Before Mayweather-McGregor, poll shows MMA isn’t stealing boxing’s popularity

… On Saturday the two sports finally will go head-to-head, in a sense, as UFC’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, challenges Floyd Mayweather Jr., in a boxing ring. Though the highly anticipated bout won’t settle any scores between the combat sports, it comes at a time when MMA and boxing are actually neck-and-neck in this country in terms of popularity.

According to a new Washington Post-UMass Lowell poll, 28 percent of Americans count themselves as fans of professional boxing, nearly matched by the 25 percent who say they’re fans of MMA. CONT.

Rick Maese & Scott Clement, Washington Post