MMA, Boxing, and Brain Damage

If you are in communion with god no harm will be done to you. You sound fearful. I am a boxer and will defend warriors like Georges St. Pierre. It is his faith that keeps him protected, just as it does i.

How strong is your faith? How well do you know your creator? Are you unwilling to accept your fate?

Fighting is something that all animals on this planet engage in in one form or another.
May as well be good at it, for you may find yourself an unwitting participant in a fight at some point.

To call fighters idiots is, well, idiotic.
Training is fun. If you are good at it, why not get paid to do it? That goes for any hobby. Playing pool, cards, guitar, whatever.

Yes, fighting is dangerous, but so are lots of things. Ever try base jumping?

Furthermore, what is the damn point of this thread? To tell us fighting is dangerous? That goes without saying.



ETA: I wonder what the MOST dangerous hobby / extreme sport would be. Base jumping has got to be right up there. Freestyle motocross. Cliff diving.

Are they ALL idiots?

reply to post by JayinAR


If he compete in a real competition after seriously dedicating himself in front of a real crowd he would understand. You cant really explain it, either you got it or you dont and he clearly doesnt. The body degrades and falls apart. Ask Ali if he regrets what he did. Ask Tyson, ask Toney, any of them and they will tell you the same thing.

Also most of the people with bad brain injuries also drank and did a lot of that stuff we cant talk about.

reply to post by onequestion


I agree that it is quite an experience. Although, the only competitive fighting I have done are a couple of JJ tourneys on an Army base years ago. Nowadays I have arthritis in the knees and lower back at much too young an age and I really only train to stay in shape, but not as much as I should.

One thing though... I wouldn't be so quick to say that those who disagree with MMA "don't have it."
I know a few folks who are bonifide bad mofo's and they don't train at all. My little brother is one of them. Superior athleticism, great reflexes and no hesitation to check someone for getting out of line. Those three things make for a pretty dangerous individual as well.

reply to post by Astrocyte

There's a certain stupidity, insanity - idiocy - that leads a person to dedicate themselves to an MMA or boxing career.

That's just like your opinion, dude~

No this post will not end MMA or Boxing. Heck brain damage didnt' end the NFL or any other high contact sport.

So what exactly is the point of this? To say that something leads to brain damage? I received brain damage from reading this post.

I love the martial arts, I take Kenpo religiously and it's taken knowing that harm to not only the body but brain is possible... It's because we choose to endure and train and want to excell and compete.

Hell, you can receive damage riding a bicycle. You can receive brain damage from triping on a stone and bumping your noggin~

There is also a certain stupidy to those that point out the obvious and think there onto something mind altering.

reply to post by Astrocyte


Your the type that questions why someone at subway didn't get the same sub as you and tries debating why your sub is "better".

Your whole OP is demeaning to individuals who learned to defend themselves. Anyone who has trained and tempered there physical skills to be able to fight understands what the consequences are.

To claim stupidty and idiocy is more ignorrant that Mike Tyson's poetry.

Go push your ridiculous agenda somewhere else, this OP smells of a personal ignorrant ideology of how someone wants the world to be.

Originally posted by Astrocyte
There's a certain stupidity, insanity - idiocy - that leads a person to dedicate themselves to an MMA or boxing career.

Think about it for a second. We know how delicate our gelatinous brains are; they are designed by nature to be protected by a thick frontal bone, with thinner bones at the side and back. But this thick structure is not there as an invitation: please, hit me - you won't suffer permanent brain damage.

Take a car accident. In a simple car accident, you may have been seat belted up, and an airbag cushioned your head upon impact. But that is not enough! The sheer speed of the whiplash, the front to back movement of the neck, was enough to smack your brain up against the inner wall of your frontal bone, causing a concussion. That is how sensitive our brains are.

It's well known that with every concussion, your mental functioning becomes reduced. Take MMA fighters or Boxers. The bulk of the hits to their heads are coming to the front or side: the pre-frontal cortex areas of our brain. It's almost ironic: it takes stupidity to engage someone in a sport where getting punched in the head is the purpose, and when they land that punch - its the very part of the brain which controls DECISION making and COST-BENEFIT ANYALYSIS - that becomes hit. It's as if each and every hurt encourages more and more raucous activity.

