With boxing you have many padded blows, over and over again. Your brain is being rattled senseless yet on the outside you only bear some cuts and swelling.
In MMA there is minimal padding on the gloves. This means when you get hit, you get busted open. Too much blood and the fight is called off. The only difference is that it looks far more violent because you can actually see the blood. It's actually very easy to open a person up on the forehead and top of the head due to the fact there's only skin and bone and nothing else to stop it.
Diso, you can have your opinion, you're entitled to it. But I do think you're generalizing a lot with some of your commments.
You say boxing is more palatable, but in my view boxing is far more barbaric than MMA. A lot of it comes down to the ref too. A good ref in MMA won't let someone get hit once they're out but some are slow to protect the unconcious fighter.
MMA is so popular I beleive because it's human nature to want to see two men fight. It's been like that for years and I don't see it changing. It's kinda like driving past a car accident. You just can't help but watch.