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LONGEVITY IN COMBAT SPORTS: MMA VERSUS BOXING

As the UFC pushes Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) into the mainstream, an age old question remains: Is MMA safer then boxing? The major premise behind the debate has always been that unlike boxing, in MMA, there are more routes to success than hitting your opponent. Highlighting the apparent, you will find less painful routes to victory, thus creating some reductions in MMA less damaging on a fighter’s body and brain. The Unified Rules of MMA make it possible for an MMA fighter to win a bout by judges’ decision or by maybe submitting their opponent. The resulting notion is that MMA athletes suffer fewer traumatic injuries and the odds are lessened that they may become jaded drunk. However, proponents of boxing are always quick to point out the smaller gloves implemented in MMA and the fact the rules allowing for leg strikes and elbows. Therefore”it’s time” to take an in-depth appearance to both sides of this argument. Prior to getting into the thick of the argument, I’d like to highlight one of the important reasons I chose to write this article. Shawn O’Sullivan, a retired boxer who I have met many times, lives in my hometown. On paper, his life looks like a success story. However the real truth is that his boxing profession killed his chances of having a successful life after his career was finished. A brief documentary on his narrative can be found below.Many would believe O’Sullivan’s career marginally illustrious because he was 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 appeared like the fix was in. Despite scoring two standing 8 counts in round two the judges awarded that around to Tate. Upon going expert, he found himself fast retired in 1988 with failed comebacks in both 1991 and 1997. Shawn’s overall listing of 23-5-0, together with 16 knockouts handed him 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. Today, O’Sullivan is residing with the difficulties of brain damage, however, he doesn’t repent his career in boxing. During my many conversations with O’Sullivan, he almost always slurred his speech and had problems recalling parts of his lifetime. Regrettably, his ability to talk about his story is all he has to show for his famous career. However, 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” brought about partly as a result of the fighting style and gruelling sparring sessions in the gym. If you want to find out exactly what I mean, take a few minutes and watch his bout against Armando Martinez. What remains untold to many, and something which highlights the relevance of the article is that O’Sullivan was pushed to boxing with his first coach: his dad. Rumors are his dad was letting his son spar against heavyweights and much larger men as part of the everyday reality test for O’Sullivan. As parents, an individual may feel uncomfortable advocating your kid partake in any combat sport from this fear of the long term consequences. Therefore signing your child up to boxing or MMA training can become a matter of which is safer? Is there a chance that you could help choose the lesser of two so-called evils. Until recently the entire debate behind MMA is safer then Boxing was entirely theoretical. There continues to be little scientific facts and findings to support the claim. The University of Alberta’s Dr. Shelby Karpman led a review of over a decade’s worth of medical exams from roughly 1,700 fighters in Edmonton, Canada. According to the study, Fifty-nine per cent of MMA athletes sustained some kind of injury, compared to 50 percent of fighters. However, boxers were more likely to eliminate consciousness during a bout: seven per cent versus four per cent for MMA fighters. Irrespective of the facts to as which sport 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 nearly a third of specialist spells. It’s not my aim to cast doubt on the protection of a sport, nevertheless both boxing and MMA have had cases of fatalities that are well recorded. Recently a MMA fighter died because of complications cutting weight. John McCain, who branded the game of MMA”human cockfighting,” sat ringside at the 1995 boxing departure of Jimmy Garcia. However, very few severe life threatening accidents in MMA come into mind as none have occurred on its primary stage. A fighter’s passing within the Octagon hasn’t happened and it never will. But it’s something that has to be in the back of everyone’s mind once we see fighters getting knocked out lifelessly. Rendering a competition not just defenceless but unconscious remains to be the name of the struggle game whether it be MMA or Boxing. That’s where a fighter’s fanfare, bonus money and continuous hype derives. UFC President Dana White announced MMA that the”safest sport in the world, fact.” The concept that MMA is the most popular sport in the world is mad. Tennis, golf, track and field, swimming… Are all”safer” sports because they lack head trauma all together and present little risk of death. Touting up security should come with a duty to fully study the ramifications of your sport. The construction on what will be known as the UFC Athlete Health and Performance Center starts this soon and will take 15 months to finish. Alongside medical insurance for training accidents, this can be MMA’s next most significant step towards taking on more of a top role in sport safety. With that said, Dana’s end game is that Scientific study will finally develop MMA as a”safer” choice for battle sport athletes when compared with boxing. But, it might just further the sport’s inverse relationship. Since MMA increases in popularity, boxing’s visibility at the national understanding continues to fall and it is easy to finger stage. It also can not be stressed enough the very first generation of fighters are just getting out of this game over the past few years. Science has an incredibly small sample dimension to look at in terms of aging MMA fighters at this time, although UFC originals such as Gary Goodridge are already feeling the effects. We probably still require a few more”generations” of fighters to retire and grow older to have a true feel for the impact of the sport on them as they age. And by that I mean boxers that have had to compete with other high level athletes, not boxers that had been the best of a game that was 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 trauma primarily because of their runs of dominance as well as their capacity to prevent substantial damage. Johnson recently said on the Joe Rogan Experience that”There is not enough money in the entire world for me to risk brain damage” Johnson, like many other fighters that are educated, understands that carrying too much harm in his career will hurt his longevity both indoors and outside the sport, and that’s why he is so aware of his safety in the Octagon. Maybe that’s the main reason why he’s never lost consciousness from the Octagon. Whatever the case, it’s difficult to use findings of the past to determine the safety of the game now. So much constantly changes within the sport of MMA that trying to compare between eras is essentially the exact same in trying to compare completely different sports. Maybe then a better approach isn’t to look at the game’s past, and instead on its present and foreseeable future. The debate as to which sport is safer due to 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 most important selling point as to why MMA is safer than boxing is truly the glove size. The boxing glove has been created to guard the hands, not the individual being punched. However MMA practitioners argue that they utilize the bare minimum in hand protection. Any argument surrounding how a hand will break until the head isn’t exactly the most attractive approach to advocate for a safer game. The same goes for the standing eight count. Arguing that permitting a concussed fighter to keep in a struggle after being knocked down just furthers brain injury. In MMA we see a whole lot follow up punches after a fighter is left unconscious — possibly equally damaging to permitting a fighter to continue after getting devastating blows. There are so 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–which it would be virtually impossible to determine at a live game that glove size could have caused the maximum damage. What’s more, there are a number of other elements and rules that determining which sport is safer. The average duration of a Boxing match is generally longer then that of an MMA fight. There are many factors that are individualistic into the fighter. I’d love to declare each game equally as harmful, but until additional research is completed, an individual can not create such a statement with much assurance. The inherent dangers in the sports are intrinsically linked. The capability of a fighter to achieve longevity in the sport is more dependant on the skills of the fighter themselves their respective sports parameters independently. Generalizing that is safer without the scientific proof to support such a claim remains to be a matter of opinion.
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