Boxing legend Roy Jones Jr reveals what the UFC 'understands that boxing doesn't' after attending 'out of this world' MMA event
09/19/2024 10:02 AM
UFC 306, aka Noche UFC, at The Sphere in Las Vegas was an outstanding triumph from start to finish – not only in terms of the visual spectacle of watching a 160,000-square-foot screen come to life but also the fights themselves.
One attendee who was particularly impressed by the MMA showcase was combat sports legend Roy Jones Jr, who explained what the difference is between events put on by the UFC, and events put on in boxing.
Roy Jones Jr on the difference between UFC and boxing events
Prior to last weekend, there had been a fierce debate around which PPV would pique the interest of the global combat sports community more; UFC 306 at The Sphere, or Canelo Alvarez's clash with Edgar Berlanga at T-Mobile Arena.
Whilst both PPVs were highly successful in their own right, it was the MMA show at the state-of-the-art arena that dominated the headlines – with it also being reported that UFC 306 made $22 million in ticket sales to Canelo's $17 million.
Former boxing world champion Roy Jones Jr, who attended UFC 306 this past weekend, explained to veteran reporter Kevin Iole what the difference is between shows put on by the UFC and those hosted by boxing promotions.
"[UFC 306] was out of this world and what was even better for me was that every fight was a 50/50 fight… Co-main event got upset, the main event got upset; you don't come to a UFC fight knowing that anybody's going to win, that's not how it works in the UFC.
"You come there, and you get what you pay for, and you get 50/50 fights – you don't pay attention to the record, you pay attention to the fighters… What they understand that boxing doesn't understand is that styles make fights, not records."
The legendary four-weight class world champion explained how one of the issues when it comes to boxing shows vs MMA shows is that the UFC stacks the deck with far more entertaining, meaningful matchups, whereas boxing card tends to be top-heavy.
"In boxing, we depend strictly on records to make fights, but records don't make fights – styles make fights… That's what the UFC understands. They don't care about your record, they care about who you are, and what you bring to the table that night and that's where boxing makes the bad mistake."
As we've seen time and time again in the squared circle, as soon as an undefeated fighter racks up only a couple of losses, "They throw you out like you're no good anymore.
"The goal in boxing should be like they do in the UFC [where] their goal is to put on a good card, they don't care what your records are."
Dana White says aside from 'one glitch' the UFC killed it at The Sphere
One man who was particularly delighted with how the MMA show played out was UFC President Dana White, who noted that aside from one slight error on the production side, the PPV was a smash hit for the company.
"We did what I hoped we could do, the production came off perfect [and] other than calling Terance Crawford – Kendrick Lamar, we killed it… That was the one glitch, the one kink in the armor but other than that, we nailed it."
The superstar boxer himself would come out to suggest that the gaff was "intentionally done" in order to generate another viral moment from the MMA show: "Because how can you get us mixed up? But all in all, it was funny to me."
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Back to Dana White, who stated that despite the event coming together under unusual circumstances, he's already thinking about how the UFC could top The Sphere next year.
"I've got to start working on Noche for next year, this will be a tentpole event for us from here on out and this whole thing wasn't supposed to happen – s*** went down and stuff happened, and it resulted in this event.
"When opportunities arise and I see things, I jump on them and take them," said White with a rather smug look on his face.
