This week the Association of Ringside Physicians published a position statement on high risk fighters.
The purpose of the document is “to guide ringside physicians in identifying fighters at higher risk, warranting closer evaluation before, during, and after competition”.
The position statement sets out the criteria on which athletes are ‘high risk’ and reviews the literature documenting the medical reasons behind this. The below abstract summarizes the ARP’s position of which athletes are ‘high risk’.
Criteria that identify combat sports athletes with significantly increased risk of injury and
mortality in combat sports competition include:
- Age younger than 13 years or older than 35 years (LOE V).
- Three consecutive losses, particularly by KO/TKO (professional) or Referee Stops
Contest (RSC) (amateur) (LOE III). - Inactivity exceeding one year (professional) (LOE V).
- No prior wins (LOE V).
- Significant mismatches in record, experience, age, or physical conditioning (LOE V).
- Past history of concussion, lack of full recovery and clearance from most recent
concussion, or history of other significant neurological injury (LOE II). - Severe pre-bout hypertension (SBP>160 or DBP>100 mm Hg in adults, or stage 2
hypertension in pediatric athletes) (LOE V). - Any medical condition identified on licensing or pre-bout medical examination that
compromises defensive abilities (LOE V)
The full document can be found here and is worth reviewing for the reasons behind these criteria.
Combat Sports Law 