LONGEVITY IN COMBAT SPORTS: MMA VERSUS BOXING
Since the UFC pushes Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to the mainstream, an age old question remains: Is MMA safer then boxing? The major premise behind the argument has always been that unlike boxing, in MMA, there are more routes to success compared to striking your opponent. Highlighting the apparent, there are less painful routes to success, therefore making some losses in MMA less damaging on a fighter’s body and mind. The Unified Rules of MMA make it feasible for an MMA fighter to win a bout by judges’ decision or by possibly submitting their competitor. The resulting idea is that MMA athletes suffer fewer traumatic injuries and the chances are lessened they may become punch drunk. But, proponents of boxing are always quick to point out the smaller gloves implemented in MMA and also the fact the rules allowing for leg strikes and elbows. Therefore”it’s time” to have a comprehensive appearance to both sides of the debate. Prior to getting into the thick of the debate, I’d like to highlight one of the key reasons I decided to write this article. Shawn O’Sullivan, a retired boxer who I have met many occasions, resides in my hometown. On paper, his life seems like a success story. However the real truth is that his boxing profession killed his odds of having a successful life after his career was finished. A brief documentary about his narrative are available below.Many would consider O’Sullivan’s career marginally illustrious as he had been the 1981 World Amateur Champion, 1981 Canadian Athlete of the Year and 1984 Olympic Silver medalist at light middleweight. Also many consider his gold medal bout against Frank Tate very controversial as it seemed like the fix was in. Despite scoring two standing 8 counts in around two the judges awarded that round to Tate. Upon going expert, he found himself fast murdered in 1988 with unsuccessful comebacks in both 1991 and 1997. Shawn’s overall listing of 23-5-0, with 16 knockouts handed him by without accomplishing his dreams of competing in a world title bout. After four fights in 1997, a neurologist refused to renew the license he needed to continue boxing due to brain injury that he saw during a CAT scan. Now, O’Sullivan is living with the difficulties of brain damage, however, he does not repent his career in boxing. During my many conversations with O’Sullivan, he practically always slurred his speech also had problems remembering parts of his life. Regrettably, his ability to talk about his story is all he has to show for his illustrious career. But, that is hindered as a result of the culmination of blows to the head he suffered during his boxing career. O’Sullivan suffers from fighter’s dementia, commonly known as being”punch drunk” caused partly as a consequence of the fighting style and gruelling sparring sessions at the gym. If you’d like to see what I mean, take a few minutes and see his bout against Armando Martinez. What remains untold to many, and something that highlights the relevance of the article is that O’Sullivan was pushed to boxing with his first trainer: his father. Rumors are his father was allowing his son spar against heavyweights and even larger men as part of the daily reality check for O’Sullivan. As parents, an individual may feel uncomfortable recommending that your kid partake in any battle sport from the fear of the long term consequences. Therefore signing up your child to either boxing or MMA training can become a matter of which is safer? Is there a chance you could help select the lesser of two so-called evils. Until recently the entire debate behind MMA is safer then Boxing was completely theoretical. There continues to be small scientific facts and findings to support the claim. The University of Alberta’s Dr. Shelby Karpman headed a review of more than a decade’s worth of health care exams from roughly 1,700 fighters in Edmonton, Canada. According to the study, Fifty-nine per cent of MMA athletes lasted some form of injury, compared to 50 per cent of fighters. But, boxers were more likely to eliminate consciousness during a bout: seven percent versus four percent for MMA fighters. Irrespective of the facts to as which game is safer, ” The Canadian Medical Association has called for a ban on both MMA and boxing. By highlighting a 2014 University of Toronto study revealed an MMA fighter suffered a traumatic brain injury in almost a third of specialist spells. It’s not my aim to cast doubt onto the protection of a game, however both boxing and MMA have experienced instances of fatalities that are well recorded. Lately a MMA fighter died because of complications cutting weight. John McCain, who branded the sport of MMA”human cockfighting,” sat ringside in the 1995 boxing departure of Jimmy Garcia. But, very few severe life threatening injuries in MMA come to mind because no one have occurred on its primary stage. A fighter’s passing inside the Octagon has never occurred and it never will. Nonetheless, it’s something