Combat Sports and Head Trauma: Will MMA Fighters Share the Fates of Pro Wrestlers?
by Kid Nate on Dec 9, 2009 4:17 PM EST
in MMA News
Email
Print
A sobering report from ESPN today about two pro wrestlers, Chris Benoit and Andrew "Test" Martin, and the brain trauma they suffered during their careers:
The deaths of Benoit and Martin, who wrestled for World Wrestling Entertainment from 1998 to 2004 and 2006 to '07, were widely ascribed to the culture of professional wrestling, steroids use and personal problems, but the doctor who examined both of their brains said they are bound by a more fundamental trait.
Dr. Bennet Omalu, co-director of the Brain Injury Research Institute, told ESPN.com on Monday that Martin suffered from brain damage -- a syndrome he has defined as chronic traumatic encephalopathy -- stemming from repeated blows to the head. Martin is the second former wrestler to be linked to CTE; Benoit was the first.
Omalu said he conducted an analysis of Martin's brain tissues back in April and discovered excessive amounts of tau proteins similar to those he found in Benoit -- and now a rising total of 20 dead athletes. This same chemical imbalance is found in a number of former boxers and known as dementia pugilistica or punch-drunk syndrome. The brains of Benoit and Martin, Omalu said, resembled those of Alzheimer's patients more than twice their age.
Cage Side Seats expands on this with a grisly catalog of head injuries in Pro Wrestling, including a couple of MMA veterans:
Brian Johnston: As an MMA fighter turned pro wrestler for New Japan Pro Wrestling, he suffered at many concussions, eventually leading to a stroke. He made an impressive recovery, though not as miraculous as Bret Hart's.
Yoshihiro Takayama: The top wrestling star in Japan as well as an MMA fighter known for taking extreme punishment to the head in both venues (which paralyzed part of his face and changed his appearance) he suffered a cerebral thrombosis (rare form of a stroke) in a hard hitting match with Kensuke Sasaki in 2004 and had to take 2 years off. He's been wrestling regularly since his return but isn't the same.
This comes on the heels of major research finding that NFL players are paying a ghastly toll for the risks they take on the field. Zak Woods has compared and contrasted the risks of playing in the NFL with MMA:
The fact of the matter is that professional football players collide with the force of small adult killer whales on every play. The body and brain absorbs damages that no normal human being is suppose to endure and the results are quickly becoming academic. While the NFL and football proponents try to cast these scientific findings as "anomalous" their own commissioned study found that football dramatically increases the risk of dementia.
WKR has long harped on the fact that MMA detractors, who usually cite MMA as being too "violent" as a reason for their opposition, yet they choose to ignore the inherent dangers of football, which equally fits their criteria of a sport being "too violent."
Now mixed martial arts is still a young sport and due to its youth there is virtually no long-term medical data about the long term effects of being a fighter. There still is medical research, like this American study, which had favorable findings towards the risk of brain injuries in MMA.
The overall injury rate in MMA competitions is now similar to other combat sports, including boxing. Knockout rates are lower in MMA competitions than in boxing. This suggests a reduced risk of TBI (traumatic brain injuries) in MMA competitions when compared to other events involving striking.
But our own Luke Thomas has warned that we shouldn't be so sanguine about the risks of the sport:
I am still quite confident we need to see the first two generations of MMA fighters grow their careers and pick up life afterwards to see what happens next. The MMA safety record is noteworthy, but there is no circumventating the enormous tax on the body. Let us hope that what we find out when the fighters retire is that their quality of life does not precipitously decline and their physical capabilities aren't compromised. But candidly, I fear some of us are clinging to wishful thinking about the long term repercussions of a career in MMA because the current body of evidence on MMA's safety record comes from too narrow a data pool to keep up with the changes in the sport. There is still much we don't know and one's concerns about how much this takes out of the body is not idle.
And I haven't even talked about boxing...the source of terms like punch drunk and stumblebum and the sport that likely caused Muhammad Ali's Parkinson's and so many similarly sad stories.
A great deal of MMA grew out of pro-wrestling: the pay per view business model, the way fights are hyped, even some of the techniques used in the matches. But I sincerely hope we can avoid the string of tragedies that have engulfed Pro Wrestling in recent years.
