Dana White On Concussions: "The UFC Is Safer Than The NFL"

The majority of Americans are big football fans. The majority of Americans believe that MMA is more brutal than football. I may not have proof, but it's true that MMA has a rep for being a more dangerous sport, but people are fine with watching good old fashioned American football.

i wont argue with your lack of evidence or your conclusions, even though they're clearly wrong

the point you're making and one thats logically wrong, is that well, people are fine with football, so why do they bitch about mma?

thats very far off the real point, that mma and foootball arent related

but football makes a TONNN of effort to not show the brutality of football - you watch cbs and they almopst try to market to women - they dont want to fck with that perception at all

i agree that football has done a good job of hiding the brutality and they are only slowly being forced to be honest about it

none of this has anything to do with mma
 
Dana is right. NFL players take much bigger impacts and on a more regular basis. Getting hit at full speed by an NFL linebacker or safety >>>>>> getting punched or kicked in the head. Former and current NFL players will admit to suffering a concussion and coming back in a FEW PLAYS LATER. Not to mention many of these guys have said they suffered multiple concussions, sometimes in successive weeks. Hell, even recently there have been examples of this. My favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, has one. The former starting QB, Colt McCoy, suffered a concussion last season and returned to the game. He said he doesn't even REMEMBER coming back into the game, playing in the rest of the game, or what even happened the rest of the game.
 
Dana White makes a very solid point with his comparison. This part in particular i 100% agree with.

"First of all, if you get a concussion, if you get knocked out or you get hurt whatsoever in the UFC, three months suspension. You are on suspension for three months and you cannot come back until you are cleared by a doctor."

Too bad the brain damage does not care if you have 90 or 9,000 days off.
 
Dana is right. NFL players take much bigger impacts and on a more regular basis. Getting hit at full speed by an NFL linebacker or safety >>>>>> getting punched or kicked in the head. Former and current NFL players will admit to suffering a concussion and coming back in a FEW PLAYS LATER. Not to mention many of these guys have said they suffered multiple concussions, sometimes in successive weeks. Hell, even recently there have been examples of this. My favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, has one. The former starting QB, Colt McCoy, suffered a concussion last season and returned to the game. He said he doesn't even REMEMBER coming back into the game, playing in the rest of the game, or what even happened the rest of the game.

This is only if you believe that NFL players are hitting each other hard the whole time, and MMA fighters are adhering to not training after concussions. Neither of which is true.

Concussions and general brain damage from MMA will come up sooner or later. We might as well talk about it now.

I'm more of a live-and-let-live on the issue. Guys likely know the risk going into it. I specially stopped training due to the amount of smaller injuries to my wrists, ankles, etc... which I knew would only be compounded over time. No idea the affect on my brain just yet, but I'm sure there's some after 7 years of kickboxing. It is simply something you have to decide for yourself. If you have a chance to become a superstar, maybe its worth the risk. If your Shannon Rich.... not such a great idea.
 
like we have a clue which is more dangerous? why do we even ask that question?
yeah nfl players come wobbling off the field and get turned right back around onto the field. we see that pretty much every weekend.

but we also see dudes get lit up in round one, fight for four more rounds, and NOT REMEMBER ANY OF IT.

how can you say that isnt a big deal?

mma has been around for 20 years lol. how many dudes fought in those 20 years, like 5?
and how many of them have since died and had an autopsy done on their brain?
 
This is only if you believe that NFL players are hitting each other hard the whole time, and MMA fighters are adhering to not training after concussions. Neither of which is true.

Concussions and general brain damage from MMA will come up sooner or later. We might as well talk about it now.

I'm more of a live-and-let-live on the issue. Guys likely know the risk going into it. I specially stopped training due to the amount of smaller injuries to my wrists, ankles, etc... which I knew would only be compounded over time. No idea the affect on my brain just yet, but I'm sure there's some after 7 years of kickboxing. It is simply something you have to decide for yourself. If you have a chance to become a superstar, maybe its worth the risk. If your Shannon Rich.... not such a great idea.

