Bisping get KO'd for free!!!

I don't have an issue with former pro wrestlers getting into MMA, it is the fastest growing sport right now and they want to jump in on the action. I know plenty of ex-collegiate wrestlers who wanted to continue their competitive careers but you can only go so far with real wrestling. I just hope that Brock can tone down, a little not a lot, his tude and if anymore come into it they keep the persona for TNA and WWE in the TNA and WWE. It makes it harder for the rest of us true fans of mma to convince the naysayers that it is on the up and up when you have to defend the actions of something like what Lesnar pullled after the fight.

If this is true then I bet Dana is licking his chops big time right now!!!

Great article but I think that he signs a gigantic deal in August less than a few weeks after his fight.