Fortunately, there haven’t been any fatalities inside the Octagon for the MMA world champion. That doesn’t imply that numerous serious injuries haven’t been sustained during UFC fights. Former UFC champions Chris Weidman and Conor McGregor both horribly fractured their legs during fights in 2021 alone, in two separate incidents.
Countless fighters suffer from muscle and ligament injuries during battles, and post-fight medical exams frequently note facial fractures. Additionally, there are the intrinsic risks of brain trauma, a tragic but typical occupational hazard for all sportsmen participating in combat sports.
Although the UFC is the wealthiest and most successful MMA promotion in history, it does collaborate with state athletic commissions to ensure that fight conditions are as secure as they can be and that medical examinations before and after fights are as thorough as possible to keep its athletes healthy and active.
One of the main reasons the UFC has been able to establish itself as a household name and one of the sports organizations that is growing the quickest in the globe is that it has been fortunate enough to avoid in-fight fatalities. At crucial times in the organization’s development, a terrible fatality in the Octagon would have undoubtedly significantly stunted progress.
If not in the UFC, have there actually been MMA deaths?
Unfortunately, there have been a lot of MMA fatalities outside of the UFC. In addition to the US, MMA competitions are held elsewhere around the world.
One of the earlier occurrences was in 2007, when Sammy Vasquez of Renegades Extreme died after going down in a knockout fight in October of that year due to complications from a cerebral haemorrhage and blunt head trauma.
Seven years later, Guylain of the Democratic Republic of the Congo passed away not long after suffering a technical knockout loss to Keron Davies at an EFC match in South Africa. He was unable to receive the necessary medical care right away after the bout despite having edoema and bleeding on his brain.
Mateus Fernandes, a talented amateur boxer from Brazil, passed away in 2019 following seizures in the ring and supposedly four heart attacks while being treated for a KO loss at a Remulus Fight event in Manaus. Only 22 years old, he.
Since 2019, at least seven fighters have perished in the ring or cage at MMA competitions. Additionally, nine additional deaths are said to have occurred simultaneously in unofficial cage fighting events.
Weight cuts can also be quite perilous for MMA fighters
A number of MMA competitors have also experienced fatal or very close calls while making weight reduction to meet divisional standards. One of the most notorious occurred in 2015 when Yang Jian Bing, a boxer for ONE Championship, passed away after a challenging weight cut.
The sad incident prompted the company to introduce hydration guidelines that set limits on how much water weight a fighter might lose through perspiration prior to a pre-fight weigh-in.