Do you think we'll see a death in an octagon someday?

[MovinOn]

Or is professional MMA regulated carefully enough to prevent it?

Three boxers have died over the past couple of months. Has MMA just been "lucky" so far?


View: https://twitter.com/jee0026/status/975003395202453506


David Whittom, of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, passed away on March 16th after a 10 month long coma (per CBC News). Whittom, was placed in a medically induced coma in May 2017 after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a boxing match at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He was 39 years old.

Whittom, who was born in New Brunswick, faced Gary Kopas of Saskatoon in his final match. That fight was being contested for the Canadian Professional Boxing Council’s cruiserweight championship.

Boxer David Whittom dies after 10 month coma following TKO loss in Canada

Scott Westgarth dead: British boxer dies after winning fight against Dec Spelman, aged 31

British boxer Scott Westgarth dies after winning fight, aged 31

Yeison Cohen passes away after March 2nd stoppage loss

Yeison Cohen passes away after March 2nd stoppage loss

 

[jason73]

It is inevitable if mma goes on forever sooner or later it will happen unfortunately

 

[Sheepdog]

I'm slightly confused by your terminology. By 'Octatgon' I presume you mean specifically the UFC, but then you talk about 'professional MMA' and 'MMA' being lucky - you know there has been deaths in MMA, right? MMA is slightly 'safer' than boxing as the grappling aspects ensure that you aren't just always taking punches in training and in the ring, but the deaths also reflect the sheer volume of boxing matches that happen across the world as opposed to MMA.

There will eventually be a death in the UFC (unless it collapses soon) unfortunately. It's only luck that it hasn't happened yet. Bigfoot Silva got KOd 7 times in his 11 UFC fights - 8 of 12 if you include his final Strikeforce fight vs Cormier under the Zuffa era - and two of the other 4 fights were his draw vs Hunt and his comeback win over Overeem, both fights in which he took serious damage from two ATG KO artists. So this was a UFC fighter taking concussions in 10 fights out of 12 vs HWs - do we really think it's 'that' well regulated?

 

[MMAHAWK]

Yes
If extreme weight cutting continues, eventually someone will die as a result of competing. As far as actually passing away in the cage, I think it will happen when someone suffers a severe broken neck.

 

[silentsinger]

Yes
If extreme weight cutting continues, eventually someone will die as a result of competing. As far as actually passing away in the cage, I think it will happen when someone suffers a severe broken neck.

Yes, weight cutting being so dangerous was my first thought. Uriah Hall was nearly a goner by the sounds of it.

 

[Coast]

I think it will happen someday. People point to the fact that boxers get hit in the head or more often and get a chance to get up after being KO'd, however boxers don't receive strikes to the head during the period they are unconscious.

 

[Dick Niaz]

I said “no” because I believe regulations will become more and more stringent before and during fights. Close calls will happen and athletic commissions will inevitably enact new rules to protect fighters.

 

[Wild]

Yes
If extreme weight cutting continues, eventually someone will die as a result of competing. As far as actually passing away in the cage, I think it will happen when someone suffers a severe broken neck.

This. Weight cutting will cause it.

 

[Judobill]

Yes
If extreme weight cutting continues, eventually someone will die as a result of competing. As far as actually passing away in the cage, I think it will happen when someone suffers a severe broken neck.

Agree about the broken neck. Something like the Randleman slam on Fedor could end up really bad.

 

[Rambo John J]

I think it will happen someday. People point to the fact that boxers get hit in the head or more often and get a chance to get up after being KO'd, however boxers don't receive strikes to the head during the period they are unconscious.

boxers hit harder, at least with hands...a lot harder

 

[Coast]

boxers hit harder, at least with hands...a lot harder

They hit harder in general, and get hit more often. But they still are spared further strikes when they are down for the count, I suspect if a boxer was allowed to finish with GnP boxing fatalities would be way high.

 

[Rambo John J]

They hit harder in general, and get hit more often. But they still are spared further strikes when they are down for the count, I suspect if a boxer was aloud to finish with GnP boxing fatalities would be way high.

Ya I wasn't disagreeing with you...just stating what Pro MMArtists have said about sparring a pro boxer

 

[Coast]

Ya I wasn't disagreeing with you...just stating what Pro MMArtists have said about sparring a pro boxer

Yeah, just the training they do will increase power overall.

KO power, is weird thing though isn't it? Some people just don't have it no matter how hard they train, yet others seem to have it naturally.

 

[BeardOfKnowledge]

Do you mean geographically in the octagon or a result of injuries sustained during a fight? Because MMA fighters have already died as a result of injuries sustained during fights.

 

[MovinOn]

Do you mean geographically in the octagon or a result of injuries sustained during a fight? Because MMA fighters have already died as a result of injuries sustained during fights.

I was referring to literally in the cage, and primarily in the big name organizations, being the UFC and Bellator. But the weight cutting issue is relevant and easily could result in the first death of a fighter on either company's roster.

 

[BeardOfKnowledge]

I was referring to literally in the cage, and primarily in the big name organizations, being the UFC and Bellator. But the weight cutting issue is relevant and easily could result in the first death of a fighter on either company's roster.

The reason I asked was because the examples you posted didn't die in the ring.

 

[MovinOn]

The reason I asked was because the examples you posted didn't die in the ring.

Or outside the octagon as a result of injuries sustained during a fight. The MMA orgs will face the music no matter which way it plays out with any of the scenarios mentioned.

 

[aghof]

even if the UFC can avoid this for a while, it won't be long before a small bug crawling across a stop sign will be crushed or even dry out due to heat exposure

 

[member 603]

Between weight cuts, shitty refs, and corrupt AC's...... It's not do I think, but, when will it happen

 

[Filthy]

extreme weight cutting, banning IV rehydration...that's a recipe for serious brain injury.

I can see a WW going in to a coma and never coming out after a 5 rd slugfest.

 

[Megatron Robinson]

 

[FrankieNYC]

I pray NO
Dada5000 was scary though
I thought that was a heart attack

 

[silentsinger]

Man when I think of Anderson v Maia in Abu Dhabi, if the IV loss with weight cutting existed then like it does now...scary thought.

 

[benjo0101]

Anyone who has ever attended a BJJ class could get out of that choke

 

[SongExotic2]

If Dan Hardy threw that left 0.2 seconds earlier he would have killed Carlo Condit