The Journal of Neurosurgery recently published a useful study addressing Traumatic Brain Injury exposure from the following five padding combinations:
1. unpadded (control),
2. MMA glove-unpadded head,
3. boxing glove unpadded head,
4. unpadded pendulum-boxing headgear,
5. boxing glove-boxing headgear.
The study went on to review a total of 17 injury risk parameters. Unsurprisingly, the study concluded the boxing glove-headgear combination provided the best overall reduction in impact dosage.
The study goes beyond this basic observation, however, and is the first study I am aware of which addresses the effectiveness of combat sport safety gear with respect to hook punches (as opposed to linear punches).
An extract of the article can be found at the Sport Concussion Library.
Combat Sports Law 