PRIDE and UFC fighter suffers from brain damage raises questions about Safety.

A recent feature article on Gary Goodridge in a Canadian newspaper, which revealed that the former PRIDE and UFC fighter is suffering from brain damage, has prompted some discussion about the dangers of MMA. And it’s not about the risk of a one off strike that kills or maims, it’s a more subtle damage: CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, the gradual process of brain damage that can affect an athlete when their days in the ring or on the field are over, that can’t be detected on a regular brain scan. It’s a problem that has drawn media interest in the US (in relation to American football) and in Australia (in relation to the NRL). Of course, it should be an area of concern in combat sports too.

The long term effects of the sport on Gary Goodridge aren’t a perfect indicator of the risks of participating in mixed martial arts or what’s to come for most fighters; Goodridge has taken on fights in kickboxing and MMA recklessly for years, long since a wise fighter would have retired. Fighters who’ve been in the game for as long like Couture and Nogueira (who’s taken far more punishment in his fights than most) still have their minds in tact.

The two reputable studies conducted on MMA support the idea that MMA is safe, relative to other combat sports. One study done by a leading American University suggested the risk of brain injury is lower in MMA than in boxing owing to the lower rate of knockouts. Similarly, a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that 28% of MMA matches ended in a blow to the head, compared to 40% for boxing. It’s worth noting, however, that it doesn’t take a knockout to cause brain damage. That’s been a key point of the recent media and medical discussion about the risk of contact sports: even “subconcussive” blows, that is, blows that might daze, but not KO, can be harmful for certain athletes over time. In favour of MMA is the fact that, under the UFC’s regulation, a concussed fighter must wait at least 45 days before fighting again, giving the fighter a chance to recover. No such precaution exists in the NRL, where high-impact concussions are common.

So, while MMA isn’t the only sport to blame and other sports may have the same problem to a greater extent, what is known about how long term brain damage works suggests that, for some fighters, there are likely to be some risks from long term competition. There’s still a lot that’s uncertain about the workings of this kind of brain damage in general, and in MMA specifically. So more research into the sport’s potential effects on the brain, like the UFC’s recent commitment to a three-year-study monitoring trauma to fighter’s brains, is a good thing and can only help in establishing how to keep the sport as safe as possible, and ensuring stories like Gary Goodridge’s are the exception to the rule.

An update: George Sotiropoulos will now be fighting Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 132, after original opponent Evan Dunham dropped out due to an undisclosed injury.