62 comments
|
2 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
The tragic list of pro wrestlers who have passed and the alarming % of deaths by suicide or O.D. is staggering. Fortunately MMA’s first generation superstars and fighters have not seen so many eary deaths. With the way fights are stopped in mma ( not counting Saku or Japanese fighters vs. non-Japanese fighters), it is very unlike boxing were a fighter is able to get up continuously and take shots to the head over the course of many rounds.
by bigc4277 on Dec 9, 2009 4:28 PM EST via mobile reply actions
The thing with pro wrestling though is the pro wrestling lifestyle entails that they are constantly travelling, flying, and taking bumps almost on a daily basis. Add in the fact that these professional wrestlers are travelling with other wrestlers to these places far from their homes, and you got the potential for these wrestler to do whatever they want (whether it is drugs, alcohol, painkillers, etc) with no one to really keep them in check. I would assume that with most fighters fighting the maximum of three or four times a year (there are exceptions), and the way that fights are stopped that MMA is much safer than professional wrestling.
by chrisbboy82 on Dec 10, 2009 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
I’ve gotta say I’ve been a little wary of all of these former NFL’ers and pro football players who are making the transition over to mma. For the simple reason that a lot of people believe by the time they’ve hit the NFL they’ve suffered a multitude of concussions, both diagnosed and undiagnosed and are now entering a sport who’s goal is, in part, to remove your opponent from their senses. For instance, someone like Marcus Jones played a 7 year career in the NFL and has now been KO’d several times in his mma career…I don’t see his ability to take a strike to the head/jaw improving and at some point I’m going to be really concerned about his long term health.
Already we’re looking at Chuck’s chin weakening, Randy’s reaction time increasing, Big Nog got TKO’d, and many of the old guard slowing down. It may be too early to know exactly what’s going on, but there’s more than enough evidence to know that something is happening.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Dec 9, 2009 4:34 PM EST reply actions
some of that is just normal aging don't you think?
at least Randy’s reaction time.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
Probably so, though I doubt having Lesnar dribble your head like a basketball helps any. It really is too soon to separate normal aging from the effects of combat sports, but I’m perversely curious on how this research will unfold.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Dec 9, 2009 5:01 PM EST up reply actions
Imho, the fighters who are used to taking lots of punishment to get in a sub etc… they’ll be the first to show the effects. All those beatdowns Big Nog (just for an example) has taken over the years can’t not take a toll on his brain. I love the man, but that’s what I fear will happen.
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Dec 10, 2009 2:41 AM EST up reply actions
Ali and Parkinson are not necessarily related at all. People see an athlete, of any sport, who has a serious illness and automatically assume it must be because of the sport. Ali is the only professional boxer that I know of to have been diagnosed with Parkinsons while 3% of the American population is affected by Parkinsons. I am not saying it definitely isn’t related but with only 1 pro boxer having the disease I would be hesitant to point at boxing as the cause when there are several known causes.
Just to add, I am not saying that there are not real injuries and illness that result from head trauma. I think there is a substantial amount of evidence that points to several illness’s that are linked just pointing out that everybody wants to point to Ali/Parkinsons and the evidence just isnt there.
Ali’s last fight was in the Bahamas for a reason; No one in the US would sanction him, and there were persistent rumors of brain damage. Watching clips of him from that period, there’s little doubt about it either in spite of ardent denial. The promoters of his last fight even released medical documentation to try and prove his health.
by VirtualBalboa on Dec 9, 2009 4:54 PM EST up reply actions
I didnt say he doesnt have Parkinsons. I said it isnt necessarily caused by boxing. Yes his last fight there were symptoms already but again that doesnt mean boxing caused those symptoms.
the brutal beatings that Ali took toward the end part of his career
all of which happened after he reached age 35 — the point at which the brain dramatically loses the ability to recover from trauma — make it hard to believe anything else caused his problems.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
So something else must have caused Michael J Fox to have Parkinsons as well? As I stated before we would need to see a higher percentage of boxers diagnosed with Parkinsons before it would be conclusive. Now Dementia Pugilistica is similar and is absolutely associated with head trauma, many professional boxers have been diagnosed with this in the past.
from wikipedia
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Syndrome in 1984, a disease for which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible.
And here’s a review of a study linking Parkinson’s to boxing.
thanks for spurring me on to research that.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
Not trying to be a jerk but I am VERY familiar with Parkinsons as my Grandfather passed away because of complications due to Parksinsons. So just shedding light, the article you linked to which doesnt actually bring up the article BTW is from 89. There have been multiple studies including as recent as Nov of 09 that point to gene mutation and genetics not head trauma. Again if anybody can point me to another pro boxer with Parkinsons then we might be on to something.
again you got me
but the point I’m trying to make is this — high impact sports involve head trauma. Head trauma causes all kinds of horrible long term health problems, MMA is a high impact sports and we need to be wary of letting fighters suffer excessive head trauma.
