Boxing vs UFC

[markbignosekelly]

Gentlemen

As you can see from my avatar that Im quite partial to a bit of fisticuffs.

What are your thoughts on, to me, one of the most exciting boxing matches of the last 10 years.

Floyd Mayweather (now) 50 wins as a pro boxer , pound for pound (on paper) one of the greatest fighters of all, 15 title fights in 5 weight divisions against Conner McGregor a debut boxer but with a 21 win fight, 18 by knockout career in MMA.
Queensbury rules, 8 oz gloves, Mayweather should have dominated the fight. Mayweather has fought and won the likes of Pacquiau, Marteques, Hatton and De Le Hoya, all champions in there own rights, this should have been an easy fight.

Is this the end of boxing?

[Hirlau]

Before my comments; I have no credentials in boxing & luckily all my fights were outside a ring.

Yes, I expected Conner to go in the first round, due to the rules of the fight. Then again, Mayweather went against a fighter that knows how to take an a$$ beating. I think Conner should think God that he was even allowed to fight anyone for that kind of money, win or loose.

The end of boxing,, no.

[Christian1]

I just think of it as two different sports that will always have an audience. I think Boxers/UFC fighters will beat the other if they are in their playing field. (I don't know much about these sports I don't watch but here is what I think) I think it was long because it was a boxer who I see was known mostly for defense at the end of his career vs a great UFC fighter in his prime. Experience in the boxing ring won Mayweather the fight (I am assuming I didn't watch) and Mcgregor is a great fighter in his prime so he was able to go distance. I think it would be a close fight if it was a UFC fighter near the end of his career vs a in the prime Boxer. A close fight but the guy in his field winning.

I think boxing will be fine though, some people would rather watch guys just punching while others want to see guys punching/kicking.

[JOB15]

I love MMA and boxing but mostly MMA

Conor would have won if it was not for his weak cardio. He wouldn't do well in a marathon . Even so he has brought a breath of fresh air to the UFC.
I think you could tell that Floyd is old or getting too old.

Hopefully Xmas/New year we will see Conor in a big fight. Conor vs Tyron Woodley would be some thing to look forward too..

[Butzy]

Is this the end of boxing?

I think if the match had been even close then we may have at least seen a start to the end of the sport. However, I think the fight went pretty much as most folks expected (even Connor, considering his grins at the post-fight conference)... And as such, there is definitely still a place for both sports to be enjoyed.

[markbignosekelly]

I was being a bit dramatic when I said is it the end of boxing, mma is the fastest growing sport in the world and boxings popularity has waned in the last 10 years but as we can see ticket and pay per view still makes 100s of millions so I dont think its going anywhere soon.

I think Mcgregger surprised everyone by going as far as he did. Lets make one thing clear he is not a boxer. Although in mma you throw punches, and a lot of mma fighters have a boxing background trying to box in the octagon is only going to make you look silly, look at James Toney, heavyweight champion in 3 x weight divisions, get his ass handed on a plate by Randy Coture in the first round. With boxing a lot of your weight is on the front foot so your very susceptible to takedowns. Joe mentioned stamina but 5 x 5 min rounds is very different to 12 x 3 min rounds. It would have taken Mcgregger months to train his body to adapt. And I very much doubt anyone in the UFC could run a marathon! They train for explosive power so fast twitch muscles will be used instead of slow twitch endurance muscle fibers used by marathon runners. Try and get a sprinter to run a marathon, it wouldnt end well.

I believe if it had been mma rules Mayweather wouldve been banged out in the first round even in his prime.

I thoughly enjoyed the fight from what I can remember, I was a little intoxicated watching it!

They are both winners at the end of the day, walking away with a cool 100 mill is not a bad day in the office. I wouldn't mind wacthing more of these though, Anthony Joshua has hinted he wouldnt mind stepping into the octagon....

[Cangooner]

I'm a fan of Connor in his natural environment (octagon) but thought he would be on the receiving end of a pretty savage schooling by Mayweather right from the first bell. It was a nice surprise to see that it wasn't as one-sided as I expected, and that the ref stopped it when he did.

An odd spectacle I don't expect to see repeated, but an interesting one too.

[markbignosekelly]

It was a nice surprise to see that it wasn't as one-sided as I expected, and that the ref stopped it when he did.

Indeed the ref called it too soon. Mcgregger was obviously gassing but Mayweather still didnt put him on his ass.

[Cangooner]

Indeed the ref called it too soon. Mcgregger was obviously gassing but Mayweather still didnt put him on his ass.

I have to admit that I haven't really watched boxing at all since probably the 90s, so I'm wondering would that stoppage be considered by most boxing observers to have been early or to have been justified in protecting the fighter from his own toughness?

As more is learned about head injuries and their long-term effects, I find myself becoming more of a fan of earlier stoppages in fights. Some guys just don't have the sense to fall over when they should.

[TristanLudlow]

When are they gonna continue their fight in the octagon?

Taking a boxer to the ground in a BJJ type fight => I don't see that lasting long.

I'll be honest, I didn't watch the fight, nor do I really care. I train BJJ and my partner is a taekwondo champ. She's dangerous standing up, but once we start grappling, she's totally lost.

So if they do an MMA type fight, I don't see that lasting long, I guess that's why they decided to go for a boxing match.

That said, I dig MMA, but also love to watch boxing. (Mike Tyson is a weird man, but holy damn he was vicious!)