UFC President, Dana White talks about why he’s not overjoyed at his son wanting to pursue a career in football, explaining he considers mixed martial arts to be safer than that and boxing. “The misconception is, these guys can kick, knee, punch, elbow, slam to the ground, this has to be more violent and dangerous. It's not true,” says UFC President Dana White of the sport of mixed martial arts.
"What's more violent than boxing? You and I stand in front of each other for 12 rounds, and my goal is to hit you so hard in the face that I knock you unconscious. In the UFC you and I can fight, and I can beat you and win, and never punch you in the head once. We can go right to the ground, start grappling, and pull off a submission. It's not 25, 30 minutes of blows to the head non-stop.” UFC President Dana White said.
As well, he adds, “the difference with the tap out is that if I get you into a submission and you're in a bad place - you can tap out with honour. It's acceptable in this sport.”
White further points out that there’s never been a UFC injury more serious than a broken arm. However, he says, "At the end of the day it's a contact sport and anything can happen."
On the new HBO deal, Dana White says he believes UFC events are going to be a great addition to HBO’s lineup. HBO has said they won’t include people from their current boxing coverage team on the UFC productions, which seems to please White.
“I love the sport of boxing, let me tell you. That’s where I came from, and I used to live, eat, breathe, sleep boxing. Unfortunately, all the guys who were involved in boxing, all had a hand in helping kill that great sport. And the thing that scares me is, all the sleazy, slithering, creepy guys from boxing all are starting to work their way over to MMA now. And hopefully, the UFC can position themselves right now to keep all the creeps out of the sport.”
I absolutely agree with Dana White’s assertions… I actually wrote a research paper that compared injury rates of different sports. In a nutshell, football players tend to suffer from chronic debilitating injuries over the course of their career.
If you compare rugby to NFL, you find much less chronic injuries because ruggers don’t wear pads. In boxing, boxers are at an extremely high risk for brain trauma (and disease), since their sport basically consists of being hit in the face repeatedly. A K.O is actually a mild form of concussion to the brain. Studies have shown that many boxers have portions of their brains that are literally “mush” from being repeatedly traumatized.
Boxing is much worse because of the accumulation of damage from being punched in the head thousands of times in a career is just not safe. Look at James Toney, I remember when he was young and in his prime he can barely talk now. Thats the guys who didn’t get beat to death like Jimmy Garcia who died after taking a beating from one of the Ruelas brothers or beat till his higher brain functions cease like Gerald McClellan.
UFC on the other hand gives the fighter the option to tap out (stopping the trauma), grapple instead of strike, and is restricted to 3-5 rounds. I would absolutely submit that UFCF fighters suffer much less trauma over the course of their career as compared to NFL football players or boxers.
Over 90% of the injuries sustained by fighters happen in training. Boxing is straight brutal. Everyone thinks its the big knockout that hurts you. I looks far worse then it is. The KO is a result of the bodies own defense system. Its those fighters that have so-called good chins that sustain brutal damage to their brains. Facts dont lie. NFL football is indeed more dangerous sport then UFC as a whole.
Although none of this actually means UFC is a safe sport. It is just safer then the two sports mentioned. I don't think it is anything one should rejoice over. Its still dangerous and anything can happen.
Dana White may not have articulated it well but he’s right. A ten year NFL football players no matter how good he was or how healthy he is will have his life dramatically changed by the sport of football. Its just not physically possible for men that size, to move that fast and have multiple collisions. I’m not only talking concussions, I’m talking knee injuries , ankles etc. Look at Curtis Martin, he’s a guy who's in his 30’s and should still be in the prime of his life and can barely walk. Earl Campbell, etc.
To view the video click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f71Zi8srwr4&feature=player_embedded
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