The boxing promoter Don King, who has done time for manslaughter and been accused of defrauding his fighters, isn't the guy I would choose to voice concern about the moral decline of our society.But the writer Thomas Hauser, who regularly writes about his opposition to mixed martial arts, uses King as his go-to guy for why boxing is good and MMA is bad. Hauser quotes King at ESPN.com:
"UFC ain't nothing new," King said. "They started with 'ultimate' fighting, and then they civilized it and made it into boxing. All UFC is doing is taking 200 years of rules and throwing them out the window."Personally, I can't take it seriously when I hear King giving lectures about being "civilized." But Hauser likes that quote so much that this is at least the second time he's used it; he also used it in this 2007 article.
King is free to say what he wants to say about the UFC, but is there anyone who doubts for a second that King would jump at the chance to promote an MMA fight if he thought he could make money on it? As for Hauser, as Zach Arnold writes, he's on a continuing crusade against MMA. If the best arguments he can make against the sport are recycled quotes from a guy like Don King, MMA must be in pretty good shape.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Don King is a buffooon and an evil con man. If he did not have a vested interest into screwing young naive minority boxers out of every hard-earned dollar he can, he would admit that the number of permanent brain deadening injuries in boxing far exceed any in MMA.
He is sorry to see the pay per view crowd going over to MMA and away from his corrupt promotions.
You know, MMA is to sports what a corn dog is to fine cuisine - this is a bar fight for pay - how long before they allow fighters to bring in pipes, bottles and other weapons of singular destruction? Boxing already sucks - this takes that concept so far past it that it's unreal
don king is a DB. MMA/UFC fighters use combinations of matial arts that have been practiced and tought and perfected for thousands of years. fighting styles that range from greko roman wrestling to the more modern gracie jujitzu. most are arts that have been practiced far longer than boxing. so what's so uncivil about that?
oh and Bob, this isn't wwe or tna or any other fake type of back yard wrestling. there are no pipes or bats or bottles involved, alright there big show.
"Only in America" can a man promote and rip off the fighter and then complains when another sport comes out that he can't touch because everyone knows he a conman.
No one has been killed or in a coma in the MMA on just pissed because he ain't controlling it !
Hey DON you are an idiot! I'll tell you the truth, MMA is taking over the entertainment industry! The UFC and other mma programs have created a new era of fighting; they're getting so popular that boxing is virtually disapearing. If you look up the PPV sales, UFC blows Boxing out of the water. Im going to give boxing a few more years before it dies out. Don't get me wrong though, boxing is still an art, there will still be people who train in it, BUT it will not nearly be as popular as MMA!
this has NOTHING to do with don kings desire to keep boxing pure.he is a greedy selfish evil murdering lowlife scum of the earth.hes worried about his billfold...nothing more.he makes my skin crawl.
and BOB??you know nothing about mma so stick to what it is you like.these fellows and ladies train in multiple arts and are pros not bar fighters you dopey bloke.
It's hard to disagree with Don King on UFC. MMA is street fighting. Most of the MMA fighters don't know how to box. Chuck Liddell got knocked out twice because he he threw a body punch from too far out and the second time he made the same mistake throwing an uppercut. Abolish ground and pound -- how sporting it is to hit a guy when he is down?
Makes no differents what King has done in his life, he is a successful boxing promoter. I respect his opinion, and agree with him. MMA is low life. You can call Don King what you want, but i bet he is enjoying his millions.
you idiots actually thinks that mma is going to be bigger than boxing? you guys must be on some serious crack. how long has mma been around? several years? even more? and yet boxing still draws alot more ppv sales and crowds...let me put it this way...Boxing is a grown man's sport. MMA is a wanna be fighter thug and kids shit. There's no glory in that little homies. True the MMA fighters are great fighters, but I don't find any enjoyment when I watched one fight of this stuff specially when they just lie there trying to do wrestling move and shit.
Of course Don King is against MMA. He is a crook and worried the sport he controls is in trouble. MMA puts boxing to shame!!!
KISS MY ASS DON KING
Actually Pankration was the first form of full contact sport it had striking and grappling and that orginated in 600 BC ish and boxing didn't roll around tillll 200 300 years ago so don queen if you wann aget real technical about it MMA came waaaaaaaaay before boxing you should brush up on your history so you dont make yourself look like a bigger dumbass than you really are