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Arum: "UFC is junk, it's garbage."

10K views 165 replies 52 participants last post by  Darkwraith 
#1 · (Edited)
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=22128

By Mark Vester

During a recent talk with MMA Fanhouse, Top Rank's Bob Arum unloaded some big shots at the UFC and Mixed Martial Arts. Arum's recent comments land on the eve of UFC president Dana White's recent negative comments about boxing and the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez pay-per-view.

"I've been to an MMA fight night and it's terrible. I admire Dana White and all the UFC guys as they've done very well. But for me it's junk, it's garbage. You've got guys rolling around on the ground and it's not a sport that shows great, great talent. The guys can't throw punches to save their ass and when a punch lands they've got no chin. They're not like boxers and aren't trained like them," Arum said.

Arum says the UFC audience and the boxing audience are entirely different. His characterization of the UFC audience and the UFC fighters are off by a mile. Instead of watching a UFC event, Arum must have been watching the movie American History X.

"I look at the UFC audience and boxing audience as entirely different. Boxing's audience is largely ethnic and includes the hardcore fans who, like me, can't watch UFC. UFC's a bunch of skinhead white guys watching a bunch of people in the ring who also look like skinhead white guys. Ninety per cent of the MMA audience have tattoos — and I don't care because that's up to them," Arum said.

"But they aren't people who will have any interest in boxing. The only guy they might want to see is Kelly Pavlik. For me, and people like me, MMA is not something that they ever cared to see. It's horrible."

He won't deny the UFC's drawing power and their ability to market, sell and promote their events.

"They've made us adapt as they do an unbelievable job in certain aspects — and we're trying to duplicate that. They're sensational promoters and are class guys who have built a good business. But I think the majority of my generation agree that it's junk," Arum said.
What a plonker.

Considering how many people think boxing to be nothing but "Two thick blokes punching each other in the face.", the last thing you would expect out of boxing circles is exactly the same misinformed uneducated opinions about another sport. And yet, here we are having to listen to this. It's like the school playground with some boxing people.
 
#2 ·
What people like him dont understand that its a different sport. Stop comparing boxers to mma fighters...

What he doesnt understand that yes, boxers are generally "ethnic" also meaning they are mostly minorities but in MMA you have guys from around the world, from France, to Japan, Brazil, Holland, England, Mexico, everyfuckinwhere. It's way more global than boxing. And his comments regarding the skinhead tattood fan is appalling. He needs to understand that its a young sport that has attracted a younger generation.
 
#90 ·
Um... Well... I wouldn't say that MMA is "way more global than boxing." Boxing events are often similar to world cup events where you don't only have two guys fighting for their careers, you have them fighting for something of national pride as well.


This said, I think it's a stupid comment by Arum. I enjoy boxing over MMA, yes, but I don't think MMA is just for skinheads and tattooed idiots. There is a lot of art in MMA and I think it's at least as respectable as boxing.


Then again... I do get sick of the wrestling antics. I think they should have what PRIDE had where you get penalized for being boring.

Though then again you'd be talking about the loss of about half of the UFC's fighters who primarily win by laying on top of guys for three rounds and grabbing a decision.
 
#50 ·
Dana says stupid sh!t all the time and you know it.


**I hate to admit this but a large portion of UFC fans are white racist males(skinheads). I really love the sport but its true.
I can't believe I'm reading shit like this on MMAF. Wow. You guys are being just as ignorant and bigoted as Arum in these posts.

Rogi, calling someone a "racist ***" is just as ignorant as being one yourself. That's absolutely appalling.

Villian, I've never met a single fan of MMA that's a skinhead, so saying that a large portion of their fan base are skinheads is extremely ignorant, too. Sure there are probably a few who are, but I'm sure there's a strong correlation between the number of skinheads in the population and the number who are fans of the UFC, it's probably fairly even... This shit is seriously getting ridiculous.

Since when do we as MMA fans take something like this said by some nobody and make ourselves look horrible because this dude is all butthurt and making himself look like a bigot, racists asshat? Let this guy burn himself, he doesn't need our help. And even more so, we don't need to make ourselves look like morons and bigots too. Say he's a bigot, a racist, an idiot, past his prime, a geezer or what have you, but do not resort to his same methods of preaching. This is one case wehre you don't fight fire with fire, you just let the fire burn itsself out. MMA as a whole is already under the social microscope, we don't need crap like this dragging us back down the hill we've been fighting so hard to climb up.
 
