In many regions of the world, mixed martial arts remain a taboo, a morally unacceptable practice by a society, human group or religion.
Seeing two people with small gloves fighting in a cage is quite disturbing for certain societies, the funny thing is that some of them have boxing as a common sport.
The University of Alberta Sports Medicine Clinic conducted a study where it was determined that MMA fighters are more likely to suffer more visible injuries than boxers, but these suffer more long-term damage, such as trauma, eye injuries, etc.
“A lot of the blood you see in mixed martial arts is broken noses or facial cuts, they are not usually severe, but it looks worse than it is,” argued Dr. Shelby Karpman, who led the aforementioned investigation.
The investigation also collected information on 1181 MMA fighters and 550 boxers who competed between 2003 and 2013. 59.4% of the MMA fighters and 49.8% of the boxers suffered an injury during their fighting. However, 7.1% of boxers became unconscious while only 4.2% of MMA fighters did too.
The study also determined that a boxer is more likely to receive greater medical suspensions after a fight.
The University of Toronto also conducted a study, examining 844 UFC fights between 2006 and 2012, where they discovered that only 108 fights (13%) ended in knockout and 179 (21%) ended by TKO.
Death in any discipline is somewhat gloomy, but that event has also been studied.
MMA fights were taken between 1998 and 2013, where four cage deaths were detected (three in regulated bouts), subsequently, the death of a fighter in South Africa (2014) was added. This leaves us with four verified deaths in that period.
From 1998 to 2011, the Velázquez Collection organization (collects information on boxing deaths) determined that there were 60 deaths in professional and regulated boxing matches.
The explanation is obvious that the boxers receive more blows to the head, MMA fighters can use other techniques such as fighting or jujitsu to win fights without causing concussions. In the end, boxers are mentally slower than MMA fighters, this due to brain damage.
Mixed martial arts are relatively new and have made their way in society, they are increasingly accepted and understood, this means that the common individual is understanding that discipline requires, like any other, a lot of talent and preparation to be successful.
Many leaders and boxers argued that mixed martial arts are a “cockfight” and that those who practice them are talented animals with intentions to harm, well, if we apply the aforementioned studies, in boxing, the long-term damage ends being worse.
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