Yaaaaay, UFC is winning. Oh, and Sam, knock Joe Rogan all you want (especially considering the guy isn't even fighting), but there's a 1-2 combo in boxing that can't be beat for utter disgrace and lunacy : Don King and Mike Tyson... stick that in your 150 years of "culture" and "history".
150 years? Only in the US. Just to satisfy my own curiosity I got carried away with a little Wikipedia research on the history of unarmed fighting and fighting for sport. The more you read, the more you realize how all these disciplines are related. The histories of these things all bounce between sport, culture, and warfare. Here are some interesting dates... Boxing -Archaelogical evidence suggests Egyptians may have practiced boxing as early as 3000 BC -The earliest record of boxing is 1500 BC in the Mediterranean (Minoan) -Other significant cultures practiced boxing include the Greeks (688 BC), the Chinese (1200 BC), and the Italians (1100-1600 AD) -After dying out, modern boxing or "prizefighting" resurfaces in England in 1681 Martial Arts (unarmed) -Emerged in China in 2700 BC -Documented evidence of wrestling in Egypt in 2300 BC -In Genesis chapter 32, Jacob wrestles with an angel circa 1500 BC, Jacob is renamed Israel (Israel translates to "wrestle" or "struggle") -Pressure points written about in India in 1100 BC -Greek wrestling is popular in 1100-150 BC -Was adopted for sport in China in 200 BC -Recorded Sumo match in Japan in 20 BC -Glima (wrestling) practiced in Scandinavia in 1100 AD -Over 2000 Jujutsu schools are functioning in Japan in the 1800's -Eastern Martial Arts comes to the US in the late 1800's with increased trade with Japan and China, but primarily as performance -Catch wrestling becomes popular in Europe in the late 1800's MMA -In 1887, John Sullivan, the first modern heavyweight champion boxer is taken to the mat in 2 minutes by William Muldoon, Greco-Roman wrestling champion -In the late 1890's future boxing heavyweight champion Bob Fitzimmons breaks the cheekbone of Ernest Roeber, Greco-Roman wrestling champion, but is then defeated by an arm lock -Merikan matches (boxing vs Jujitsu) in Japan are popular in the early 1900's -In the US in 1914, Ad Santel (American Catch Wrestler) defeats Tokugoro Ito (Judo), drawing interest in Japan -Vale Tudo (anything goes) matches begin in Brazil in the 1920's to promote Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, defeating many practitioners of boxing, judo, karate, and wrestling with few losses -In Japan in 1976, Antonio Inoki hosts a series of mixed bouts -Shooto, a Japanese MMA league is formed in 1985
There was a show a while back I think on Discovery or History Channel that traced various martial arts and how they may have originated. I'm not sure if that's the one that Wesley Snipes hosted or not, but it was a pretty cool show.
By 150 years I'm using the approximate "modern" date of publication of the old Marquess of Queensbury rules which have continuously been in use since then and are pretty much still in use today with some minor alterations (technically I think it is only 140 years or so though) - pretty much all the basics (gloves, 3 minute rounds, definition of a knockdown, 10 count, etc) are the same rules used in all boxing jurisdictions. But yeah the history of fighting as sport goes back a long time
It's fairly close for me, but I still prefer boxing. I think it was all those years of growing up watching fights with my dad that holds a special place for it. And speaking of American boxers, I watched Kelly Pavlik on the Taylor/Spinks undercard and came away very impressed. I would love to see him and Jermaine hook up, hopefully they make that happen soon. I think one thing that would go a long way towards helping boxing is if they unified everything. There are way too many championships to keep up with (WBC, IBF, AAA, etc..). If there was just a "Middleweight Champion" I think people would have a lot easier time identifying with the sport.
Pavlik has made tremendous strides, I would love to see him fight Taylor or Cowslappy. I think Pavlik might be the favorite since Taylor has looked like crap his last two fights, however JT has a tendency to fight down or up to his level of competition. But yes the alphabetocracy hurts boxing, no question. I personally like to use the Ring Magazine rankings/title as a gauge - real boxing people decide them and there is no funny business since they don't get sanctioning fees, etc.
Yep. Get rid of the sanctioning bodies, cut way down on the number of weight classes. Don't know if the much bandied about federal oversight would help clean up the sport or not, haven't really thought about it. But it's obvious that you have no life, and since I cannot "win" this civil conversation with you, I will ban myself from this thread before I am forced to resort to the calling of names & yo momma jokes. So take that.
My favorite boxer, however, was James "The Gentleman Masher" Corcoran. (Only video found, with terrible audio.) <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Eqk36LLr5os"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Eqk36LLr5os" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
I think it was the show where they had like computer graphics and 3d models to show how the various martial arts worked right? I think it was DiscoveryHD. was pretty interesting.
What are y'alls opinions on the unpredictability of UFC fights? It looks to me like a sport where on any given night (an overused cliche for most sports) the anyone can win. You look at guys like Orlovsky, Hughes, GSP and you think, there is no reason this guy can't have an extended hold on the belt but they always seem to be beatable. Is it good for an individual sport to have so much unpredictablilty with it's stars? No other major individual sport where one combatent is pitted directly against his opponent is like this. I think that acoounts for alot of peoples reactions that it is mostly just a human cockfight instead of an actual contest of skill
i think that partially has to with the actual name itself mixed martial arts. a lot of people have a weakness with some fighter. kind of like rock,scissors, paper. at least thats the way i see it.
Uhhh the people who own UFC bought PRIDE back in April. Pride will still keep its name, but now fighters under contract with them can do both.
Will Leben be able to win a fight in pride, I want that guy to win but him and that Joe Diesel Riggs guy are like the guys WWE throws in for the stars to beat up on