Studies have been done which establish that the majority of people who show an interest in boxing or MMA are exrtroverts. Extroverts, by nature, are external oriented people. They are under-stimulated when they aren't involved in some social-context. Introverts, by contrast, are thinking types. Being around too many people over-stimulates them. Therefore, introverts tend to become scientists, writers, in short, the thinkers of our world, while extroverts become the entertainers, sports stars, politicians, boxers, MMA fighters.

Of course, this little post isn't designed to end MMA or boxing. I know there will always be people who take an interest in it. But, for someone like me - a thinker - it is hilarious that a human being would willingly engage in an activity that would impair his mental-intellectual functioning. Only someone who has so devalued these faculties - while overvaluing social relations (and the fun of beating the $hit out of someone) - would care so little about it.

But then, one day maybe, these people will try to show the world how acute their mental abilities are: think Mike Tyson and his poetry.

. It's both funny, admirable, and sad. George St. Pierre, the MMA fighter, has a deep interest in philosophy. No doubt, I don't deny that he takes it seriously, and he has probably profited from his philosophical explorations. But again, imagine the brain damage he has suffered in the octagon. A part of me feels "oh, how nice, he's interested in philosophy, good for him", while another part thinks "this idiot better not try to 'enlighten people' with his views on things".

Point being: the brain is an exceedingly sensitive organ. It is protected behind a remarkably think skull - but it is only so thick. A quick kick to the head causes swelling in that poor brain of yours. Neurons die when that happens - oxygen, glutamate - blood flow is interrupted by this trauma to the head. You literally make yourself stupider.

edit on 27-6-2013 by Astrocyte because: (no reason given)

My father was a Golden Glove boxer, and he boxed in the Olympics. He did it from about the age of 14 to 25. And in that amount of time he suffered several concussions to the head. In fact, up until the day he died when he was 46, he said that the entire left side of his skull was numb since he was a teenager. He literally couldn't feel anything with or on his left side of his head. It didn't really affect anything, he seemed "normal" in a sense...Although he always carried that extroverted warriors spirit with him wherever he went. Whether it was at the movies, or at dinner, or at home, he wanted to fight about something. He always had high blood pressure and was very hyper as a kid, and under stimulated. He did pretty much every drug known to man during his whole life, non-stop, and he eventually lost his mind completely and tried to kill us, but that's another story. My point being, I think those concussions he suffered during his boxing career severely changed his ability to be a family man. I think it caused irreparable damage to his brain and skull. When I was very young, he started to teach me how to box and I once showed an interest in being a boxer myself, to which my father replied that it was a bad idea because of the injuries he's sustained, and he told me to just look at most professional boxer's faces. A lot of the time their noses become misaligned permanently, or some part of their face gets bashed the wrong way and they're crooked forever. It all seems kinda dumb to me now, to become a fighter that is.

reply to post by Kody27


I had a crummy father as well. Difference is that he wasn't a fighter.
Some people just don't seem fit to raise children.

Perhaps it was the drug abuse that led to the more crazy things? Just a hunch.

ETA: most fighters I have met are very level headed and kind hearted. Sure, there are arse holes as well, but those types are in the minority.

reply to post by Kody27


Sorry to hear that. I have been competeing for 10 years, 5 amateur and now 5 professional and yes my record is easily verified on sherdog and with USA boxing. It has profoundly affect my life in every way. Yes i may have suffered a few concussions in my earlier years, now i know how to train properly and competeing in MMA i take far less punishment then i did while boxing. I can tell you that if you train properly the damage is far less and they have changed the rules and have better equipment then they did when your father was fighting. There is far less damage now while competeing and if your at the right gym with the right coach then you will be fine.

reply to post by JayinAR


You have to remember that while actively completing the gym environment on a fight team is HIGHLY competitive. The fight team atmosphere is very hardening and it seems like fighters are being pricks at times to the outside observes but it really is a reflection of a fearless and hardened competitive mentality necessary to your survival in the gym. Most fighters however abrasive are very kind and gentle, i and others like me would be the first person there to help you. Noone knows a struggle like a fighter because of what it takes.

