Is MMA safer than boxing?

[MilesAbove]

People think soccer kicks are worse. To the brain it's honestly no worse than this.

 

[urbabysoncrak]

Mortality rates should basically dictate which sport is safer. Boxing has annual death rates. MMA generally doesn't.
Injuries on the other hand, MMA has boxing beat. I don't hear about knee surgeries in boxing very often.

 

[countswagula]

People think soccer kicks are worse. To the brain it's honestly no worse than this.

Plus, you'll rarely be going into a ground strike like you might with a standing one.

 

[PaulRFC53]

If you're talking about brain trauma then there is really no argument you can make for boxing but MMA is a lot more grueling on the joints etc. If you're a boxer everything you do involves getting punched in the head and by fighters who are far more competent and dangerous when it comes to punching. Boxing matches are also longer than MMA fights by a pretty decent margin.

 

[JDS Klit]

MMA is incredibly dangerous. Boxing is on a whole different planet of danger. This isn't even a debate.

 

[jx820]

Here is a list of boxing's fatalities. You might have to flip through a bit, it can only list 200 per page.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Category:Ring_Fatalities

So... I'm gonna say boxing is more dangerous.


(edit: Just in case anyone doesn't bother to read the list it's mostly very old fights, modern boxing is much safer than it used to be.)

 

[MilesAbove]

Plus, you'll rarely be going into a ground strike like you might with a standing one.

That's definitely true. I was just stating that the aesthetic brutality of a soccer kick isn't much different as far as the brain is concerned. But it definitely happens much less frequently.

 

[MilesAbove]

Here is a list of boxing's fatalities. You might have to flip through a bit, it can only list 200 per page.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Category:Ring_Fatalities

So... I'm gonna say boxing is more dangerous.


(edit: Just in case anyone doesn't bother to read the list it's mostly very old fights, modern boxing is much safer than it used to be.)

Boxing has also been around more than 100 years longer. And it was held in a time with almost no governance on rules. Of course many would die over that time period (given it's brutal nature).

I'm not undercutting it's danger, because it definitely has it. I'm just saying, grain of salt there buddy.

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

I don't know enough about the intricacies of either to make an educated comment. However, there is always this to consider:

If he went down and didnt get kicked, he would have gotten up.

Roger has heart. So he would have gotten up and gotten hit more.

And if he went down again and some how gets up, he gets hit more than that

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

If you're only talking about brain damage then I would say MMA is safer. Fights can end without many punches to the head or any in MMA and in boxing there is the 10 count which allows fighters to receive a concussion and get time to recover to take more punishment where as in an MMA fight they generally get finished and/or take less punches after the initial concussion.

 

[Pangi]

Boxing is more head focused , although mma fighters do hit the head a lot take kicks to the body and legs so it's not just focused on the head . Let's look at the different fighters after fighting I will use Chuck Liddell for mma , he still seems to have majority of his sense even after being Ko'd time after time
Mike Tyson for boxing well he seems to be a bit more damaged after boxing.

 

[olimpicus]

Unless you fight palhares

and Overeem

 

[Better Every Day]

Everyone is talking about brain damage, and this is probably the biggest concern by far, I agree, but I wonder about the danger to the neck from guillotines and slams to the ground. I did a quick search and found the following article. I had never heard of this incident. I wonder how rare serious neck damage is?

Medical Beat: Fighter's recent paralysis underscores dangers of standing guillotines
By: MMAjunkie Staff June 1, 2012

http://mmajunkie.com/2012/06/medical-beat-fighters-recent-paralysis-underscores-dangers-of-standing-guillotines

 

[JacJeanFinger]

No glove MMA/Boxing is safer than gloved MMA/Boxing.

 

[JBJ was here]

I remember having the realization a few years back that in terms of long term brain damage football is almost certainly worse than MMA. Concussions pile up similarly, but football involves a lot more subconcussive damage; players are hitting each other at speed with their full weight on every play. The numbers coming out of autopsies on NFL players are staggering, with over 90% of players showing permanent damage from repeated brain trauma.

That made me feel a lot better about MMA and a lot worse about football.

 

[Pangi]

and Overeem

Unless you're Overeem .

 

[Dan155]

That's an interesting research question for anyone working on a sports science term paper, IMO. There's a few decades of data for MMA now, so the rates of injuries could be compared meaningfully these days.

 

[Dan155]

I remember having the realization a few years back that in terms of long term brain damage football is almost certainly worse than MMA. Concussions pile up similarly, but football involves a lot more subconcussive damage; players are hitting each other at speed with their full weight on every play. The numbers coming out of autopsies on NFL players are staggering, with over 90% of players showing permanent damage from repeated brain trauma.

That made me feel a lot better about MMA and a lot worse about football.

Plus football is boring and stupid.

 

[jx820]

Boxing has also been around more than 100 years longer. And it was held in a time with almost no governance on rules. Of course many would die over that time period (given it's brutal nature).

I'm not undercutting it's danger, because it definitely has it. I'm just saying, grain of salt there buddy.

OK, lets look at sanctioned boxing vs the worst most unsanctioned era of MMA 93-94. Back when MMA was human **** fighting.

1993: Yasuji Hamakawa died after being knocked down twice in one round.

1994: Wangila Napunyi collapsed after being stopped by David Gonzalez. He died after an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain.

1994: British bantamweight Bradley Stone died from a massive blood clot on the brain after losing to Richie Wenton.

1994: Michael Bentt was rushed to hospital and had to retire after his WBO heavyweight title defeat against Herbie Hide in London.

MMA had 0 in the same time frame.

In fact MMA regardless of sanctioning has had about 10 known deaths. Boxing has had over 100 deaths since UFC 1 (with the data set cutting out at 2008). It's a ratio of 10 to 1 in the modern era. It's just not close.

 

[MilesAbove]

OK, lets look at sanctioned boxing vs the worst most unsanctioned era of MMA 93-94. Back when MMA was human **** fighting.

1993: Yasuji Hamakawa died after being knocked down twice in one round.

1994: Wangila Napunyi collapsed after being stopped by David Gonzalez. He died after an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain.

1994: British bantamweight Bradley Stone died from a massive blood clot on the brain after losing to Richie Wenton.

1994: Michael Bentt was rushed to hospital and had to retire after his WBO heavyweight title defeat against Herbie Hide in London.

MMA had 0 in the same time frame.

In fact MMA regardless of sanctioning has had about 10 known deaths. Boxing has had over 100 deaths since UFC 1 (with the data set cutting out at 2008). It's a ratio of 10 to 1 in the modern era. It's just not close.

How many MMA fights were there in that year? How many boxing matches in that year?