A recent field into the aesculapian story of participants in two of the most notoriously dangerous sports in the earth has disclose that when it comes to serious injuries , box remains the unchallenged heavyweight champion .

A team of researchers led by Shelby Karpman of the University of Alberta ’s Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic examined the aesculapian records from 10   age of packing and mixed warlike arts ( MMA ) fighting in Canada , put out their determination in theClinical Journal of Sports Medicine . According to their account , boxers were significantly more likely than MMA fighters to lose consciousness , with 7.1 per centum of the former having been knocked out stale , compared to 4.2 percent of the latter . Boxers were also more than three time more likely to stomach serious eye harm such asretinal detachment .

However , that ’s not to say that MMA is the way to go if you need to stay jolly like Van Damme rather than end up like “ Kid Moe . ”   On the opposite , the paper notice that MMA is on the whole a bloodier mutation than boxing , causing a higher turn of venial injuries such as bruise ( bruise ) , flaming nose and foul - look cutting . Furthermore , aseparate studypublished in 2010 suggests that when it comes to protect your mug , kickboxing is the sport to void , as it causes the highest number of facial hurt , 85 percent of which admit a broken nose . The same report also identified Thai fisticuffs as the leading cause of facial lacerations , with 93 per centum of all injury suffered by participants involving cut to the face .

Yet while frightful mark and twisted noses may be unpleasant on the eye , the effects of concussion are much more cause for concern , peculiarly as there is still so much we do n’t get it on about the long - terminal figure   consequences of all the jabs , hooks and crosses that fighters brave out during their career . For example , in September this twelvemonth a team of researchers at Gothenburg University concluded thatneuronal damagefollowing a concussion persists   for foresighted than previously thought , after monitoring the on-going after - effects suffer by a bagger who had been pick apart out .

blow to the mind are not the only hazards face by combat sports partizan . According toa paperthat appear in the British Journal of Sports Medicine earlier this class , alarming numbers of MMA fighters are also employing extreme dieting techniques for rapidly fall behind weight immediately before fights . This is because fighters often like to compete against lightsome antagonist , so will attempt to fight at a lower weight class than their natural physique allows . for “ make the system of weights , ”   they often resort to technique such as “ body of water loading , ”   which involve over - hydrating in rescript to trigger off inordinate micturition , conduce to sudden weight loss . However , allot toMatthew Haines , senior lecturer of wellness and wellbeing at Huddersfield University , this can cause potentially fatal dilution of the stemma .

Of course , combat sport are not the only grave pursuits . In fact , a report by theAustralian Institute of Health and Welfarefound that golf harm were proportionally more likely to be life - threatening than those due to Australian rule football .