With all the comparisons between boxing and MMA throughout the years, one thing remains clear; boxing still has the star power.
MMA may be the more popular sport amongst younger individuals and one of the fastest growing sports, but the stars of boxing still clearly outshine those of its combat sport counterpart.
One of these stars, Floyd Mayweather Jr., recently added another victory and belt to his impressive fighting resume. Mayweather faced off against the highly touted Miguel Cotto and won via unanimous decision.
Mayweather displayed his normal defensive skills that have made him one of boxing’s best but also displayed the ability to change his strategies while going on the offensive at times; something boxing fans have complained Mayweather hasn’t done enough of in his career.
As one of the top money makers in boxing, Mayweather, who has an impressive 43-0 professional record, is essentially the world’s best boxer not named Manny Pacquiao.
Like the common comparisons between sports, one could make a comparison between the athletes that compete in them. One question that has popped up in the boxing vs. MMA debate is whether or not MMA will ever have a star prize-fighter like Mayweather.
The answer can be deconstructed into a number of areas. We’ll start with Mayweather the fighter.
As a fighter, Mayweather has been near untouchable throughout his career. His ability to avoid wild exchanges while being precise have made Mayweather one of the toughest boxers to hit.
The closest fighter to emulate this defensive-based style is Anderson Silva. The Brazilian is a master at avoiding the strikes of his opponent and using his opponent’s mistakes to seize the opening, just as Mayweather does.
However, the middleweight kingpin has been related more to Roy Jones’ evasive style, as both use their physical gifts such as reflexes to evade strikes.
Jon Jones has also shown a knack for avoiding his opponent’s offensive moves, but that’s due primarily to his insane reach advantage over opponents.
Another area the question could be answered is Mayweather as a pay-per-view draw. Mayweather earned a record amount for his purse against Cotto and has been a part of some of the biggest PPVs in boxing history.
His super-fight with Cotto earned 1.5 million PPV buys with 94 million dollars being earned in PPV revenue. The Cotto bout was the second highest grossing PPV for a non-heavyweight fight behind Mayweather’s match with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
The only two men who’ve come even close to reaching those numbers are Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre. Lesnar has since retired and moved back into the WWE, while GSP has been rehabbing an ACL tear.
Jon Jones is being groomed as the next megastar and has shown to be a PPV draw, but even he cannot hold a candle to Mayweather’s numbers. Jones’ biggest battle to date, a fight against former teammate Rashad Evans, managed to garner 700,000 PPV buys with just over $2 million in PPV revenue.
Both of those are respectable numbers for MMA, especially given the event was promoted around the main event only, but they still pale in comparison to boxing.
Ultimately, the answer to all facets of this question come down to one of the things that makes MMA great—unpredictability.
With such small gloves and so many variables like wrestling and jiu-jitsu, any fighter can beat another on any given night. Mayweather only has to worry about his opponent’s fists flying into his face, whereas MMA fighters must worry about fists, legs, knees and elbows.
And that’s only the stand-up aspect of MMA.
Once you add the ground game into the equation, a fighter has so many ways to lose. This is the No. 1 reason as to why I believe we won’t see a dominant figure like Mayweather emerge in MMA.
Fedor Emelianenko came close with his unbeaten streak, but he has since tarnished his legacy to MMA fans with his performances inside the Strikeforce cage. Even Silva, who has seemed unbeatable in the UFC, has tasted defeat in his career.
We will see fighters dominate the competition like Jones and others have done, but ultimately, everyone loses in MMA and must work their way back up the rankings ladder, which is something Mayweather has yet to endure.
Just like comparing boxing to MMA is an apples-to-oranges kind of game—so too is comparing Mayweather with any of the top MMA stars of today.
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