“Mighty Mouse” believes boxing has got the jump on MMA, at least for the time being.
Johnson: “Boxing Is More Exciting Than Mixed Martial Arts, Right?”
One of the main criticisms surrounding the sport of boxing is that the best doesn’t always fight the best and if they do, one fighter is bound to be past due. However, the chemistry in “the sweet science” looks to be changing for the better as we’re getting more and more big-name boxing matches and title fights altogether, in part thanks to the pockets of one promoter Turki Alalshikh.
With the arrival of the first undisputed heavyweight title fight in 25 years last weekend between Oleksandar Usyk and Tyson Fury, that’s enough for world renown MMA champion Demetrious Johnson to be completely sold that boxing is currently doing better than MMA from a fan’s perspective.
“Right now I feel like boxing is more exciting than mixed martial arts, right?” Johnson brought up on his YouTube channel. “I mean, there are points of time where mixed martial arts is having its peaks, but right now you just have Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney… Then, you had Francis Ngannou who got knocked out by Anthony Joshua.
“Then you just had the beautiful Tyson Fury and Usyk, just beat him, became the heavyweight champion. That fight was absolutely amazing. From round one to round twelve, I was at the edge of my seat.”
Meanwhile In MMA…
The MMA community has had a bit of a hangover from the madness that was UFC 300 on Apr. 13. Since the mega-event, we’ve seen the UFC go to the Apex twice for Fight Night events and on the road again for UFC 301 and UFC St. Louis. June looks to be an incredible month of fights with Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier this weekend at UFC 302 and of course, the return of “The Notorious” Conor McGregor at UFC 303 in a month’s time.
Until things ramp up in the Octagon again like they did at UFC 300, Demetrious Johnson, for the moment, has to give the edge to boxing in terms of excitement level.
“Right now we’re sitting here waiting for in the mixed martial arts world,” Johnson said. “We have a couple things going on. ONE Championship, we got Kade Ruotolo making his debut in mixed martial arts. We got a couple other things. But right now I think that the story we’re waiting for in mixed martial arts is Islam taking on Dustin Poirier.”
This isn’t to account for MMA stars fighting each other in the boxing ring instead of the cage… that means you Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz and you too, Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 3.
Does Demetrious Johnson make a valid argument for why boxing currently trumps MMA?
🗣️ Demetrious Johnson: “Right now, I feel like boxing is more exciting than mixed martial arts.”
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 28, 2024
🎥 YT / @MightyMouse #UFC #MMA #Boxing pic.twitter.com/09WKG1yInn
