In a recent interview by the Daily Star Marshall Zelaznik the President for the UK branch of the UFC, talks about the fear that the Boxing Old Guard has toward MMA. In the article Zelaznik believes there is room for both sports but he believes the boxing guys see UFC as a threat to their own income and boxing promoters are not giving the fans what they want.
Quotes from the Daily Star Article:
“They are defensive and see us as a threat to them. I think it is narrow minded. If they can’t deliver a product that their fans like, they attack the people who are doing it like the UFC.
Zelaznik believes it is possible to support both sports without any conflict of interest and says: “There is room for both.
“I am a big boxing fan and you can be both, a bit like being a football fan and a rugby supporter.
“As much as I am a very keen UFC fan, I will be going to the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight.
“As in other big fights, other UFC executives will be there as well.
“They will not be there to spy on the boxing. They will be there because they are boxing fans. It goes the other way, too, with Hatton being at our last Las Vegas promotion and admitting in the Daily Star that he is a great fan and loved every minute of it.
“I don’t think the success of UFC is anything to do with the perceived drop in interest in boxing.
“I think we have a whole new fan base but I do think we have some boxing fans who have become disenchanted with their sport because of the poor match-making, the politics and the low-quality undercards.
“They want to know what quality they are getting and they are coming over to us because boxing isn’t giving them that.”
Read the full article “Old Gaurd Running Scared”
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