Boxing and MMA organizations support head trauma study

Competing combat sports organizations officially announced Tuesday its collaboration to contribute to an ongoing medical study to address and identify early stage signs of brain injury for those exposed to head trauma.

The UFC, Bellator, Glory, Golden Boy and Top Rank all expressed its support for the study at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.  Senators Harry Reid and John McCain showed their support for the study at the announcement held in Washington D.C.

Via Cleveland Clinic press release:

The study, which launched in April 2011, is focused on developing methods to detect the earliest and most subtle signs of brain injury in those exposed to head trauma, as well as determining which individuals may be more likely to develop chronic neurological disorders. While it is still in the early stages, researchers are confident the findings will benefit the safety and health of professional fighters. This information could also be applied to other athletes, members of the military and civilians who may experience head trauma.

According to MMA Fighting, most of the 450 fighters in the study are MMA fighters.  The study stands out as it monitors active fighters.  The study is partly funded by the Defense Department in hopes of using the findings for other brain injuries related to military duty.

Payout Perspective:

You may recall it was Senator McCain that had described MMA as human cockfighting.  Obviously, he’s now in the corner of the MMA here and supports this study.  The collaboration of all of these organizations reflects the importance of the issue and from public relations it shows that each of the organizations is concerned with its fighters.

The other way to see this is as a preventative measure from litigation.  I recently watched the Frontline documentary, “League of Denial” and the information was enlightening and shocking. One might be able to draw a comparison between the types of head trauma a football player receives versus that of a fighter without any headgear.

One thing going for this study is that it says it is tracking active fighters in hopes of spotting early signs of head trauma.  What the researchers to with this information and how it is utilized by each organization will be interesting to see.  Without being cynical, any study to understand head trauma in sports is a good thing and hopefully the research is put to good use.