Is MMA now safer than football?

Well, well, well, it seems that football is not as safe as the masses once thought. A recent article in The New York Times reported on a study that was done at the University of Michigan commissioned by the NFL that shows “Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.” This study is huge for the football community, especially for the up and coming young players who have dreams of playing pro. If there is even a hint that football is unable to protect it’s players from long term damage it will hurt football’s image for good. So given this recent study can we now potentially make the argument that MMA is safer than football?

Since we don’t have any studies about the neurological damage that could be stemming from a career in MMA I can’t directly make the claim that MMA is safer than football. However, given the results of this study coupled with analytical facts we can make a base argument. On face one would think that football would be safer because they are padded up with helmets and chest protectors while fighters have nothing to protect them except gloves on their hands. However, physical protection is only part of the story. There are several key differences between what happens in an MMA match and what goes on in a NFL football game.

The first and most obvious thing is the time of play. Fighters go for at max 25 mins of fighting if it’s a title match, but more often than not the match itself only lasts 15 mins. That’s only one quarter of a standard regulation NFL game. Throw in the timeouts, commercials, and all the hooplah and football players are spending much more time on the field then fighters are spending in the ring. The second biggest thing is the contact being made. In an MMA fight, contact is not constant. There are lull periods where fighters are moving around feeling out their opponents, or they are on the ground attempting to find a better position and unless one fighter is doing ground and pound not much damage is being done. In a football game however, it’s all ABOUT contact being constant. Except for the small amount of time between huddles and hikes someone somewhere is getting hit. It’s the difference between taking a hard punch every 2 to 3 mins v.s taking a solid punch consistently every 30 seconds.

Even with those two major things we are only scratching the surface. There is also the fact that fighters only fight once every 3-4 months on average. Football players have to play once a week for 16 weeks in a row, that doesn’t even include the playoffs. We haven’t even discussed the refs in MMA and their excellent ability to end a fight when they clearly see a fighter in danger. They are very good at protecting any more extensive damage that may happen to a fighter beyond what is needed to show a win. Also, a knockout is not the only way to win in MMA. With the ability to win by submissions some matches are won without landing a strike anywhere. Granted a submission could do muscle damage, but muscles can heal a lot better than the brain. You could also make the argument that football players hit much harder. By being able to get running starts football players are hitting with much more energy and momentum than fighters are.

There is no doubt that MMA has risks. I would be an idiot to say it doesn’t. However I would hope that this new study coming out on the NFL will help change some minds about the sort of “barbaric” structure of MMA that some claim. It will show that even highly respected sports like the NFL have their issues as well, possibly even more issues than MMA. In my opinion Dana White has done a great job creating a system that provides both a safe environment for fighters and a great form of entertainment for the fans, and such a job should be praised.

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