The parkinson’s is a very minor part of it.
It’s obvious to me that Ali’s problems are related to the MASSIVE amounts of head trauma he suffered in the ring and like I said, there are medical doctor’s who have examined Ali who don’t believe he has Parkinson’s at all.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
I agree, I just hate seeing people point to Parkinsons and head trauma when they arent necessarily related and because of Ali’s stature he is continually used as an example. If Ali does have Parkinsons then there is a much higher chance that something else caused the Parkinsons. Like I said I have lost a grandparent and just want people to be educated about Parkinsons. Head trauma is certainly serious and I agree that the MMA community needs to be aware.
there's widespread skepticism that what Ali is suffering from is actually Parkinson's
some doctors have said he’s got a classic case of dementia pugilistica — punchdrunk.
Pat Patterson has said he moved Ali to being an outside of the ring ref at the 1st Wrestlemania because Ali was too far gone to work as a guest ref that was in ’85, 4 years after his last fight.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
Agreed, so why say that boxing caused Ali’s Parkinsons? It very well may be Dementia Pugilistica which is associated with Boxing.
but there is not really any evidence to say that Parkinsons is caused by boxing. There is not an abnormally high percentage of boxers coming forward with Parkinsons as you would expect if it were caused by Parkinsons.
I’m afraid we’re going to see former fighters going through the same ordeal as long-retired NFL players, who sacrificed their bodies and got next to no pension or aid from the league that profited from them. Clearly, they’re not the same salary or employment structure, and I recognize that, but the general cause-and-effect are the same.
different type of impact. There is much more compression on the brain from two 230 odd lb men slamming into one another then a Knock out punch. They probably land with close to the same force but going head first into a 230 lb mans chest running at those speeds will cause alot more brain compression, also this has a chance of happening 12 or more times depending on how many downs the other teams reaches.
I think this is by far the biggest elephant in the room for MMA.
Kimbo wants to take your caterpiller and do bad things to it.
by Mr.Kib on Dec 9, 2009 4:45 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Even though it could be a problem in MMA, I really don’t think MMA fighters take as much damage as someone who is a pro wrestler or an NFL player, where they keep taking hit after hit for years.
Based on what? Are you taking into account their sparring sessions too? On a related note, BE had a writeup a couple years ago on a boxer who had brain damage he could barely talk. I think his name was Melvin something. A link would be appropriate, but I can’t seem to find it. Anyone else?
I am blinded by a sea of green.
Accosiated risks
Construction workers are at a high risk for lung diseases and spinal issues. Nurses have an extremely high rate of depression and anxiety often leading to burnouts. Anaesthesiologits are more and more regularily becoming drug addicts. Celebrities are put in an emotional pressure cooker, we’ve seen time and time again how that can impact their mental condition.
The fact is that many jobs have associated inherent risks and as long as as many realistic precautions are taken, we can’t feel sad when an ex-fighter appears effected by his career. No more that we can feel bad for a welder with lung problems or an ironworker with a bad back.
The only way to help these fighters without taking away their chance at livelyhood is to allow them to form a union that gives them medical plan protection that doesnt end with their career and a voice to bring up concerns.
by Beyondadrenalin on Dec 9, 2009 5:13 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I don’t see the fighters being able to form any kind of union, anytime soon, that could withstand Zuffa’s influence without breaking. However, a collective medical plan organized by fighters, that they would pay into seems more realistic. That in turn could be a stepping stone towards a fighters assosciation of some sort. Either that, or only fight in Canada or the UK where there is socialized health care.
I am blinded by a sea of green.
I agree to a certain point with this.
In every profession there is inherent risks that must be accepted. However that doesn’t mean you sit back and ignore those risks and accept them as status quo. I’m all for making sure they have a good medical plan but we also should be trying to reduce the risk in each of those professions you listed as another means of trying to help them.
We shouldn’t accept the inherent risks of concussions in football, boxing, professional wrestling, and MMA as status quo we should be trying to reduce the risk in each of those professions. To me that is what this is about. Talking about it and acknowledging the risks and raising awareness all leads to find ways to reduce the risks.
Just BE.
It seems fairly naive to hope that taking repeated blows to the head isn’t going to have some kind of long term ill-effect on most fighters. Of course this is going to vary between fighters, but I think that one needs to accept this risk when they decide to do it as a profession, either that or figure out how to defend like Anderson Silva.
