With this Saturday's UFC 118 matchup between Randy Couture and James Toney, naturally the boxing vs. mma debate is stirring again. First, off, the discussion is ridiculous in a literal sense. You can never have boxing vs. mma. You can have a boxer attempting mma, or a mixed martial artist trying to box. James Toney is changing sports, and fighting one of the best in his debut. This is not new to the world of combat sports. It is new in western civilization, however. Muay Thai fighters routinely switch sports to boxing, and fight for world titles within a few fights. In fact, all of the top few fighters in the record books, for fastest ascents to world titles, are Thai fighters. Granted, this is a culture-wide phenomenon in Thailand, so fighters and fans alike are used to it, but it still requires a period of quick adjustment. For boxing and mma, however, there are more differences. They don't even use the same ring. There are many divides in the two sports, and although they are closing, the biggest one seems to be the big elephant in the room that no one is discussing.
