MMA is already bigger than what boxing ever was. I grew up with boxing, trained as a boxer as a youngman, one of my friends went on to be pro. We collected all the fight videos, and talked about boxing all the time. Then as I grew older my passion for it waned and I sort of developed the mainstream opinion that it was a mugs game and not good for the men who participated in it (healthwise). Boxing seemed self destructive behaviour. I could never shake it though and would still go to the PUB to watch a TYSON fight and later Kosta Tszyu (Australia's last great boxing hope).
Then one of my brothers told me about the UFC when it first started and I watched a few fights and I thought,this is even worse than boxing, there was kicking downed opponents in the head, strikes to the tetsticles etc etc. So I never really got into it, but I would still watch a fight now and again. Then it evolved, developed rules and regulations and they genuinely had interesting characters fighting, the fights were appealing and you could tell they had learned how to market the fighters and the sport properly.
I am less conflicted about sanctioned fighting today as I believe it important skill for anybody to have a capacity to defend themselves. But it has to be balanced out with respect for oneself and others and personal humility. That's where the martial arts come in, not only teaching you to fight but to develop the appropriate mindset for fighting and for life. That's not to say I don't cringe now and again when a superior opponent has the full mount and is reigning down hard elbows slicing open a virtually defenceless opponents face. But for the most part it is good healthy competition between opponents of similar ability.
So when I say MMA is already bigger than what boxing ever was, I believe it is, but in a different way. MMA did what boxing should have done. The UFC puts on regular shows and has a huge roster of talent, talent that is marketable, they don't just rely on a few big names, like boxing ended up doing. In this way you keep your audience captive, you don't give them time to forget about you. So although you won't get the same type of superfight that boxing did, which only happened because of the infrequency of such events and a small roster of talent. You get a more balanced spectator event, with regular good fights and a broad array of talent to appeal to a larger audience.
My fear at this point in time is the womens entry into the sport. Obviously the Fertitta's see a huge market opportunity but one that could come back to bite them on the arse. This decision has the potential to spill out into the political sphere and cause havoc. And we have already seen what nearly happened to the UFC early on when politicians get involved. How could this happen, the feminists will complain bitterly about woman participating in the sport. Having women learn to defend themselves and be competitive fighters will rankle the hardcore feminists who want to paint women out to be defenseless human beings regularly beaten down by the patriarchy and men in general. Womens fighting hasn't taken off yet, but if it does, expect a massive backlash from the feminists who like to infiltrate masculine pursuits and essentially feminise them or dismantle them. Either way it has the potential to go south real quick. The last thing any successful organization wants is a large group of feminists watching on, especially a masculine endeavour such as fighting. Feminists abhor all things masculine and if they get involved will push MENS interest away from the sport en masse. JMO
