The LA Times did a feature in anticipation of this weekend’s MMA/Boxing doubleheader in Southern California this weekend. With Bellator having a show at the Honda Center in Anaheim Friday and PBC doing an event on Saturday, the story outlines the differences.
Friday night’s card features former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson while Saturday features Robert Guerrero. The story details how Guerrero is an example of how losses do not matter so long as you can produce great fights. This is a product, according to the article, of the MMA culture which does not penalize a fighter for a loss. Rather, the type of style of fighting is more important.
For its part, MMA has evolved into more of a striking sport rather than grappling. The story points to the lack of submissions at last week’s UFC 202.
Payout Perspective:
I think that boxing and MMA can be complimentary to each other rather than competing. This weekend’s “doubleheader” in combat sports is a likely test to see if Spike can do another similar weekend. Bellator has tried to mesh kickboxing and MMA to mixed results. While the article indicates that MMA is taking from boxing with more fighters standing up and boxing is taking from MMA by producing better quality matchups regardless of Ls, I think the overarching point is that both sports are promoting excitement to entice fans. That translates to more action which could lead to highlight knockdowns or knockouts. While neither boxing or MMA will outright say it, there’s the belief that sudden violence that attracts the casual fan to the sport.
I like it, would love to see more of it
Me too.