I think it is hilarious that mainstream media are still debating whether or not mixed martial arts and UFC have overtaken boxing in terms of popularity and fan interest. ESPN's Michael Wilbon recently said he still hasn't been able to get into mixed martial arts. Newsflash! MMA is already dominating boxing.
This is just one indication of how fast MMA has risen. Last night I went to a sports bar to watch UFC 73, a pay-per-view event. The event had a pretty solid lineup, with 2 championship fights and another big name fighter (Tito Ortiz) in the octagon.
I got there 15 minutes early expecting to find a seat easily. When I got there I was shocked to find that they were charging people $5 just to watch the fight in a large room off the main bar. And people were paying--there were no tables left. I was lucky to find a chair to put in the corner, while others paid the money just to be able to stand and watch. I don't know many people who would pay to watch most boxing events, except for the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight--the kind of fight which hardly ever comes along in the boxing world. Some have said that may have been the last HUGE fight for boxing, but that debate is for another day.
Another thing that shocked me was WHO was watching UFC 73. There were almost as many girls as guys there, and most of the crowd was educated enough to know when to cheer, what the moves were called, and when to boo. Yes, people were cheering--that shows that MMA is here to stay.
The crazy thing is boxing MIGHT have one or two events this big each year. UFC has one almost every month. Besides having shady promoters and weak storylines, boxing killed itself when it stopped showing good fights on network and cableTV. Hopefully, the mixed martial arts world has learned from this and will continue to show fights on SPIKE and HDNET, while still having the big event shown on pay-per-view.