MMA vs. Boxing

Ask any non-fan of any kind of fighting and they will say that MMA is much more dangerous than Boxing but i disagree. Thoughts?

No. I would not say it's more dangerous. In an MMA fight, you may not even get hit. Not in the entire fight. Look at this season of TUF. A guy made it into the house without even throwing a punch... and then said so! In boxing, your goal is to beat your opponent with your fists until he can no longer fight, typically taking several more blows than you would in an MMA match. In MMA, your goal is to simply get your opponent to surrender or make the ref decide that this fight should no longer happen.

A huge difference is the three knockdown or standing eight count rule in boxing. That way you are leaving the fighter open to taking way more damage while they might still be suffering from the effects of the previous blow.
In MMA, if the ref sees that the fighter cannot intelligently defend himself he stops the fight. If you are out once you are out and you do not get the ability to restart the fight once you get your bearings back.
A lot of people argue about premature stoppage in MMA but if truly protects the fighters in the long run.

another big difference is 12 rounds vs 3 or 5.

the more you gas the more likely you are to be knocked out, and the longer fight also leaves the possibility that a fighter knocked down early can go on fighting for another half hour with a concussion or even worse a hemorrage.

Boxing is much more dangerous than MMA, like Dana White said the goal in boxing is to knock out your opponent or hit your opponent more times in the head than they hit you.

HELLO JORDAN

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Posted by gsquat

No. I would not say it's more dangerous. In an MMA fight, you may not even get hit. Not in the entire fight. Look at this season of TUF. A guy made it into the house without even throwing a punch... and then said so! In boxing, your goal is to beat your opponent with your fists until he can no longer fight, typically taking several more blows than you would in an MMA match. In MMA, your goal is to simply get your opponent to surrender or make the ref decide that this fight should no longer happen.

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I respect your attempt to analyze the sport, but your premise is completely wrong.

Boxing will ABSOLUTELY be stopped in the same situations that an MMA fight would be--if a person cannot defend himself or seems to be out on his feet.

The standing 8 count and 3 knockdown rule both protect, rather than hurt, fighters who are in trouble (in different ways) and that's exactly what those rules are for.

I think some people don't understand boxing or boxing rules. There is no less emphasis on fighter safety there. The one (and only) problem with boxing safetty vs. MMA safety, particularly with the heavier glove padding, is that a fighter runs the risk of taking significantly more shots to the head before he gets KOd or even hangs on and wins. As far as getting pugilistic dimentia or a concussion related death, boxing is more dangerous for that reason. If you talk about a variety of other injuries--broken shins, twisted ankles, hyper-extended elbows, wrecked knee cartilidge, cornea damage, cauliflower ear...--MMA is the more dangerous sport.

fullerene is right, the biggest difference is the extra padding in boxing gloves combined with the fact that the sport focuses specifically on striking with the head as the primary target. Having more padding means that boxers absorb FAR more power punches to the head on a far more consistent basis. A boxer can easily take over 100 punches over the course of a 12 round fight.

I disagree that the standing 8 count doesn't add to the problem. In MOST cases fights will be stopped in both sports at the same point, but there is a gray area where fighters are slightly dazed but not completely out. In an MMA fight if you're in this state the opponent usually keeps attacking and the fight is stopped, the thing is for some people 8 seconds is more than enough time to regain their senses when they're in a state of semi-consciousness. This allows them to absorb more punishment the same way that added padding does.

Of course if someone is very clearly not able to focus their vision or keep their footing the fight will be stopped, but there is still a certain amount of recuperation time allowed in boxing which doesn't take place in MMA when a knockdown leaves a fighter only slightly dazed.

