Mike: Well, there's a lot of differences actually. MMA stands for mixed martial arts so I guess by the name you can tell that there are a lot of different variations of MMA. It's usually a combination of stand up fighting and ground fighting. So in contrast with boxing, boxing is only stand up, you never fight on the ground and with MMA there are many different styles and different tournaments, different kinds of rules. There's fighting standing up and there's fighting going to the ground which would also include submission and so right off the bat that's quite a big difference there.

 

　　Erina: Oh, I see. Do you like MMA better or kick boxing better because I know you used to box, right?

 

　　Mike: Yeah, I mean kick boxing is definitely, you know, heading towards MMA whereas boxing is quite a strict discipline and the rules are a lot more basic whereas MMA has different variations and stuff. It's very difficult to choose which one I like better. I really enjoy watching both and I don't compare them as if one is better than the other but they're just very different sports.

 

　　Erina: Oh, I see, I see. So you know in Japan pride and kaewan are, you know, very famous here.

 

　　Mike: Right.

 

　　Erina: What about in Canada? Is MMA big?

 

　　Mike: Well, recently in Canada as well but, you know, in America, in North America now MMA is really big. It's much bigger than boxing is now and UFC, Ultimate Fighter Championship, is the league which is by far the biggest MMA league in the world and it's been growing in popularity ever since it started and I think the reason that MMA is becoming so much bigger than boxing is because it's so much more versatile. You have people from so many different disciplines in martial arts and recently it's not enough to be just disciplined in boxing or taekwando or judo or jujitsu, you have to be disciplined in various disciplines because the guys that are the best in the UFC league they can do it all. So they can do stand up fighting, punches, kicks, they can do ground fighting so some people would say it's more interesting to watch and you get a lot more people from different places and different styles so I think the doors to MMA are open a lot wider than they are to boxing.

 

　　Erina: Wow. I would love to go watch MMA tournaments one day.

 

　　Mike: Yeah, absolutely. They're a lot of fun so please check them out.

 

　　Erina: Yeah, I will.