There are obviously long terms risks related to mixed martial arts competition, but I don’t believe that the heavy risk of head trauma seen in pro wrestling, football, and boxing is the same in MMA.
Pro wrestlers, on average, perform around 200 times a year, meaning their heads are bouncing around the ring on an almost nightly basis. Most guys enter the profession in their early 20s and don’t hang up the boots until their mid 40s. Football players generally start playing at a very young age and continue also into their 40s. Concussions and neck injuries are a regular part of the game, especially for those in certain positions, like linebackers, due to the way helmets constantly smash or a guys gets tossed onto his head. Many boxers start at a young age and continue into their 40s. Fights consist of 16oz gloves backed by powerful fists constantly smashing heads, and fighters are consistently dropped and then stand up only to continue fighting.
There is a pattern in those three sports: constant head trauma, over and over again, during the course of a prolonged career. I think MMA is a bit different.
MMA fighters usually only fight 3-5 times a year. Fights involve grappling and clinch fighting, in addition to striking, which makes the head trauma far less apparent than in boxing. Practice involves a lot of technical drills. While there are occasions where fighters might suffer painful blows to the head during sparring, it’s far less than the punishment professional wrestlers take on a nightly basis. Once a fighter is dropped from a strike, the referee will stop the bout as the fighter can no longer defend himself. This is different from boxing, which allows dropped fighters to stand back up and continue after receiving damage to the head. Football requires head-to-head and head-to-ground collisions on a regular basis as the point of the game is to tackle your opponent and put him down. Similar things can be said for MMA, but I would say the frequency of occurrence is less than in the NFL.
Point is, the fact that MMA is a dangerous sport is no secret. But is it as dangerous in terms of head injuries as pro wrestling, boxing, and football? Only time will tell, but based on the differences mentioned, I would guess that the answer is no.
by dropkick101 on Dec 9, 2009 5:37 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I agree with this. The head trauma for MMA is much lower than compared to the other sports mentioned for your reasons.
That said, this seems like something that someone should be looking in to. It would be nice if the UFC or SF would start studying the head injuries via regularly scheduled cat scans and MRI’s to be studied long term to see how the brain of a mixed martial arts fighter changes over time, and if there’s anything that can or should be done to stop or prevent long term brain damage.
I would hope that Zuffa would move into that are after they finish getting the sport sanctioned and regulated nationwide, but while they are busy doing that, this seems like something that WAMMA or MMAFA or some other organization that doesn’t promote fights, but likes to talk about how they care about the fighters can do something that can actually make a difference.
by Phildo on Dec 9, 2009 5:53 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I see your point about pro wrestling, and I gotta say; I disagree. The difference is that we can’t watch and follow how often someone is taken down in sparring, or how many punches they take with headgear on, or if they even wear it. Sparring is as regular or more so than professional wrestling matches and takes place on surfaces that aren’t springloaded. In between sparring sessions, fighters, well, fight. As nasty as getting clocked with something bought that afternoon at Home Depot is, its not done with bad intentions. Head kicks and right crosses are.
I think the difference is that we aren’t seeing a lot of guys in their mid-40s yet in MMA who have been consistently active. Sure, you have Randy Couture, but really, the guy came in really late and has been fighting more now in the last 6-7 years than he did when he was in his 30s. You also have Kevin Randleman, Mark Kerr, Don Frye, and Ken Shamrock as comparison points. You might be able to pawn off some of those guy’s problems on wrassling, but you can’t for all of them.
by VirtualBalboa on Dec 9, 2009 6:50 PM EST up reply actions
The bumps a wrestler takes every night all add up. Benoit is a bad example for head injury due to the fact one of his trademark moves was a flying head butt off to top rope, cage, hell in the cell, or any other place he can climb too. In mma i am interested in how many careers that maybe cut short due to eye pokes. There have been a few bad ones in the past few years and no doubt there will be more to come.
I’m sure repeatedly getting hit in the head takes it’s toll, especially when you are up there in years.
But I think MMA is in the position to not put it’s athletes through as much trauma as boxing, pro wrestling and football simply because of the fewer number of fights they have to endure. Though I guess that would depend on how rough they train too.
"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." - Jack Dempsey
"collide with the force of small adult killer whales "
Best unit of force ever. I’m using that on my next paper.
Note on Benoit
If I recall, he was notorious for making chairshots “look” more realistic… by not protecting himself and actually taking them. The relatively recent (in America) phenomenon of “working stiff” (read: by actually making contact) may also be a recent factor in pro wrestling there, if you’re looking to make comparisons to MMA.