which must be in the back of everybody’s mind once we see fighters getting knocked out lifelessly. Rendering a competition not only defenceless but unconscious remains to be the name of the struggle game if it’s MMA or Boxing. That’s where a fighter’s fanfare, bonus cash and continuous hype derives. UFC President Dana White announced MMA that the”safest game in the world, fact.” The concept that MMA is the safest sport in the world is crazy. Tennis, golf, track and field, swimming… Are all”safer” sports in that they lack head injury all together and pose little risk of death. Touting up safety should come with a responsibility to completely study the ramifications of your sport. The construction on what will be known as the UFC Athlete Health and Performance Center begins this shortly and will take 15 weeks to complete. Next to health insurance for training accidents, this can be MMA’s second most significant step towards taking on more of a top role in sport security. With that said, Dana’s end game is that Scientific research will eventually brand MMA as a”safer” choice for battle sport athletes when compared with boxing. But, it would just further the sport’s inverse relationship. Since MMA increases in popularity, boxing’s visibility in the national understanding continues to fall and it’s simple to finger stage. Additionally, it can’t be stressed enough that the first generation of fighters are only getting out of this game within the last couple of decades. Science has an incredibly small sample dimension to look at in terms of aging MMA fighters right now, although UFC originals like Gary Goodridge are already feeling the consequences. We probably still need a few more”generations” of fighters to retire and grow old to get an actual feel for the effects of the sport on them as they age. And by that I mean boxers who have had to compete with other high level athletes, not fighters who had been the best of a game that was still very much in the developmental stages. Fighters like George St Pierre, Demetrious Johnson and Ronda Rousey are not likely to face any longstanding consequences of brain injury primarily because of their runs of desire and their ability to prevent substantial harm. Johnson recently said on the Joe Rogan Expertise that”There is not enough money in the world for me to risk brain damage” Johnson, like many other fighters that are educated, understands that taking too much harm in his profession will harm his longevity both indoors and outside the game, and that’s why he is so aware of his safety in the Octagon. Perhaps that is the reason he’s never lost consciousness in the Octagon. In any case, it’s difficult to use findings of yesteryear to determine the safety of the game today. So much constantly changes within the sport of MMA that trying to compare between eras is basically the same in trying to compare completely different sports. Maybe then a much better approach isn’t to look at the sport’s past, and rather on its current and foreseeable future. The argument about which sport is safer because of the glove size is moot. The quantity of punishment a fighter chooses over their career is individualistic and highly dependent on a fighter’s style. The main selling point as to why MMA is safer than boxing is truly the glove dimensions. The boxing glove was created to guard the hands, not the person being punched. However MMA practitioners argue that they use the bare minimum in hand protection. Any argument surrounding how a hand will break until the mind is not exactly the most attractive strategy to advocate for a safer game. The same holds for the standing eight count. Arguing that permitting a concussed fighter to continue in a struggle after being pumped only furthers brain trauma. In MMA we witness a whole lot follow up punches after a fighter is left unconscious — possibly equally damaging to allowing a fighter to continue after receiving devastating blows. There are many variables in determining the devastation of a landed punch–out of technique to timing, to whether or not the recipient saw the punch coming–that it would be virtually impossible to determine in a live match that glove size would have caused the maximum harm. What’s more, there are a number of other rules and elements that deciding on which sport is safer. The average duration of a Boxing game is normally longer then that of an MMA fight. There are so many factors that are individualistic to the fighter. I’d love to declare each sport equally as dangerous, but until additional research is done, an individual can’t make such a statement with much assurance. The inherent risks in the sports are intrinsically connected. The ability of a fighter to achieve longevity in the sport is more dependant on the abilities of the fighter themselves then their various sports parameters independently. Generalizing that is safer without the scientific evidence to support such a claim remains to be a matter of opinion.
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