Concussions and the Possible Future of Mixed Martial Artists

woomikee — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:59:27 -0000

Promoted to the front page from the FanPosts by Luke Thomas.

Malcolm Gladwell's latest piece for the New Yorker, while focusing primarily on Football and Boxing (with some dogfighting as well; ignore that part for our purposes) could be a frightening look at post-fight life for mixed martial artists.

Thanks to a study at the University of North Carolina, new data is coming out regarding head trauma and its long-term effects. Much of the focus on head injuries revolves around concussions, but doctors may not be looking in the right place:

But a football player’s real issue isn’t simply with repetitive concussive trauma. It is, as the concussion specialist Robert Cantu argues, with repetitive subconcussive trauma. It’s not just the handful of big hits that matter. It’s lots of little hits, too.

The player in mind with this study had sustained in a previous practice alone 31 hits that registered as sub-concussive, but still over 60g's of force. For perspective:

Guskiewicz explained, if you drove your car into a wall at twenty-five miles per hour and you weren’t wearing your seat belt, the force of your head hitting the windshield would be around 100 gs

Why does this matter in MMA? Take Chris Lytle: His only TKO losses were due to cuts and has never been finished by strikes in the traditional sense. His fan-pleasing style has resulted in Fight of the Night bonuses on four occasions, thanks to his willingness to "stand and bang" with anyone and everyone, despite possessing considerable skill on the ground. While good for his pocketbook, Lytle could be looking at serious trouble down the road.

One of the brains scanned by Ann McKee, a neurologist at a VA Hospital in Massachusetts, showed the damage and decay of an old man suffering dementia. The catch? It belonged to an 18 year old high-school football player.

While the article focuses on football and a little on boxing, it's not hard to see the implications as they pertain to MMA. As fighters go out there to please the crowd, giving as good as they get and taking home their bonus checks, I hope they're banking that money for their post-fight lives. I credit the sport and the athletic commissions for issuing medical suspensions as liberally as they do and requiring doctor's clearances to return to action, but I can't help but feel like this may not be enough.

SImmon's Podcast

woomikee — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:11:42 -0000

SImmon's Podcast

Don't know what the general temperature on Bill Simmons is around these parts, but I'm a fan, and he's officially come over to the dark side, at the 43 minute mark of his last podcast.

Love him or hate him, his work reaches a lot of eyes and ears.

Tim Sylvia vs Jason Riley and Houston Alexander vs Sherman Pendergarst at Adrenaline 4

woomikee — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:45:30 -0000

Edit: No, they're not fighting each other. I agree that would probably be more entertaining.

From Brian Knapp at Sherdog

Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia will return to competitive duty when he meets Jason Riley in the Adrenaline MMA 4 main event on Sept. 18 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

In the Adrenaline MMA 4 co-main event, one-time UFC juggernaut Houston Alexander will lock horns with journeyman Sherman Pendergarst.

Alexander has not survived the first round in any of his past three fights, including an eight-second knockout loss to James Irvin.

Glad to see then both getting back in action

SB Nation User Blog: woomikee

Concussions and the Possible Future of Mixed Martial Artists

SImmon's Podcast

SImmon's Podcast

Tim Sylvia vs Jason Riley and Houston Alexander vs Sherman Pendergarst at Adrenaline 4