i rarely watch boxing anymore but use to watch it all the time. i rarely miss a major mma show. that being said mma is more dangerious. i hear all of the lines from dana and others to try to convince poeple boxing is more dangerous so mma can move farther into the mainstream. Someone will get hurt bad eventually but these guys know what they signed up for. There are two main aspects of mma that support my argument and they are the kicks to the head and the way guys finish an opponent on the ground after a knockdown. the refs do a great job to protect fighters in both sports but the rules allow more danger in mma in my opinion. its a big part of the draw for many of us along with the fact that it is a real fight instead of one aspect of a fight like boxing. i also think the argument that the padded gloves in boxing are more dangerous because they allow more punches before a guy goes down is comical. if any of u had a choice to be hit with boxing gloves or mma gloves all would choose boxing gloves because they are safer. i understand u cant have more padding in mma gloves because it would limit grappling but let not kid ourselves and say its safer. it starts to sound like politics. im a big fan of mma but without question the fighters face more danger. i know many of u will argue the losing side of this argument because you are like sheep that follow the lead of dana white and believe everything he says. there is a reason that parents dont let thier kids watch mma and its because there is more violence.

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Posted by jocksmall

i rarely watch boxing anymore but use to watch it all the time. i rarely miss a major mma show. that being said mma is more dangerious. i hear all of the lines from dana and others to try to convince poeple boxing is more dangerous so mma can move farther into the mainstream. Someone will get hurt bad eventually but these guys know what they signed up for. There are two main aspects of mma that support my argument and they are the kicks to the head and the way guys finish an opponent on the ground after a knockdown. the refs do a great job to protect fighters in both sports but the rules allow more danger in mma in my opinion. its a big part of the draw for many of us along with the fact that it is a real fight instead of one aspect of a fight like boxing. i also think the argument that the padded gloves in boxing are more dangerous because they allow more punches before a guy goes down is comical. if any of u had a choice to be hit with boxing gloves or mma gloves all would choose boxing gloves because they are safer. i understand u cant have more padding in mma gloves because it would limit grappling but let not kid ourselves and say its safer. it starts to sound like politics. im a big fan of mma but without question the fighters face more danger. i know many of u will argue the losing side of this argument because you are like sheep that follow the lead of dana white and believe everything he says. there is a reason that parents dont let thier kids watch mma and its because there is more violence.

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First off- LMAO.

I am not a sheep who follows a God named Dana White. There are things called facts out there- you should read up on them. When we talk something like DEATH in regards to either of these sports we're generally discussing death due to head trauma. The main danger of a punch or a kick to the head is not what happens on the outside, but the damage that's done on the inside. When the head is hit with a good enough amount of force the brain moves inside the head and bumps into the walls of the skull.

Hematomas can occur when significant enough trauma is introduced to the brain. Without getting all technical on you here, it's basically a build up of fluid around the brain that causes immense pressure on the brain and can even build to the point of killing someone. That's because the skull is not malleable and the brain is. Therefore all of the pressure from the hematoma pushes inward, not outward (as it would in your arm, for example) The same applies for bruising of the skull.

Each time a person is hit with enough force (boxing gloves and MMA gloves both accomplish enough force on almost every hit) their head moves and their brain collides with the skull. This is a chance for a hemmorage or bruising to occur.

Let's take a random boxing match vs. a random MMA match-

Mosley vs. Mayorga http://www.compuboxonline.com/stat_files/MOS-MAR.htm

Mosley landed 144 punches, while Mayorga landed 73

Now a random MMA match-

Palhares vs. Henderson from UFC 88

Palhares landed 28 strikes, Henderson landed 51

So there you have it. Without going into how many were head shots and all of that nonsense it's clear from the start that there are many, many, many more shots thrown in boxing. Nearly triple the amount. With each and every strike the potential for brain trauma exists.

Your argument that the gloves are smaller and therefore more dangerous (or kicks, for that matter) becomes a moot point when you consider that the force of each a boxing strike or mixed martial arts strike is enough to cause brain damage. Not to mention the fact that smaller MMA gloves lead to more KO's, which is actually one of the body's protection mechanisms- so the occurence of which can be misleading.

