ESPN The Magazine welcomed two of the toughest men on the planet into its offices. The topic: boxing versus mixed martial arts. As expected, UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and former three-time boxing champion Zab Judah battled to a draw. Here’s the transcript from their hourlong discussion. ESPN: In this corner, we have Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. He stands 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, and has a mixed-martial arts record of 27-6 with 10 knockouts. Rampage: I’m 220 right now. ESPN: And in this corner, we have the Brooklyn legend Zab “Super” Judah, who is 34-5 with 24 knockouts. He stands 5-foot-7 and is 147 pounds. At one point, Judah held the WBC, WBA and IBF championship belts. And he gave Floyd Mayweather a hell of a hard time a few years ago. ESPN: OK, so let’s talk about the two sports. Which sport is better? Rampage: Well, I’m not here to say what’s better. I’m here to say what’s different. MMA is different. [There's] a lot more things to look out for. I think we should be called fighters, and boxers should be called fighters. Because they are boxing and we’re fighting. We’ve got knees, elbows, kicks, slams, submissions and wrestling. ESPN: So tell us about boxing why boxing is a better sport. Judah: I wouldn’t say it’s better. It’s no better or worse. Boxing is boxing and what they do is what they do. ESPN: What’s more fun to watch? Judah: I would say MMA. There is a lot of blood and excitement. ESPN: So you love to watch MMA fights? Judah: Yeah. I go to a lot of …
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Zab is two-faced. He’s ripped on MMA in other videos. But I guess in the presence of Rampage he wisens up a bit. Doesn’t want to get slammed like in Pride.
Actually Pankration also came from Ancient greece which was basically ancient MMA. And if memory serves me correct it was a part of the ancient olynmpics before Boxing was too.
Puh-lease. MMA fighters(or stars as you all refer to them) don’t nearly get paid as much as boxers. UFC stole the promotion videos from HBO boxing: HBO 24/7 before UFC primetime even came around. Round in boxing have remained the same. Seriously, UFC doesn’t really copy off boxing, but the WWE; Toys of fighters. Fighter expos, every fighter has WWE type nickname, Dana white acting like Vince, promotion in general, fighters can only fight in that organization. UFC=WWE.
I really hope this is a joke
ufc sucks I can’t believe ppl actually think ufc is better than boxing hahaha, ufc copies almost everything from boxing, boxing still generates more PPV,
Ufc Fighters has as much losses as they do wins, as boxers they have undefeated Fighters 30-0 27-0 43-0.. Ufc have the same fighters fighting each other over and over again, it seems like ya guys only have 5 fighters did actually people know about, as boxing there’s at least 30 fighters that people know about
You’re an Idiot you put a high end boxer and a high end mixed martial arts in a ally watch who comes out. Boxers are 1 dimensional fighters don’t get me wrong I love boxing but you have to respect the caliber of how well mma Guys are preforming in all areas like GSP and Anderson Silva
Actually, no offense. But Boxing and Wrestling were the original fight sports in the Greek Olympics and Pankration came after by quite a bit. Just like modern MMA has a shorter history than modern Boxing or Wrestling. Although only wrestling really reflects the original form of the sport in ancient Greece.
Where’d you hear this? It’s not like it matters anyway. Both are sports, both have ancient roots. Both have talented and skilled athletes. Both deserve respect and so do their athletes. People need to get that through their thick skulls and stop trying to discredit the other.
It was never my intention to discredit any sports. I appreciate boxing, kickboxing, mma, soccer, etc. I was just throwing in some info.
No, I know. What I said wasn’t actually aimed at you. Just the ignorant Boxing and MMA fanboys of the world. You seem to have a mature outlook on the whole thing, which is good.
Boy, you really hate MMA don’t you? How much of that is fueled by Gayweather? You seem to take a few pages straight from his handbook. Is it fear or ignorance that compels you aswell?
Lol, not all. The fighters you speak of fight on the undercards. There are fighters who have undefeated records and 1-2 losses. It’s just more difficult to keep a 0 on your record because there are so many good fighters who have specialties like Jiu Jitsu that can catch you. There are some fighters who come from Kickboxing backgrounds and don’t have Wrestling/Judo or BJJ backgrounds and are amateurs compared to many and vice versa. MMA is still young, so true MMA fighters are still scarce.
All the three sports we’ve mentioned, mma, boxing, wrestling, are all FAIR sports! They have a set of fair rules that gives no advantage to another fighter assuming they are well rounded and both competitors must be of a certain weight. The only thing that can make it unfair is Ped’s and horrible matchmaking.
Thanks, nice to find one non-troll on the internet.
Likewise.
You’re obviously a mayweather fanboy not a true boxing fan.
If boxing is so much better why did James Tony lose to Randy
ryan?
MMA is obviously better, boxing is too limited
lol but the de la hoya vs mayweather fight made more money than the whole ufc combined hahaha boxing is real ufc is fake the only guy ill watch is velasquez
If boxing was like the ufc,you wouldve seen pacman vs floyd 4 years ago…that ends this debate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boxing is a one dimensional sport
Yup, only because they wouldn’t be in charge of themselves. Dana White and the Fertittas are in charge of everything so basically for UFC fighters it is Dana’s way or the highway.
To people thinking James Tony losing in the octogan is an argument for ufc being ‘better’ than boxing you’re retarded, first of all. james tony was a a washed up scrub by that point in time. watch some roy jones jr highlights and tell me how you could take him down without getting flurried, i think mma is sick, and more exciting, especially now days, but you cant compare them their just different
MMA to me is more interesting, it’s got everything in it from striking to wrestling etc. I prefer MMA although i’m still a big fan of Boxing.
because boxers pad their records early in their careers. you also see boxers with records like 1-10, 1-20, 2-30, etc. and you really think the ufc has the same fighters fighting? in boxing people only buy the ppv for the main event. in mma people buy it not just for the main event but the fighters on the undercard too. without guys like floyd, manny, dela hoya boxing would be dead. in mma there are constantly new stars coming up.
not maidana
i bet zab thinks he could ko rampage under the right circumstances
hey ive seen an mma fighter in a boxing ring. it was atrocious. granted i did see a very good mma fighter win by first round ko in a boxing match but the guy he was fighting was a giant slow. completley one sided
Which is exactly the point of why boxing is a failed structure!
I like both supports and in my opinion… I believe they both can coexist with one another… Also I believe that in MMA is a new sport that should not be overrated or underrated… It is wat it is
I meant sports…. Stupid ass phone
Both are great to watch.. I like the Boxing more
I dunno Bob Arum basically ruined boxer’s careers. He basically controls all the top named fighters and the big fights never happen because he owns both of them and wants people to watch them separately. Tough because Gamboa never got the big fights at featherweight, no matter Juan Lopez got KTFO twice anyways.
Well right now he has the fanbase to get away with that but slowly boxing is becoming a european sport,after the faces of boxing i cant see it being a common sport,mma will still be marketed everywhere,the younger generations will be mma fans,while i think boxing will become more of an olympic sport in another 10/15 years!Unless a guy like De la hoya creates a ufc like boxing structure?
both are equally as good.. its a matter of opinion.. mma is more diverse and is not limited as boxing is .. but boxing is not as good as it use to be