Boxing is more anaerobically and aerobically demanding due to the nature of the sport. It is much less stop/start/rest with intense periods of activity so you have to build up your anaerobic capacity to a much greater level and you also have to have greater aerobic capacity due to the endurance needed to last those 36 minutes of sustained anaerobic periods. It takes a decade of training and a load of natural talent to be an elite boxer. Unlike a certain ex WWE roid head who shot to the top of MMA after winning a couple of fights.
This stuff about conditioning would make sense if MMA was stop/start/rest, it isn't. The grappling against the cage and jiu-jitsu is very, very tiring. You're constantly working, constantly struggling for positions and if you rest for a second, your opponent can take advantage of it and transition into a better position. I know that the top tier MMA fighters work harder on their conditioning than Boxers do. I watch boxing, so I know how much conditioning it takes, and I've seen boxing conditioning work outs. They're different sports though, it's very hard to compare them. There's boxing cardio and MMA cardio, completely different things.
Guys like Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin put their bodies through hell to get themselves in peak physical condition, because MMA is such a varied strain on the gas tank. Seriously mate, do some research, check out Rich Franklin's work-out schedule, check Forrest Griffin's work out routine. Forrest works out 12 times a week at an absolute minimum. He goes to 3 different gyms 6 days a week working full on at each, and then does extra conditioning on a Sunday. MMA fighters require a hell of a lot of conditioning, as much as boxers, possibly more so. Think you're massively under-rating the amount of cardio required in grappling. It isn't just a rest on the ground.
You've proven your ignorance once more with the comments about Lesnar as well. He was an NCAA Division 1 Wrestling champ in College, and has one of the most impressive wrestling pedigrees in all of MMA. He was training for over a year at a good MMA camp before he had his first fight, adapting his style of wrestling to Mixed Martial Arts and getting sufficient conditioning training in, as well as working on all the other disciplines. He made his debut in 2007, and his natural athleticism, strength and wrestling ability has led him to become one of the top HW's in the world in the space of 6 fights. Wrestling's a martial art, and Brock's been training in wrestling since he was in High School, and he's just had to adapt that to MMA, proves nothing as far as Boxing being a more technically superior sport.
As for the 1000's and 1000's of moves, please :sarcasm They have 92 names for a headlock ffs.
Another well researched retort from Howsie. I would love to see you say the same things to Demian Maia, Ronaldo Souza, Roger Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, Xande Ribeiro, BJ Penn, etc etc etc. They'd soon show you how much technique is required when you're tapping out or being choked out in a matter of seconds.
I do need to ask though, have you ever actually done boxing before, and have you actually ever been in a proper boxing fight? You go out into a boxing ring with a sloppy technique and you will get killed, there isn't any hiding, you're not allowed to pull the guy onto the ground and work him over. Everything needs to be perfect and if you're off by even a split second it could be game over.
No I haven't. But as I mentioned before, I know how much effort is required for boxing, I know how much training is required. You quite clearly don't know how much energy is required to go from a stand-up boxing/kickboxing/muay-thai exchange, into a wrestling match into a Jiu Jitsu battle.
The same things apply to MMA as well btw. You can't go into Professional MMA with sloppy technique. If you've got terrible Takedown Defence, or are atrocious on the ground, you'll get found out in an instant. You need to put the work in, if your conditioning is off you'll gas and be unable to defend yourself. With the smaller MMA gloves, there's even less margin for error as well, you get hit by a big punch from a strong guy in those gloves and you'll be out cold. Boxing gloves have far more padding, do far less damage and give the recipient of a punch far less margin for error.