Yup. I have a lot of sympathy for the guys who were getting their brains bashed in in the 80s and 90s before we really understood the risks of repeated head trauma.

Moving forward, when the risks are more widely known, it's caveat emptor. You know what you're signing up for.
 
Dana is right. NFL players take much bigger impacts and on a more regular basis. Getting hit at full speed by an NFL linebacker or safety >>>>>> getting punched or kicked in the head.

The jury is still out on this. Zuffa should be very careful in what they say. This kind of stuff takes decades to determine. They have to wait until guys are retired and older and monitor them.

They shouldn't be making knee jerk responses saying the sport is safe. Doing so shows that they only want to protect the bottom line and not the fighters. They know that the entire sport could crumble in the US if the brains of dead MMA fighters reveal the kind of trauma seen in former NFL players. The NFL players have helmets and aren't punched and kicked over and over again.

In the NFL if you suffer what may be a concussion they pull you out of the game and test you. In MMA if a guys dizzy they keep fighting through it. Injuries immediately after a concussion have proven to be the most dangerous. No one can claim people don't get concussions in MMA.
 
The NFL is the most dangerous sport in the world other than motorcycle racing. That said, you will start to see long term stuff coming out about some of these big knock outs. Count on it.
 
Too bad the brain damage does not care if you have 90 or 9,000 days off.

NFL players get knocked unconscious on the regular. I notice it all the time but the camera will always pan away or cut to commercial. Offensive and Defensive lineman crash heads every. single. play. Paint comes flying off each others helmets. Thats atleast equivalent to a jab to your face which is detrimental over time. Any time your brain is rocking around thats not good.

Assuming the amount of brain damage is similar in both sports, Yea i would say UFC strategy of 90 days no contact is a better policy than passing a concussion test one week later and bouncing your brain around again. In your second post, you argue that neither NFL or UFC employees are following the safety guidelines exactly, thats just ignorance on the individuals behalf and i wouldn't say their in the majority either.
 
I general, I would say MMA is safer than Soccer and Rugby also.
 
I general, I would say MMA is safer than Soccer and Rugby also.

I beg to differ. But, I came in to ask if it's safe to say we haven't really had any Junior Seau type issues in MMA?
 
I would assume (because I'm no expert) that relative brain damage would increase with the amount of force involved. MMA can't produce the type of force that a massive NFL or NHL hit creates. Dudes just hurtling themselves at each other.
 
Yes, UFC (MMA) is the definitely safer than table tennis or curling.
 
The NFL players have helmets and aren't punched and kicked over and over again.

lol you think the fact that they have helmets makes it safer? the helmet and pads changes the nature of the contact. not to mention these are big dudes running full force throwing their body weight into each other.

look at the difference between tackles in rugby and american football.
(not defending mma just thought your comment was ridiculous)
 
248646cdec.jpg


source: http://www.mmamania.com/2013/1/8/3852326/ufc-president-dana-white-mma-concussions-nfl-mma

i like dana, but the one thing that scares me about this is. Dana said he had no idea about the alc injury on cain. So were there no scans? And he mentioned ricco rodriquez fought without an alc? just makes me think
 
MC Paul Barman on Excitement: "The NFL Is More Exciting Than The UFC"
 
Look at the injury lists for for former NFL players. Even with advanced padding they suffer concussions regularly.

There is your scientific evidence.

I don't think the UFC has been around long enough for there to be legit data on the long term effects of the concussions suffered... The data on the NFL goes back like 50 years and many of the long term effects on the players don't start to reveal themselves until many years later.

Also, most of the precautions that Dana is bragging about, like the 3 month suspensions are mandated by the state athletic commissions, not the UFC themselves. If it was up to the UFC to decide I doubt they would be doing that.

We'll have a better picture of what the situation is in another 15 or so years. I don't think it could be any worse than boxing though.
 
Dana has been telling punch drunk guys like Wand, Chuck, Nog etc to retire. It's on them if they want to continue.
 
Back
Top