For most of my life boxing was king.  It had no serious competition whatsoever. In spite of occasional ridiculously bad decisions and obvious fixes it was still generally enjoyable for me to watch.
  In 1974 the Professional Karate Association or PKA was created.  I watched it because I am into Karate, and it was an interesting diversion, but it had as many restrictive rules as boxing so it never really took off like it should have. 
     Then came MMA.  At first it was just a curiosity to me but the more I watched it the more I liked it.  MMA was closer to an actual fight than any sport before it. Very slowly I began watching more MMA and less boxing.  It's to the point now where I find boxing as boring as baseball and I don't watch it at all.  I watch all the MMA I can find.
    Has anyone else made the same transformation?   

Mma is where it's at , although I find some fighters boring as boxing

I've never been interested in boxing really at all but I do occasionally find myself drifting onto MMA videos on Youtube. Mostly I just watch a few compilations of particularly interesting moments that have happened in fights. I think for me in that way it's not really any more interesting than boxing usually but it has more potential for interesting moments.

MMA is a lot more interesting to me. Still love Fedor. He will always be the king to me. Or should I say Emperor? Anyways, wish he would stop fighting though. Every fighter needs to know when it's time to stop or they risk ruining their legacy. He's proven himself, no need to go to the point where he ends up doing serious damage to himself. (If it hasn't happened already.)

you're all wrong!  Chess boxing is where it's really at ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ZwMVLMezI

NooneOfConsequence wrote on May 27^th, 2018 at 8:50am:

you're all wrong!  Chess boxing is where it's really at ;D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ZwMVLMezI

Love it!

Actually love the idea of chess boxing

I stumbled upon chess boxing a while back, the things some people come up with. Hahaha

I actually go the other way (which is weird because I'm into judo and judo has more crossover with mma). I prefer more focused skillsets which I feel allows people to attain super skilled status rather than a jack of all trades type deal.

I think it largely depends on the fighter for me. I love watching fighters with a stronger base in Muay Thai or Karate actually use kicks effectively ( Vuyisile Colossa, Anthony Pettis, Amnuaysirichoke) rather than a grapplers throw a guillotine from full guard. I think the rules of MMA tend to be generally quite biased towards BJJ practitioners which I personally don't enjoy watching as much. Because of that however, when a stand-up striker can still win fights in a wrestling-biased sport, I really respect that. And I also respect the high-level grapplers of course (Demetrius Johnson) and the well rounded fighters like

Boxing also depends on the match-up but MMA is generally more entertaining.

   I also enjoy watching Muay Thai.  I prefer MMA because I enjoy the grappling as much as the striking but Kickboxing is also very entertaining.

There's been some really good fights in boxing lately. Especially the Joshua/Ruiz fight.  I would love to see Ruiz knock out Wilder. Man would that be a win for Dad bods everywhere.

Unfortunately I will forever associate boxing matches with murder... even though it’s not boxing’s fault. About a decade ago my neighbor had a party to watch a Pacquiao fight. From what I could gather later (I was asleep across the street), there was a lot of alcohol consumption. Some idiot kid crashed the party and started mouthing off... so what do a bunch of drunk people do about an obnoxious teenager at a boxing party?  Obviously they roughed him up but mostly just hurt his pride. He returned with a gun, shot my neighbor’s wife (she lived), and killed her uncle. 

     This is slightly off topic but who cares.  For the majority of my life women fighters were nothing more than an oddity... almost a freak show.  99% of them weren't particularly talented or well trained at all.  They were just tough girls who needed a fast buck.   And of course the womens' fights were always just openers.  Never main events. 
     That certainly isn't the case these days.  Women fighters are highly skilled, well trained athletes whether they're MMA, boxing, or Muay Thai.  They are a pleasure to watch; in fact I enjoy them as much as the men.  Very often a womens' fight is the headliner and deservedly so.

I think part of the reason I enjoy watching a good female fight is the same reason I prefer the lighter weight classes. There's more fighting. Heavyweights, because each punch is a potential knockout, fight very differently than the lower weight classes.

    I've also been watching bare knuckle fighting, both men and women.  It's quality fighting... a lot of the participants are former MMA stars.  I have mixed feelings about bare knuckle boxing.
    The damage done is more severe and potentially catastrophic. I am very large and know how to punch.  I know first hand the damage bare knuckles can do.  I can't imagine too many bare knuckle fighters having long careers. 

That's boxing's fault. Back in the old days, basically no-one died in organised matches because they would aim for the body and save their hands from breaking on jaws and skulls. Once boxing gloves were invented they could aim for the head... and that's when fighters started dying. Now everyone is trained for knockouts.

There's an old Kung Fu training exercise called iron palm/hand that trains ones hands to be able to give full power strikes without damage to the hand or knuckle. I wonder if MMA didn't use gloves if they would've eventually begun training this technique more and more. Guess we will never know.

     Using your palm heal is a good tactic, especially at close quarters.  It's excellent for breaking someone's nose.  The disadvantage to it is that it shortens your reach by four or five inches.  That's a big deal in a fight.