Which Sport Is More Dangerous: UFC or NFL? Research Paper Example

Over the last few years the National Football League has faced mounting criticism over its record of injuries to players. Most of the attention being paid to safety in the NFL is related to traumatic brain injuries and the long-term repercussions for players. A class action lawsuit against the NFL on behalf of former NFL players was met with a settlement offer of $765 million, though that settlement has yet to be approved. While the NFL is beginning to come to terms with the fact that a significant number of players have suffered serious brain injuries, another sport is now coming under fire: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, is now facing criticism that it too is incredibly dangerous for competitors. Although UFC President Dana White insists that the UFC is safer than the NFL and other competitive sports (Guillen, 2014), recent reports indicate that UFC and MMA-style fighting are more dangerous than football.

The American Journal of Sports Medicine recently published a report on a study of MMA, and the results are not good for the UFC. According to the report, MMA fighters will suffer significant brain injuries in 30% of the fights in which they participate (bjpenn.com, 2014). One editorial from a sports writer noted that “this means a fighter like Dan Henderson who has fought in 41 fights throughout his career sustained brain damage in 12 of those fights” (bjpenn.com, 2014). The article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine also compared the results of its study to statistical information available for sports such as hickey and football, and claimed that the rate of injury in MMA fighting is higher than those in each of those other sports (bjpenn.com, 2014). The study analyzed statistical evidence from the results of hundreds of MMA matches, and counted the number of total knockouts (THOs). The researchers based their conclusions on the idea that TKOs inevitably result in brain damage, and also note that the actual rate of injury could be higher, as fighters who were not knocked out could still have suffered brain damage (bjpenn.com).

The number of football players who have suffered traumatic brain injury is not known, but the recent court proceedings related to the settlement estimated that it could be as high as 10% of all players (foxnews.com, 2014). While that number is high, it is statistically lower than the rate of injury in UFC and MMA fighting. Supporters of MMA and the UFC claim that UFC fighting is safer than football and other sports because athletes in those other sports are subjected to more blows to the head over the course of their careers, while UFC fighters typically engage in fewer bouts and must abstain from competing after an injury until they are cleared by a doctor. In other words, the UFC insists that it is safer because fighters fight less than football players play.

This is, simply put, an inaccurate comparison. The only way to really compare the safety of each sport is to compare a similar number of competitions. For example, the American Journal of Sports Medicine claims that MMA fighters will receive brain injuries in 30% of fights. That works out to three brain injuries for every ten fights. If every football player received traumatic brain injuries in three out of every ten games, the career of every NFL player would be extremely short, and every single player who played in more than ten games would have suffered three (or more) brain injuries. The UFC has made it a priority to deal with the issue of brain injury by limiting the number of fights a fighter can enter in a given time, and issuing automatic suspension for every injury (Guillen, 2014)). Despite such efforts, however, UFC remains an incredibly dangerous sport. There may be more injuries in football, but there are also more players playing more games. On a match-for-match basis, MMA is far more dangerous than football. A compilation of UFC statistics from 2009 showed that 38% of all UFC fights ended in a TKO (cbssports.com, 2009).  If 38% of all football games ended up with one entire team knocked out, it would have been banned long ago.

Works Cited

CBSSports.com,. ‘User Blogs’. N. p., 2009. Web. 5 May. 2014.

Fox News,. ‘Judge Says $765M NFL Settlement Could Shortchange Brain-Injured Players’. N. p., 2014. Web. 5 May. 2014.

Guillen, Adam. ‘Dana White On Concussions: UFC Is Safer Than NFL’. MMAmania.com. N. p., 2014. Web. 5 May. 2014.

Penn, BJ. ‘Researchers Say Brain Trauma Occurs In 30% Of MMA Fights’. UFC News | MMA News – BJPENN.COM. N. p., 2014. Web. 5 May. 2014.