Sports: MMA vs boxing

Self-tutoring about sports trends: the tutor mentions MMA.

Twenty years ago, I followed boxing. However, a couple of trends made the sport less appealing. One was questionable judging, as with the Lewis-Holyfield fights. Another was that some hyped fights didn’t seem to have much action.

I recall being in a pub – back then, that was where I went to see pay-per-view fights – for a championship fight. By its end, most of the patrons weren’t too impressed. “This was a championship fight. Look at the boxers – not a mark on either one,” a spectator commented. Many people agreed. Some boxers, for whatever reason, seemed to get tens of millions of dollars for boring fights.

Around that time I started hearing about MMA, but I was skeptical about it. Then, life got busy and I stopped following any sports.

Now, my younger son trains in various fighting styles and shows me some MMA matches on YouTube. I have to admit that they tend to be more interesting than the high-purse boxing matches I used to watch. I don’t even like the grappling in the MMA matches; rather, I just find that they’ve got more action.

MMA fighters seem more determined to win. Therefore, win or lose, they fight harder. It makes for more interesting fights. Many of the fights are mainly boxing, yet seem more interesting than the actual boxing matches I used to watch. Who knows why things have developed this way; it just seems they have.

In my own case, however, I still enjoy boxing, and continue to do a few rounds with my son every so often.