Today Dana White, the president of the UFC, is reported as stating that MMA “is the safest sport in the world”.
Unsurprisingly a lot of negative feedback came from this easily refutable statement. While this comment should be criticized as being factually incorrect, what should not be lost in the debate is the fact that striking sports have a track record of having an overall risk of injury that is lower than football, hockey, wrestling and soccer.
When compared to other martial arts and combat sports, MMA produces similar injury rates according to peer reviewed studies which you access here and here.
Scientific literature based on real world case studies should be the bedrock of any debate addressing MMA and combat sport safety. For anyone looking for further scientific data about injury rates, specifically concussive injury rates, in MMA and other sports I suggest visiting the Sport Concussion Library for access to hundreds of peer reviewed studies.
2 thoughts on “MMA Not The “Safest Sport in the World” But Safer Than Many Critics Think”