This is very interesting. And to sort of further what Mr.Smith says it's true. Think for a minute why has MMA in it's relative short existence has been able to get far more international and viewer interest then KB/MT for it's significantly longer existence? Well A)Better organization which leads to B) better money and C) they have gotten significantly more elite or "Michael Jordan" level atheletes than KB/MT can boast of. There are sadly very few competitors in MT/KB I would regard as elevated their level of skill to a level I might call "elite". But look at MMA, look at the number of ex-Olypmpian atheletes they have for example.

And MMA is less inward clashing and cliqueish than KB/MT. Sure there are several promotions out there but a few of them are recognized as having true champions and top echelon fighters ie. UFC or Pride. Training with NHB guys has shown me that for the most part their attitudes in general about fight sport are a lot more open. Don't get me wrong I love KB/MT and it will always be a sport I will compete in at least until I am too old and too injured to continue (which I estimate to be in 5-6 years) but MMA has taken the world by storm mostly due to better organization and marketing. Both of these factors have attracted top level atheletes from many disciplines. Comparitively kickboxing doesn't, there are few individuals willing to climb into the ring for a payment of peanuts. Let me make a real life correlation for you: I dated a pro-bowler for awhile. Pro-bowlers make more money than a MT/KB fighter at comparitively the same level of professional maturity! By how much? Well I saw her check and it was about at least 2X the amount a pro fighter might get at the same level of professional maturity.

It can be done though even with the presence of Pride and UFC, K-1 this past year outsold both promotions. Marketing is the key and a change in attitude in general among the KB/MT community. But like I stated in another thread KB/MT will never be an international sport until it has a much larger presence in the USA. That hasn't happened yet and if I had to assign the balme to anyone I'd say it's the governing bodies and the USA's kickboxing community in general. It's their own fault.