Has The Violence in MMA Taken Its Toll?

The death of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Sam Vasquez on November 30 sparked renewed fears and debate about the safety of the sport. In a sanctioned fight six weeks prior to his death, Vasquez was knocked unconscious by his opponent Vince Libardi. He reportedly had a stroke in hospital, suffered multiple blood clots in his brain, and never recovered from a coma.

MMA is a sport where fighters trained in multiple disciplines of martial arts such as karate, judo, kickboxing; wrestling and boxing are matched against one another in a bid to become the best overall combat artist. The free-for-all aspects of the sport, violence and intensity have contributed to its escalating popularity. Widespread acceptance in the mainstream has increased.

The sport was also banned in many states of the U.S. in its formative years before its first official government sanctioned fight staged in September 2000. Prior to the ban, MMA featured matches with a lack of definite rules, and competitors would often resort to underhand methods such as groin kicks, punches thrown to the back of the head and throat, and hair pulling to achieve their aims of winning. Since then, the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts have been implemented and adopted in various forms by organizations. A reduction of such fighting tactics has reduced relatively. One could say the introduction of rules have increased the protection of MMA fighters from dangerous techniques.

Sanctioned bouts in reality also provide another layer of protection for the sport’s participants. Promoters are required to purchase insurance for the fighters as medical cover in case of injuries arising from the fights. Ready on-scene medical aid is also a pre-requisite for sanctioning.

Many MMA fights feature brutality and gore of a graphic nature. Bloodshed can occur, and broken bones are often the result of enthusiastic and determined competitors. This nature of the sport has lent fuel to the arguments of MMA’s opponents who demand that it be banned. Some have compared MMA unfavorably to boxing, claiming that while the latter restricts punches to the head and body, MMA allows contact with most areas on a person except the most dangerous like the back of the head and neck. Unfortunately, they also fail to point out the other alternatives to win a MMA fight such as through submissions or tap-outs. These fights can sometimes see no punches or kicks landed.

The negative comparisons to boxing do not end there. In response to boxers facing hundreds of powerful punches to the head, its promoters say thick padded gloves are worn, while MMA fighters only wore light padded ones, which are designed more for grappling than for striking. What they did not mention was that boxing gloves were designed to protect boxers’ hands, due to the ferocity and quantity of punches they throw to knock an opponent out. On the other hand, MMA fighters can resort to other techniques to achieve victory, which do not necessitate forceful impact.

As of November 2007, the Manuel Vasquez Boxing Fatality Collection1 lists 1,465 deaths in boxing. MMA has only 2 documented deaths from fights, one sanctioned (Sam Vasquez) and the other from an unsanctioned fight in the Ukraine. While MMA might not have a rabid opponent collecting such official statistic as Manuel Vasquez, the large gap in numbers does make for a telling fact.

Another argument that lends weight to MMA’s dangerous nature being over exaggerated is the fact that its fights are structured to offer minimal sustained physical trauma to participants. Matches are either 3 or 5 rounds of 5 minutes each, depending on the nature of the fight. Again, competitors are allowed to tap-out, whereas in other sparring sports a win must either be achieved via knockout or points decision if fighters last the pace.

In 2006, the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine2 conducted a survey of the injury incidence rates in MMA relative to other combat sports in the state of Nevada, and found that while it was similar to others, the lower knockout rate in comparison to boxing also leads to less brain injuries (which is a common side-effect experienced by boxers as they age).

As long as the sport continues to improve its regulation and watch out for the safety of its competitors, MMA poses less danger than a sport like boxing. MMA fighters are also known to respect their opponents’ well being in the octagonal ring, and which winning via knockout is a possibility, it is never mandatory nor the primary aim of every MMA competitor. Just as any other sport that features levels of violence, the dangers of MMA will always be subjected to scrutiny. With a concerted effort by the community as a whole to always improve these aspects, MMA should remain a relatively safer combat style than most other established sports.


Footnotes:
1.Archive of the Manual Vasquez Boxing Fatality Collection by Joseph R. Svinth (http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm)
2.Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (http://www.jssm.org/combat/1/18/v5combat-18text.php)