How UFC 118 Can Benefit Boxing Whatever The Outcome

I shouldn't need to tell you how pointless Randy Couture vs James Toney at UFC 118 will be beyond a quick cash-grab and publicity stunt. That's not the focus of this article, but here's a quick capsule analysis to get things out of the way.

- Toney is training takedown defence, submission defence and counter wrestling ergo it's not a pure Boxer vs MMA fight.

- Both are the wrong side of 40 so a loss by either one can be easily dismissed.

- The Boxing vs MMA debate is as pointless as a Soccer vs Football debate, unless we're talking about which sport is more commercially successful globally or domestically. From a technical standpoint the sports are connected by the thinnest of threads.

See? This whole nonsense was summed up in 75 words.

Now, onto the article ...

UFC 118 can benefit Boxing. Even if Toney loses. "How?" you ask. Pretty simple: anyone in the Boxing industry going to this fight live or watching at home should treat this as a Master Class in event promotion.

Until now the Boxing industry hasn't had a reason to pay specific attention to a UFC event. Sure, they can't get away from the reports of UFC Pay Per Views trouncing Boxing year to year but many in the industry are still blinkered and use the rare Pacquiao, Mayweather and previously De La Hoya fights to justify their commercial stability despite only having 2 fighters in the entire sport they can rely on to make any real money. Only a select few in Boxing have been shrewd enough to take a closer look at the UFC previously.

Ricky Hatton has in the past said how Boxing can learn from a UFC event. (emphasis mine).

Boxing can learn so much from this sport. The presentation really is first class, they do so much more to build the atmosphere up for the fans in the arena before the fights. By the time the fight comes on you are really ready for it, you can’t wait."

 "The whole show was great, not just the main event, and, rather than boxing ignore it or pretend it isn’t as big as it is, it should take a leaf out of the UFC book and start getting the crowd more involved with the show. The UFC has big screens all around the arena with pre-fight interviews on before the fight, why can’t boxing promoters in the UK do something like that?

In the same article linked, Paulie Malignaggi chimes in:

In boxing in the US, we are too busy building fading stars. The UFC  makes it tough. The UFC matches young studs against each other. Joe Calzaghe v Roy Jones was a fight with great names, but not a great fight. The UFC is putting young bucks in against each other in their prime. It’s what boxing should be doing.

I know what you're thinking, Couture vs Toney is hardly an example of this, but we should be thankful it's not the main event as it could well have been in Boxing, or for a recently invented title that means absolutely nothing. Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn rematch for the Lightweight title, both are the No#1 and No#2 fighters in the world in their division and both are 28 and 31 years old respectively. This match up was made 4 months ago not long after they first fought to a close decision at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. And yet in the course of 2-3 years the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao fight is still in limbo.

Also on the main card are the two next best Lightweights in the UFC in Kenny Florain and Gray Maynard fighting for the next shot at the title, whomever the champion may be. Then you have Demian Maia vs Mario Miranda and Nate Diaz vs Marcus Davis, potentially good fights but more importantly fans know who they are based on past, consistent promotion (barring Miranda who is essentially stepping in for Alan Belcher, whom UFC fans have got to know so the point remains). How often can that be said about the majority of Boxing undercards, even the Big Fight ones?

Many in the MMA media and industry have known for years about what the UFC does better then Boxing, but this could be the first time for many in the Boxing industry to realise this first hand. Even the pre-fight and post-fight press conferences in the UFC have become mini-events, and that goes double for when it comes to the official weigh-ins.

What should also be immediately apparent to Boxing guys attending this event is the crowd turnout from the very first preliminary fight. In Boxing it's quite common for the audience to only begin filling out as the supporting fight comes to a close, ready for the main event. UFC audiences are much more willing to check out the majority of fights because they know they're going to get their money's worth. As Paul Heyman recently mentioned to Ariel Helwani, the process of fight promotion is simple but is often forgotten or overly complicated (in both the Pro Wrestling and the Boxing world).

MMA answers some very interesting questions. Who are these two guys? Why are they fighting? And why should I care? And if you can answer those three questions you'll sell a ticket, or a Pay Per View. If you can't answer the questions, who's going to buy it?

The UFC does this for the most part, with all of its roster. If a guy makes his debut in the prelims and gets a spectacular KO or Submission, or even puts on an entertaining fight, there's a good chance it'll feature on the main televised card if one or two of the main fights ends early. If not, the finish might be highlighted as a KO or Submission of the night, or one of the UFC's sponsors "Turning Points of the Night".

Sometimes the KO or Submission of the night is featured on the UFC website, a site that is currently ranked 2,428 in the world for website traffic over the last quarter (where sites like Google, Facebook and Youtube are the top 3 in the world, for comparison). If you search for "Boxing" in the Google search engine, the top Boxing specific coverage site listed is East Side Boxing.com which is currently ranked 26,520 in the world for website traffic over the last quarter. BIG difference. UFC clearly has MORE exposure through online multi media means which can only help promote the majority of its fighters.

As mentioned previously, a good performance and especially a finish by a fighter will be used to highlight their next fight, and so on as they progress up the card if they keep winning. Fans are educated as to who these fighters are through the video packages UFC includes during PPV broadcasts. For the top 3 or sometimes 4 fights on the card, they have regular previews and countdown shows through UFC.com, the UFC Youtube channel and on Spike TV. Fans care about fighters that go for a Knock-Out, or go for a Submission, or fighters who always bring it and go to war. And as they become fans of these fighters they care about who they're matched up against and follow their career progress. The Boxing fans who invest themselves like this are hardcore Boxing fans and really represent a small audience compared to the casual audience that will check out a big fight live or on PPV. But with UFC fans, they don't have to be as hardcore into MMA to remember who fighters are and find out more about fighters that catch their eye through the online sources I've already mentioned. And it all starts with the video packages and clips put on during the event.

Also the UFC only has 5, clearly defined weight classes which makes it easier to follow the 5 champions. And the 5 champions are all given a degree of independent importance. It could potentially have 7 weight classes with Featherweight and Bantamweight and still be clearly defined in my opinion, but that's a discussion for another time.

These elements that we already know and possibly take for granted would act as a real eye opener for many members of the Boxing industry. UFC 118 could act as a valuable insight into why the UFC has become so popular for Boxing, a sport I personally would love to see a resurgence in. The question is though, will the Boxing industry take advantage of the new ideas and methods of event promotion presented to them, or will they continue to be blinkered?