Lose everyday just to win once, EVERYDAY you lose in the gym, everyday. Thats all just to win once.

reply to post by onequestion


That is a good point to be made here. Boxing is far more dangerous than MMA in regards to head injuries. Two reasons.
1. Boxers generally hit harder.
2. You kinda gotta stand there and take it.

No thanks to the boxing stuff.

reply to post by JayinAR


By far boxing is a much more grueling sport, by far. Jiu-jitsu is more graceful, not easier by any means but more graceful, and well wrestling is wrestling and prone to injury. Although done with the proper situational training and managed properly by your coach risk is minimized to competition.

reply to post by Astrocyte


You make it seem as if introverts are greater than extroverts. Writers (introverts in your opinion) are notoriously know for chain smoking cigarettes. No too good on the head health. You are a self proclaimed introvert, do you consume absolutely no toxic chemicals for the brain in your daily life (fluoride would be an example)? How many fighters do you know?

reply to post by onequestion


Yeah, I guess you can say JJ is more graceful. I mean, it isn't toe-to-toe barbarism like boxing, but it is still pretty brutal.
One too many heel hooks and anymore I walk like an old man every morning.

Boxing is far more deadly then mma, in boxing you take far more concussion damage to the head and fatalities and stats have allways backed this up, only 1 death in mma in 30 years of promotions, compared to 2 or 3 every year in boxing and thats year in year out.....saying that i love boxing and have boxed amatuer as a teen.

Originally posted by JayinAR
reply to post by Kody27

 

I had a crummy father as well. Difference is that he wasn't a fighter.
Some people just don't seem fit to raise children.

Perhaps it was the drug abuse that led to the more crazy things? Just a hunch.

ETA: most fighters I have met are very level headed and kind hearted. Sure, there are arse holes as well, but those types are in the minority.

edit on 28-6-2013 by JayinAR because: (no reason given)

Yes my father is not an example of all fighters obviously. I was just saying that his injuries to his head didn't help his already twisted mentality. Drug abuse would be the obvious cause, but in reality, I see drug abuse as more of an effect than a cause. The cause was just his personality. Drugs and women and violence were just the side effects of his personality. And he actually wasn't a crummy father, until the very very end where he completely lost it, but the first 20 years he was a good dad, just not a good husband.

Originally posted by onequestion
reply to post by Kody27

 

Sorry to hear that. I have been competeing for 10 years, 5 amateur and now 5 professional and yes my record is easily verified on sherdog and with USA boxing. It has profoundly affect my life in every way. Yes i may have suffered a few concussions in my earlier years, now i know how to train properly and competeing in MMA i take far less punishment then i did while boxing. I can tell you that if you train properly the damage is far less and they have changed the rules and have better equipment then they did when your father was fighting. There is far less damage now while competeing and if your at the right gym with the right coach then you will be fine.

Yeeeah I don't see how you can be trained to take a kick/punch to the head better, but if you say so.

The equipment? What equipment? You mean like gloves and helmets and such? He didn't really wear helmets most of the time, and I fail to see how glove and helmet technology have changed since then.

reply to post by JayinAR


3. the matches are longer
4. they only get hit to the head and body as opposed to all over
5. allowed to get up after being knocked down several times as opposed to being finished
6. longer careers on average

reply to post by Kody27


Glove technology has changed, no more horsehair, huge difference. State commissions take hand wrapping more serious and it is closely monitored. Round length is shorter, fights are shorter. Refs are instructed by athletic commission to stop fights faster. Most states have implemented a 3 knockdown rule. USA boxing now stops fights after just a clean shot rather then a knockout.

Originally posted by onequestion
reply to post by Kody27

 

Glove technology has changed, no more horsehair, huge difference. State commissions take hand wrapping more serious and it is closely monitored. Round length is shorter, fights are shorter. Refs are instructed by athletic commission to stop fights faster. Most states have implemented a 3 knockdown rule. USA boxing now stops fights after just a clean shot rather then a knockout.

....Ref stops the fight after each clean shot? Bull shlt. So no more horsehair is basically the just of "improvement in equipment technology" haha?