MMA vs. Boxing: America’s Fastest Growing Sport Goes Head to Head with the “Sweet Science.”


The debate has been ongoing ever since UFC’s  pay-per view numbers from 2006 were released. The UFC broke the pay-per-view industry’s all-time records for a single year of business, generating over $222,766,000 in revenue during 2006, surpassing WWE and boxing.  Has boxing’s reign as the premiere combat sport come to an end? As quickly as you might answer one way or the other, let’s look at the most important factors in determining the leading sport:

 

Most Recognizable Fighters:

 

MMA has spearheaded into popularity, largely due to the commercial success of UFC and The Ultimate Fighter. The Ultimate Fighter has helped create household names such as Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez and most recently Nate Diaz. Roger Huerta became the first Mixed Martial Artists to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, and Chuck Liddell not only graced the cover of ESPN the Magazine, but also starred in an episode of “Entourage.”

 

Lately, everywhere you turn, an MMA fighter’s face is garnering mainstream attention. However, there is hardly an athlete in any sport that has created a stronger brand or that carries more name recognition than Oscar De La Hoya, who has generated over $500 million in pay-per-view buys over the course of his career. Floyd Mayweather Jr. has become a house hold name since his relatively timid win over De La Hoya this year. Despite a heavyweight division filled with more characters from a “Stallone” movie than actual contenders, names of less relevant aging fighters can still be found on the tips of casual fighting fan’s lips. (e.g., Evander Holyfield, and Roy Jones Jr.)

 

Advantage: Boxing

 

 

Bigger Commercial Success

 

The UFC’s 2006 pay-per-view sales have led many people to speculate on the death of boxing.  How else could you explain, one promotion outselling an entire sport? The numbers tell the story, and as the saying goes, “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.”  But I think we’re looking at the wrong numbers. Boxing is coming off of the biggest boxing pay-per-view ever with 2.15 million household buys. Not only that, but De La Hoya ended up bringing in close to $45 million for the fight, while Mayweather Jr. earned close to $20 million.

 

In the biggest UFC fight, UFC 71, complete with ESPN coverage throughout the promotion, Chuck Liddell earned $500,000 and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson earned $225,000.  With such a disparity between purses in the two sports, its hard to argue that MMA has surpassed Boxing commercially.  The average sports fan actually does not even refer to the sport of Mixed Martial Arts as MMA.  It’s commonly referred as “Caged Fighting”, “Ultimate Fighting” or as the ultimate sign of a one promotion monopoly, “UFC.”

MMA is the fastest growing sport in America. However, it’s still has some growing up to do to catch the sport of boxing in commercial success.

 

Advantage: Boxing