Topic: UFC, MMA and Boxing

Thought I would start a thread on this topic as its something I have been watching for a few years now. But only over the last year have I been watching all the UFC titles fights. I tried watching some of the other organisation events like Bellator but the fighters do not seem to be up to the same standard as in the UFC

Really looking forward to the return of John Jones loved watching him fight and the division will be stronger with him in it. He did a stupid thing and is paying for it lest hope he can stay within the law this time.

The Holly Holmes fight was great last month certainly put Rhonda in her place. Apparently she is having problems eating due to the pounding she took from Holly.

Conor Mcgregor great fighter but I just do not like the guy. I know he puts on a show and winds people up but frankly he is just irritating.

What fights are people looking forward to?

If you are on BT Sport you can watch the fights for free not sure about in the US

Not a big fan of UFC, I really enjoyed it when it was first created in the 90's back when it had no rules and it was meant to pit different martial arts against one another. Now it's just a former shell of what it was and for me it's just boxing with submissions thrown in. I can see why others like it but I just can't enjoy it.

@dryrain: Is there anyway it could be mma, ufc and Boxing thread? I don't watch ufc - but boxed a little for my now closed down club. Would definately post if that became a thread

Just changed the title of the thread. I do not know much about boxing though. What do you think about Tyson Fury and Amir Khan?

I saw a video of Gracie back in the 90's when he was fighting can not remember what comptetion it was. The whole family I think are fighters his dad was in his 80's and still doing some good moves. Are there any young Gracies coming through the ranks?

My ex-housemate used to go to school with Michael Bisping. Not seen him fight in a while that should be a good.Bisping can be brutal when he gets going.

I have not finished watching the Lawler-Condit fight yet. I normally record the whole fight program and prelims then skip through some of the adverts and other stuff. The Larkin -Tumenov fight was good, Tumenov has such good boxing skills.

@dryrain: I am sure that their are Gracies coming up but since they sold their interest in UFC (The Gracie family actually started UFC to test Gracie JuJitsu) it's hard to follow them.

I know this may sound odd, but really the only martial arts I like watching are during the Olympics. UFC & other MMA just come off as kind of crass & unprofessional to me (I'm not knocking anyone who does like it, though).

Just a question though. How popular is the sport now in Europe & Australia? I remember reading on an Australian game site not too long ago (Digitally Downloaded), that they didn't have a favorable opinion of the sport, or the games based on it.

The biggest things that stood out to me were that they claimed it has a level of violence, that while culturally okay in the U.S., would make most in Europe or Asia feel uneasy (I think this was in responce to EA showing one of the games during their E3 conferences a couple years ago, stating that as the gaming event the world watches, it didn't make sense to promote a game that only has an audience in the U.S., and would only make others uneasy). They also claimed that Bruce Lee would be very much against being associated with the "inferior athletes" of the UFC (when he was included in one of the games), and that he was probably rolling over.

Just want to know if this is the general opinion of the sport outside of the U.S., or if they were off.

@RR529: I would think UFC would be big outside of the US. I mean Brazil has Vale Tudo matches and Thailand has Muy Thai even Japan has sanctioned fights like UFC. Boxing is big in Europe too so I would be surprised if UFC type events aren't big in Europe. As I said earlier UFC was created by the Gracie family to test and promote their style and they are Brazilian.

Thanks for the answers. Just kind of curious since I didn't know what kind of marketshare it had elsewhere.

@dryrain: Tyson Fury did well in his title fight. The only problem is Fury needs to fight Vitali Klitchsko who was always the better of the two Klitchsko brothers so its unfortunate that we wont see Fury and Vitali in the ring.

As for Khan, he's a really good boxer - but his jaw is made of glass.

@mcnoisy I would have liked for Khan to have stayed as an amatuer for longer he could have got more medals at olympic level and still had a very good professional career a little later. I agree with an earlier poster about Khan he seems to expect the biggest fights but he is no longer the guys people want to box at the highest level.

In england we seem to be producing a good crop of boxers in most of the different weight divisions. It a shame Luke Campbell lost a few weeks back.

@triplegk I finished watching the lawler fight I did think that condit did enough to win it so was a little suprised by the decision. The last round of the fight was great two guys giving it everything. I would like to see a rematch between them and can see it happening.

I have noticed that BBC2 radio have been giving a bit of UFC news in the last couple of months in the sporting news part of the programs. Which they never did before. You never see reports in the newspaper though which is shame.

I think in 4 -5 years MMA will be a lot more main stream than it is now. The level of these athletes is increasing all of the time along with technique. You can not get away with just being good at boxing, kicking or grappling. I think in some ways the americans are at an advantage because wrestling is done a lot more in college/school. Like anything its better learened at an early age.

I like Mighty Mouse I forget his real name. The last fight he did made his opponent look ordinary which he is certainly not

@dryrain: Yes we are team GB!!! Another British golden era.

@TripleGK: Cant argue with that. Tyson is his own worst enemy though he could lose it - it does depend on if he trains as hard again as Wladimir will.

What do you think about Hayes coming back to the ring? Apparently he never retired even though I am sure he did. The fight is on one of the channel 5 channels this weekend I think.

Just read that Phil Brookes who is apparently a WWE wrestler is coming to UFC no idea why they would be letting him into the sport he does not have a MMA background and his age is against him.

Yeah that's old news. If you followed WWE he was CM Punk and he hasn't worked for WWE for a few years now. He does have a martial arts background though, if you ever seen him wrestle he used more strikes and joint locks then actual "wrestling" moves. It was evident that he had trained in both Kickboxing and JuJitsu. As to why they are letting him in cause he's a very controversial person. Just youtube CM Punk Pipe bomb to see what I mean.

Only recently been checking MMA news normally just watch the fights. Never seen WWE but thanks for the heads up.

Mike Tyson reckons Tyson Fury is the best boxer in boxing since Mike Tyson.

Pretty controversial, Lewis was better than Tyson.

I think that was the main reason for hiring CM Punk was due to his large following. Even now still on occasion fans at WWE events will start chanting his name. My only thing is I hope UFC can make him happy cause if they don't well he will let them know.

I loved watching Mike Tyson fight he was an amazing fighter until his arrest. I always thought Tyson was a better fighter than lennox Lewis.