Oscar Diaz in Critical Condition

by Brent Brookhouse on Jul 17, 2008 11:10 AM EDT in MMA News

Combat sports are combat sports so I just wanted to give this a brief mention on our site.

Oscar Diaz collapsed before the start of the 11th round on ESPN's Wednesday Night Fights last night. I'll let Scott from BadLeftHook explain what it was like to watch things unfold:

I can't get over watching the final moments of the fight, as the referee warned Diaz's corner that they could be putting their man at risk, followed by that pained shriek that came from Diaz before his legs betrayed him as he attempted to continue on.

Diaz has had emergency surgery to relieve some of the swelling from the bleeding on his brain and remains in critical condition and as of the last updates I have seen is still on a ventilator.

I am on vacation and as such this is one of the first times in a while that I've had a chance to sit down and enjoy watching some live boxing in a while. The evening got off to a bad enough start after a poor end to Fox Sport's broadcast of James Toney vs. Hasim Rahman II (cut stoppage following a headbutt...ruled a TKO because Rahman complained of blood in his eye) and as I switched over to the better fight of the evening but things were getting increasingly brutal prior to the very scary end as Diaz collapsed. I will say however that Diaz's corner disgusted me by trying to prop up a very visibly hurt fighter who was having trouble answering questions from the ref before the start of the round. That kind of display is just shameful.

However, now is not a time to talk about the relative dangers and merits of one sport versus another. Now is the time to let your thoughts and prayers be with a combat sports competitor.

Get well Oscar...

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Comments

Jesus. Best of luck to Diaz.

by Luke Thomas on Jul 17, 2008 11:17 AM EDT reply actions

Saw this last night too. Disgusting behavior from his corner but all we can do now is hope for Oscar’s recovery.

by Chris Nelson on Jul 17, 2008 11:18 AM EDT reply actions

Damnit, I was watching this fight last night and I changed the channel after the first round. I hope Diaz is alright. This should serve as a lesson to people on why mma is actually less dangerous than boxing when it comes to brain damage. These guys fought for 30 minutes and took many more blows to the head than an mma fighter would in a 3 round fight. Sure, the gloves have more padding, but the accumulation of damage is what matters in boxing.

by Fatal Error on Jul 17, 2008 11:20 AM EDT reply actions

I really don't think this is time for talking points on MMA

by Luke Thomas on Jul 17, 2008 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Sorry Luke, it just annoys me that our sport can’t get fair treatment in many ways and things like this happen in other sports relatively often. I hope Oscar recovers and I didn’t mean to take anything away from his situation. My prayers are with he and his family, and I hope one day we can all look back on this as just a close call.

by Fatal Error on Jul 17, 2008 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Dude has to have a big heart. I can’t imagine feeling that bad and choosing to continue. This is coming from a guy that doesn’t like to get punched once, even moreso, for half an hour.

by Heenan on Jul 17, 2008 11:35 AM EDT reply actions

Boxing needs to use gloves the size of balloons.

by MrNiceGuyMMA on Jul 17, 2008 12:01 PM EDT reply actions

am i a horrible person for asking if anyone has video of the fight?? Im not looking for a snuff film, mainly just want to see his condition in the corner and the exchange between the referee and his peoples

by dt3 on Jul 17, 2008 12:17 PM EDT reply actions