#5 ·
That's like saying :

"I went to a Baseball game once, and its nothing like Hockey. They don't even wear skates and they play on a grass field. Its not a true sport because the're sitting and waiting for their turn to try and hit a ball with a baseball bat. Anyone can play baseball, I use to play in my backyard with my friends when I was a kid. These people don't even train hard at all, they don't need to, they're just a bunch of thugs who play Human baseball bat hitting and running"

That's what boxers and MMA guys sound like when talking about the other sport.

Two sports, different things, let it be.
 
#7 ·
dana white, would get analy raped over by every news station if he said boxing audience sucks, they're all a bunch of blacks and latinos with tattos and he's afraid he would get mugged in the stands. Not to mention saying he think that audience would only watch UFC fights with Rampage or Rashad or another black guy fighting.
 
#29 ·
**I hate to admit this but a large portion of UFC fans are white racist males(skinheads). I really love the sport but its true.
That is the most ignorant, idiotic comment I have ever read from someone who is supposed to be a fan of the sport. Tell us...what survey or poll have your completed that allows you to be so insightful? Millions of fans out there and you of all people got your finger on the pulse of the fan eh? Stupid...just stupid.
 
#9 ·
There are a lot of boxing fans who get into MMA every day. The same cant be said the other way around. This desaturation of boxing/fighting fans is what Arum is scared of.

Kind of understandable really. Boxing in the west has completely dominated all other fighting sports for years. The big players don't know how to deal with competition from other sports as they haven't ever had it. Hence such a childish reaction.
 
#15 ·
I can see where he is coming from with certain points. Most of the people i know cant stand UFC because they think it is just guys rolling around on the floor. This really puts off the casual audience, and im not going to disagree, it is boring as hell when you get fights which play out like that.
 
#23 ·
I hate people like this. How can you say there's no skill involved? Look at people like Couture, A.Silva, Maia and tell me there's no skill involved. Some boxing fanatics are scared of mma's success so they defend "their sport" by bad mouthing mma and the fans of mma. I can appreciate both sports but some people are dicks and see mma as just a glorified street fight.
 
#40 ·
he's just old and yearns for a simpler time where Frank Sinatra ruled, Doris Day sang, Leave it to Beaver made us laugh in a wholesome way and GM made cars people wanted.

Now you have a black president, gay marriage, rap music and reality tv shows; it's just too much for him to handle.
 
#42 ·
Know what's "garbage?" That we'll never see Mayweather-Pacquiao, whether or not each one wins or loses his next fight, because Mayweather refuses to negotiate with Pacquiao.

That's boxing's problem. The best fighters rarely fight the best fighters. Everyone's so afraid to have their guy lose, because a single loss is treated like the end of a career. So we get guys ducking and dodging like crazy.

That's "garbage."
 
#43 ·
That's the real problem with boxing, in boxing 1 or 2 losses can derail your entire career. In MMA if you don't have a couple of losses on your record you aren't fighting the best guys (generally). Boxing promoters find a half way decent fighter and feed him cans until he gets to somewhere around 20 - 0 or better then they match him with another fighter with a similar record in a big money fight. It's to easy to manufacture champions in boxing and yet people still fall for it every time. It's very rare that you see to good up and coming fighters fight each other early on in their careers. It's just to big of a risk for the promoters really.
 
#52 ·
We had an older boxer (15 years of boxing) join our MMA gym just recently. When he came in we both wrapped our fists together the same way, then went and hit the bags. He showed me hard close range hooks and uppercuts, I should him low-mid-high kicks and throws.


Boxers have a lot to offer us, their science is very specific. But we have a lot to offer boxers, our science is broad and demanding.



The only difference I see is the formula for beating a boxer in MMA is takedown->submit, but the formula for beating an MMA fighter in a boxing match is not so specific.


Can't we all get along?
 
#66 ·
Funny how some boxing fans get pissed off when they get stereotyped as gangsters and thugs, yet they line up to stereotype MMA fans as skinheads and white supremacists.

The UFC light heavyweight champion is part Korean. The middleweight champion is a black Brazilian. The light heavyweight champion is Japanese-Brazilian.

Not sure where the appeal is for the Neo-Nazi set.
 
#69 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well you listen hear N-gger, If anyones gonna be having sex with my sister is gonna be me.

***********! MMA is the best sport in the world, boxing is for them N-ggers. ***********.
DAMN RIGHT! It's about time we stop watching this here nascar and go where all us white people are, MMA!

Karate, boxing, wrestling, brazilian jiu jitsu, judo, these were all discovered by the hooooowhite man. Which is why I enjoy hoowatching it so much. every UFC I go to is like my local KKK gatherings.
 
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