Is MMA safer than boxing?

[-Kev-]

I am going to get this out of the way now: Yes, I know. Both sports are dangerous, both can cause serious harm, and both can cause brain issues.

But the biggest takeaway I get from MMA fights is not the kicks or the wrestling/submissions, it’s the way most punches are thrown.

Some MMA fighters like to throw this out there, “we use smaller gloves unlike boxing and its pillows.”

1. If you have been punched by someone with boxing gloves, you know they are not “pillows”. They actually hurt a lot.

2. Boxing gloves protect a fighter’s hands, which enables them to use greater punch technique and minimize soreness. It also enables a fighter to throw more and throw harder due to their being little to no worries of them injuring their hands (it happens, but rare)

3. MMA’s small gloves benefit fighters for safety reasons: They (most of them) have to throw punches awkwardly. Especially in ground and pounds. Therefore, MMA fighters really can’t go “all out” with their punches for a sustained amount of rounds.

4. UFC has had 0 deaths in the ring. Pro MMA has had 7 deaths.

5. In the span of UFC’s founding year in 1993, to present, there have been 39 deaths in boxing. I am not even including the survival rate of brain damage in boxers. Those boxers who live after brain bleeds or brain damage, will never recover 100%. See Magomed Abdusalamov and Adonis Stevenson for example.

6. MMA fighters are not blind, they see boxers get paid a ton, and they get peanuts. If boxing is so much easier and less tough, why not make the “easy” money? MMA fighters with a name and fanbase can get a nice payday in boxing. So why not do it? They are pillow gloves, it won’t hurt, right?

Bottom line is, MMA is more “difficult” because it’s a mix of attacks that you have to defend against. In boxing, just look out for punches. I will give MMA the win there.

However, boxing is more “dangerous”. Boxing has a higher risk of brain damage and death from injuries sustained in a boxing match.

Top UFC fighters like McGregor (21-3 at the time) and Askren (19-2), learned the hard way what getting hit with pillow gloves felt like. Holly Holm went to UFC from boxing and slaughtered one of UFC’s top sellers, Ronda Rousey (12-0). Even while using the less protective MMA gloves.

I don’t know when it became cool to say MMA is more dangerous than boxing, and that it’s “real fighting” compared to boxing.

[TMLT87]

Yes, MMA is safer by far.

It manages to look way more brutal and gory while not having high profile cases of people dying or becoming vegetables practically every year. Pretty good deal for MMA really.

[dan_cov]

Yes MMA is safer.

Boxing gloves might weigh more but we must factor firstly they don't punch as hard in MMA, neither can they take a shot as well plus the weight of the gloves is even distributed with a lot of the weight being in the wrist for protection.
In MMA they don't take the accumulation boxers tend to and they can just give up position and just 'tap out' when the going gets tough.
The ruleset allows for them to quit or to basically give up their back and surrender without being flamed for doing so.

[TMLT87]

Pure striking, the only targets being the upper body and the head, counts if you get dropped, shorter rounds but longer total fight time etc = taking more sustained repeated brain trauma before you finally lose.

As for the gloves thing, its not so much about the power, its more about defence. Those MMA gloves slip through guards very easily, add that in with all the other elements and MMA fights are generally gonna end before you've had your brain shaken around in your skull hundreds of times. Even if you do get lit up bad its going max 25 mins rather than 36.

[buddyr]

yes and my reason for saying this is glove size. The "experts" actually think that having fighters fight with bigger gloves is safer, but that only allows them to take more of a beating longer in the fights. MMA fights are at the most 5 rounds(championship fights) in 4 oz gloves which are basically nothing. You just don't see too many fights of guys taking Gatti like punishment the entire fight. There are a few like the Diaz brothers or Lawler, but even their chins are now failing them.

[-Kev-]

I just think it’s so clear, like way too clear ignore or try to deny it, that boxing is more dangerous. It’s literally a lethal sport. Its athletes actually die at a higher rate than any other combat/contact sport. Countless boxers literally die in the ring. It’s also a sport that despite the relatively high risk of death, or serious brain injury from it, spectators are still very hard on the combatants. When a boxer quits due to sustaining too much punishment, it is frowned upon by spectators and writers. Meanwhile, some boxers who take a ton of punishment and have a no-quit mentality, seem to get praised by fans for entertaining them by risking their life. Then there are groups of fans who are not consistent with what they like to see in a boxer. For example Wilder is an all out brawler with power, poor skills, who is not very good defensively. People loved Arturo Gatti for this, but Wilder does not get the same pass.

NFL? 1 in-game death in 100+ years.

UFC, 0 deaths since 1993, almost 30 years now.

MMA as a whole, 7 deaths, since its inception in 1985 (from what I have gathered).

Boxing is all around just a brutal sport. If you look at it from the outside looking in, and gather all the information from it, look at all the fan feedback for fighters, it’s actually an awful sport. Boxing is a terrible sport if you really think about it.

[IronDanHamza]

Very simple.

Which has more deaths/serious injury?

Boxing by a wide margin.

[elfag]

Its different. MMA has more joint injuries, guys snapping their legs. They all got ugly cauiliflower ears. And we seen MMA fighters with CTE. We also seen fighters with slurred speech like diaz brothers.


Boxing has prob more cases of CTE and far far more cases of the slurred speech. Also more deaths in the ring or post fight.


So boxing is more dangerous but doesnt mean MMA doesnt get some of the same injuries.

[jaded]

MMA fighters take fewer headshots due to the nature of the sport...much of it is spent grappling on the ground as opposed to standing up and exchanging punches. Also, when an MMA fighter gets hurt by a punch, it's legal for him to hold and take it to the ground and not get hit as much while he's still vulnerable. So maybe it's a bit friendlier on the brain.

[-Kev-]

Its different. MMA has more joint injuries, guys snapping their legs. They all got ugly cauiliflower ears. And we seen MMA fighters with CTE. We also seen fighters with slurred speech like diaz brothers.


Boxing has prob more cases of CTE and far far more cases of the slurred speech. Also more deaths in the ring or post fight.


So boxing is more dangerous but doesnt mean MMA doesnt get some of the same injuries.

That is why in the first sentence I acknowledged that both sports are dangerous and both can lead to serious bodily harm/injury.

It is naive to call MMA a soft sport or try to deny the dangers of it or the injuries that fighters can go through.

At this point of my life, I want no part of either sport. No question. I rather make a decent living rather than $50k-$100k+ as an MMA fighter or boxer. Because let’s face it, the vast majority of pro fighters make around that much.

You can name 50 MMA fighters who earned hundreds of thousands per fight, or millions of dollars per fight, and name countless pro boxers who earned hundreds of thousands/millions per fight and it still does not make it common.

If you gather all the pro fighters in the world (MMA and Boxing) and average out their salary, it’s awful. Might as well pick up a trade. It’s not worth it unless you make it to the top 100 best fighters/boxers of your own time. And even then, you won’t see decent checks unless you are a top 50 fighter. And you only see big checks when you are at top 25 best.

So yeah, both are crazy ass sports I want no part of at this point. Both are dangerous as fck. I was all for boxing as a kid but not anymore lol. Running on a track and exercising is the closest i’d get to doing what fighters do.