Since 1998 there have been 70 sactioned boxing bout related deaths. MMA? 2 deaths since 1998 and only one of those in a sanctioned match. So- you be the judge.

there have been hundreds of mma deaths in cambodia alone .you are siting sanctioned mma events which there have been few in comparison to boxing which has as many events as basketball games. the problem with your theory is that in mma guys get knocked out which causes brain damage and then continue to take shots until a ref breaks it up this sometimes causes limbs to go stiff or involuntary flailing. you are geting punch stats from boxing where many are jabs that cause no damage and are meant to build up points. also i said mma had more danger and you took that to mean death. maybe you should look up danger in the dictionary. here ill do it for u : danger is the exposure or liability to injury or harm. 2 something that may cause injury or harm. you made me do some research but i was right about "danger in spite of the fact that the deaths in sanctioned mma events is small. between sept 2001 and dec 2004 171 mma matches took place in nevada and 28.6 injuries occurred per 100 fights. boxing has a much larger sample and 17.1 injuries occured per 100 fights. just because mma has improved to avoid big mismathes and good ref stopage doesnt remove danger it minimizes death. look how many guys get medical suspensions from the damage they take in mma. mma is more dangerous than boxing but it is also more entertaining

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Posted by jocksmall

there have been hundreds of mma deaths in cambodia alone

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LOL.. seriously, that's all you've got?

I suppose first of all that you've got a source to back that up, and second of all that those are sanctioned bouts exactly like the ones taking place in the UFC.

edit: I see you edited your post, so I'll respond accordingly-

I understand the problems between boxing and MMA having less fights. That's all hard to account for at this point, but I can assure you the constants will remain the same- there are fewer deaths as a result of MMA than there are for boxing.

You talk of the jab in boxing, and you're right.. a lot of boxing punches are jabs, but so are MMA punches.

If you want to talk injuries then I can almost guarantee MMA has more injuries, but with death there is no comparison. Last month there was a boxing match here in AZ in which a man was killed. In the past 8 years of MMA in Arizona there hasn't been a single person killed and yet RITC (an Arizona promotion) is one of the biggest MMA promoters in the nation.

Standing 8 counts make boxing much more dangerous, esp in the long run. Look how punchy ppl get after boxing careers. We don't see that because the rules are set up to be safer and they work. To me the danger of irrevocable brain damage is worse than possibly breaking an arm.

As far as 6-8 month injurys MMA is more dangerous just because alot more of your body can be attacked but I think as far has major trama and overall danger to your life Boxing is without question the more dangerous sport.

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Boxing will ABSOLUTELY be stopped in the same situations that an MMA fight would be--if a person cannot defend himself or seems to be out on his feet.

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In boxing even amatures get much more leeway in taking punishment. A fighter can be out on his feet but if he can manage to miss a few of the incoming punches the ref will let him fight on even though he is getting hit with the majority of the punches(Which can sometimes leed to some of the best comebacks.) And if you do get hit hard enough to go down you have ten seconds to regroup your self and two more trys after that.

Mayweather/Gatti....Gatti couldn't defend himself from the start and took an amazing amount of punishment in only six rounds. Boxing fighters have the opportunity to take much more damage then their MMA counterparts. That fight with 4oz gloves in an MMA event would have been over much quicker and Gatti would have taken ALOT less punishment imo.

I think some good points on both sides were made.. the potential for long term brain damage or death is high in boxing.. though other injuries are more prevelant in MMA do to the facts there are attacks on the joints and all legs and such. getting KO'd is better for the brain then repeated shots to the head which can cause more severe damage and KO's are I think easier to come by in MMA due to kicks and the smaller gloves.. I think an MMA fighter and a boxer who have the same number of fights I think the MMA fighter would be a little more clear headed but have a lot more long term aches and pains though the boxer might have more mental problems though physicaly his body might hold up better. regardless both are going to suffer long term injuries over a decent carear.

The average boxing champion probably has about 50 profesional fights and probably twice that many amateur ones. Those numbers are something like 25 and 5 for the average MMA champ. If you start seeing longer MMA careers, expect more problems including being punch drunk. I don't think you'll see that particular problem at the level of boxing (as stated above) but you can't point to retired punch drunk boxers who fought 200-300 total fights (and sometimes more) in their careers in the previous eras of boxing as examples of why modern day MMA is automatically safer.