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It's safe to say that boxing absolutely annihilated MMA in 2017, but I feel that MMA has a chance to make it close in 2018's bid for #1 combat sport. Both have some pretty good fights lined up and potentially taking place this year:
BOXING
Confirmed fights so far:
Errol Spence vs Lamont Peterson
Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz
Danny Garcia vs Brandon Rios
Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker -- extremely likely, purse split already agreed upon.
Chris Eubank Jr. vs George Groves
Potential fights:
Deontay Wilder vs Anthony Joshua --- Undisputed HW championship
Canelo vs GGG 2 --- Highly likely
Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford
Terence Crawford vs Jeff Horn
Keith Thurman vs Jessie Vargas
Keith Thurman vs Shawn Porter 2
Danny Jacobs vs Billy Joe Saunders
GGG vs Jermall Charlo if he beats Canelo --- mandated by WBC. Canelo likely to drop the belt if he beats GGG.
Amir Khan vs Adrien Broner
Vasyl Lomachenko vs Mikey Garcia
Tyson Fury vs some bum
Tyson Fury vs winner of AJ/Wilder
MMA
Confirmed fights so far:
Francis Ngannou vs Stipe Miocic
Daniel Cormier vs Volkan Oezdemir
Robert Whittaker vs Luke Rockhold
Max Holloway vs Frankie Edgar
Potential fights:
Khabib vs Tony Ferguson
Conor McGregor vs Khabib/Tony winner
Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz 3
Woodley vs Covington/RDA
TJ Dillashaw vs Demetrious Johnson
GSP vs someone
Cyborg vs Nunes
Verdict: Boxing will probably have a better 2018 than MMA.
I don't consider trashy MMA organizations like Bellator as capable of producing elite/big fights, so I opted out of mentioning their rosters entirely. I think boxing has a much better outlook than MMA for 2018 but the margin isn't going to be as embarrassingly wide as it was in 2017.
BOXING
Confirmed fights so far:
Errol Spence vs Lamont Peterson
Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz
Danny Garcia vs Brandon Rios
Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker -- extremely likely, purse split already agreed upon.
Chris Eubank Jr. vs George Groves
Potential fights:
Deontay Wilder vs Anthony Joshua --- Undisputed HW championship
Canelo vs GGG 2 --- Highly likely
Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford
Terence Crawford vs Jeff Horn
Keith Thurman vs Jessie Vargas
Keith Thurman vs Shawn Porter 2
Danny Jacobs vs Billy Joe Saunders
GGG vs Jermall Charlo if he beats Canelo --- mandated by WBC. Canelo likely to drop the belt if he beats GGG.
Amir Khan vs Adrien Broner
Vasyl Lomachenko vs Mikey Garcia
Tyson Fury vs some bum
Tyson Fury vs winner of AJ/Wilder
MMA
Confirmed fights so far:
Francis Ngannou vs Stipe Miocic
Daniel Cormier vs Volkan Oezdemir
Robert Whittaker vs Luke Rockhold
Max Holloway vs Frankie Edgar
Potential fights:
Khabib vs Tony Ferguson
Conor McGregor vs Khabib/Tony winner
Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz 3
Woodley vs Covington/RDA
TJ Dillashaw vs Demetrious Johnson
GSP vs someone
Cyborg vs Nunes
Verdict: Boxing will probably have a better 2018 than MMA.
I don't consider trashy MMA organizations like Bellator as capable of producing elite/big fights, so I opted out of mentioning their rosters entirely. I think boxing has a much better outlook than MMA for 2018 but the margin isn't going to be as embarrassingly wide as it was in 2017.