Some guys are good at making it look realistic, some aren’t good at this and end up “showing light”… and some aren’t good at this and actually make full contact.
Also
one of his signature moves was flying headbutt off the top rope. I can probably say that of the matches i remeber seeing, more than half he didn’t cover up when doing it (was a big Benoit fan back in the day)
Kuwabara Kuwabara
by J. B. Maddox on Dec 9, 2009 10:30 PM EST up reply actions
The problem
If the story called for Benoit to take damage to the head… he’d go right ahead and take damage to the head. (This may or may not have anything to do with the “working stiff” tradition in Japan, considering that he was influenced by his upbringing in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the “pure sport” days of the business there, including during MMA’s infancy both here and in Japan.)
there is a big different between MMA and wrestling, and even boxing
Wrestling is non-stop, 300 days a year where these guys are pounding their bodies like nobody should. Its also not regulated by state athletic commissions because its not “real.”
MMA is actually, IMO, the safest of all these sports. The longest fight is relatively short, for the most part there aren’t horrific injuries, and its much more controlled.
The reason wrestlers get addicted to hard drugs and steroids isn’t just to have a stacked body, but its to rehabilitate their bodies without rehabilitating. Its really bad. MMA, from what I can tell, is really safe for all the bad press it sometimes gets. Drugs are strictly regulated, the fighters are properly trained and have respect for what they do, the fights are short, and most fighters take off enough time to properly recouperate.
As the years go by, there WILL be “Randy The Rams” in MMA, too. Combination of trauma, injuries and not having anything else than fighting to turn to.
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Dec 10, 2009 2:46 AM EST reply actions
MMA doesnt really leave the old dogs out to dry quite like wrestling. Many of the issues that stem from wrestling is due to the fact the wrestlers have given every thing to the job and the hectic work sechule causes many of them to be left with no kids or unhappy ones and a wife that leaves them because they are never home. Guys like the undertaker who take months off at a time are the guys who will be alright after wards.
MMA fighters open gyms and have time between fights to have a family and create a stable home life many wrestlers do not have that which leads them to the life they live after (jake the snake roberts being a great example)
For anyone who hasn’t read it already, I strongly recommend Ring Of Hell by Matthew Randazzo. It paints a terrifying picture of all the worst aspects of wrestling (the bullying, the breaking in of new talent, the pressure to perform and take headshots) and although Benoit’s experience is absolutely worst-case scenario I think aspects of it are shared by every pro-wrestler.
It’s also worth reading Malcolm Gladwell’s piece on head trauma in pro football:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell
And speaking as a guy who’s trained with a couple of pro fight teams, I’d point out that that only did what you’d call ‘hard’ sparring once or AT MOST twice a week, and even in them it was a rarity for anyone to be clocked hard enough for it to register as even a minor concussion. Being taken down repeatedly isn’t going to hurt you – neither is jits.
A very interesting and often overlooked topic. MMA may be on the safer side than pro wrestling or boxing or football but perhaps it’s this kind of research that should be remembered when people are exploding over a fight being stopped too early in MMA. It’s the one thing that MMA has over all these other sports (sports entertainments), they step in and stop the fight pretty quickly. People argue that quick stops hurt a fighter’s career but it’s always going to be the better option than letting a fight go on too long, health is more important. Of course having less risk doesn’t mean there is no risk because there most definitely is (particularly with the old Pride guys), this is something we will eventually see in MMA too. The sport will have to deal with this issue because it’s going to happen. The point made about training is also a very interesting one, who knows what these guys do when there is no ref there to tell them to stop, fighters/trainers who spar too hard could really be hurting themselves in the long run.
Excellent Point
Thankyou for bringing this up
it’s this kind of research that should be remembered when people are exploding over a fight being stopped too early in MMA
As much as I hate early stoppages, I would do well to heed your words here.
'He built his whole reputation as a waffle house chef. They’ve been serving him up ham and eggs with a side of canned tomatoes' - Don Frye on Fedor Emelianenko
by Well Read Idiot on Dec 10, 2009 8:22 AM EST up reply actions
You’re right. Late stoppages in MMA can be absolutely brutal; guys getting KOed 2/3/4 times in the space of 10-15 seconds. The fact that the fight can go to the ground also makes KOs like Salmon/Evans, Silva/Kondo, or Henderson/Bisping legal, accepted, and cheered.
by VirtualBalboa on Dec 10, 2009 9:06 AM EST up reply actions
Reality = Getting Hit In The Head Causes Brain Damage...
Why area so many people in denial? The science is there.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
