In today’s combat sport landscape, many things have been said about the prevalence of MMA and various organizations like Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Many think boxing is a dead sport and point out the viewership of MMA events both on free TV and on PPV along with the popularity of their stars. This is a case of being a big dog in a very small pond, if given the chance many in MMA would gladly switch over to boxing if they could with the same kind of success.
UFC’s most popular fighter, Conor McGregor has been chasing a fight with a retired and aging boxing superstar in a boxing match. This writer cannot blame him because I would definitely have done the same and I think no one should be surprised if this becomes the trend. I expect other popular MMA fighters to follow suit to see if they have what it takes to escape the amateur league, the reason for it is obvious.
MMA does take skill but not the kind of skill boxing does. World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Brock Lesnar won the heavyweight title after competing in just 4 fights. Many will point to his wrestling background but MMA wrestling is a completely different animal than MMA wrestling. No one without a boxing background has ever come in and won a world title in boxing, normally these people have an extensive amateur background before even thinking about turning pro. Because the sport was MMA no one was surprised Lesnar won the title. If a champion college sprinter won the Boston Marathon after only four races it would be an uproar. If someone who excelled in table tennis suddenly won Wimbledon in their fourth tournament it would be an uproar. Lesnar winning was not seen as something out of the ordinary because let’s face it, it was just MMA which brings me to the main point why MMA fighters would box if they could.
The top three fight only purses in the UFC without factoring in any PPV sales are 3 million to Conor McGregor, $2.5 million to Brock Lesnar and $1 million to Conor McGregor. No other fight has paid out a million to its participants. There is a good chance the average person could pick out both Lesnar and McGregor on the street if they walked by. Andre Berto who is a decent boxer but by no means part of the elite made that much money in his last two fights with Floyd Mayweather and Shawn Porter. For comparisons sake I won’t even mention the money the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto or even current PPV darling Saul Alvarez has made because the gap would be too wide. I am strictly sticking to mid-tier fighters and their fight purses versus the superstars of the UFC. A very glaring example of pay can be found at the higher weights.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic made 201k, 600k and 690k in his last three fights against the former UFC Heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, the popular Alistair Overeem and former champion Junior Dos Santos. This is supposedly the baddest man on the planet, at least according to the UFC and his last five fights have ended in knockout because of his very heavy hands. It would be easy to pick a fighter like Anthony Joshua who made over $3 million in a fight BEFORE he was champ but I don’t need to do that. Tony Bellew, who no one thinks will be a force in the heavyweight division, took home $3 million dollars in his last fight against David Haye in which no title was on the line.
Things all boil down to money, those who can, box. While it is nice being Demetrious Johnson, he has after all defended his title 10 times against all challengers, the 440k he received in his last fight pales in comparison to what he could make. Carl Frampton made more than double that in his last fight despite having nowhere near the pedigree. No one cannot make me believe Johnson would rather be making the money he versus what others in boxing are making. Jose Aldo was on top for a while and is the current featherweight champion, a guy the same size as him, Adrien Broner makes more than triple he does per fight. Saying someone would rather fight in the UFC instead of boxing despite having the skill to do so is ludicrous and boxing is not going anywhere. That would be like saying some star quarterback would rather play in the CFL instead of the NFL because of some sense of pride. Two of the biggest weekends for combat sports are Cinco de Mayo and Mexican independence day. There is a reason why you will never see a mega UFC pay per view on either of those weekends, it is the same reason the College Football Championship will never go against the Super Bowl, amateurs cannot compete with the professionals.