Too Much Sparring Leads to Early Retirement for UFC Fighter

[Taste of Death]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/3/24/8282165/ufc-jamie-varner-sparring-warning-head-trauma-retirement-training-mma-news

"If I could give any advice to young, upcoming fighters - you're a fighter, you don't need to spar to prove how tough you are. So spar once a week. [...] "Sparring is a tool that is used to work on game plans, and to see where you are condition wise, cardiovascularly. You don't need to spar three days a week to prove you're tough. You're fighting in the UFC, you're obviously tough."

[GrahamB]

Yep - this was being discussed in the Joe Rogan podcast episode with Gary Tonon and Eddie Bravo. You can't keep taking hard headshots and not expect to suffer for it later.

[mrtoes]

Yup... Grappling has it's own very real risks but I'll take the risk of coming out of a throw badly over being repeatedly punched hard in the head any day. A few years ago I went home with mild concussion after sparring (with headgear/16oz gloves) and decided I wasn't really up for that level of contact (to the head) any more.

Matthew

[chud]

The human body is designed to take some abuse, but it is not designed to take sustained abuse over an extended period of time.

[fuga]

A family friend of ours fell over (not sparring) and got a concussion and the effects have lingered for months. It's been a bit disturbing to observe. Gotta protect the head.

[Spncr]

I started in TCMA when I was young, but in my early teen years I got bored of doing so much forms/solo-work that I dropped it for MMA. A decade later someone brought me to a TCMA class, at which point I left MMA and started TMAs again for two reasons. One being that the teacher impressed me more (waaay more) than anyone I had met up until that point, the other being that it would be much better (muuuch better) on my body/mind/etc long term. Now I'm back to doing solo work, and I love it . By the time I switched over I had many injuries, never got my bell rung to hard thankfully. I know people who've had 10+ concussions and I've seen the effects that it can have on your life, its makes me very thankful indeed that I haven't had any.

Reading this at this time is interesting too, as I have also being following and posting in the sticky hands video thread. IMO one of the things that I believe is great about Chi Sao, Rou Shou, Tui Shou, etc., is that within these practices you have the opportunity to develop skill sets relevant/valuable for fighting, whilst minimizing the risks of injury. Reading this kind of thing makes me thankful that I made the decision to return to TMA. May you all train relatively injury free!

[Taste of Death]

There is more to martial arts than fist meets face.

None of the 4-5 concussions I've had came from a punch but as fuga pointed out, protect the head.

[Spncr]

...4-5 concussions...

Time to be careful when you can't even remember how many concussions you've had

[Fa Xing]

Actually, a lot of people get concussion even without head trauma. I seen it all the time with personal injury (automobile accidents) where they report feeling lethargic, confused, dizzy, and poor memory issues. If the contact is heavy enough, it will rattle the brain pretty good.

[Bill]

Allowing hard head contact while sparring is a very bad idea. Most boxers wear head gear and 16 ounce gloves while sparring and always go light to the head.

[Taste of Death]

...4-5 concussions...

Time to be careful when you can't even remember how many concussions you've had

Exactly. I think it's 5 but can only remember 4 when I try to recall them. I'll update this post when I settle on a correct number.

[D_Glenn]

On NPR, (I'm paraphrasing from memory), but the amino acid molecules called Beta-Amyloids can be measured in the blood and they are a marker for how much concussive damage that a person is suffering. So they're trying to set up something for US soldiers in combat, where they take a baseline measurement of them, and then after combat, or especially after surviving and IED explosion, they would measure the soldiers levels again and find the magic number where they could determine where another concussion couldnt be tolerated. The potential Private sector usage for amateur and professional sports is where these blood tests will be the future goal of these scientist's work.

But a good meditation that gets one's brain into the Theta wave pattern stage can also then cause the Glial Cells in the brain to release their intracellular fluids which results in a greater amount of CSF in the brain AND more room for the fluid to gather up Beta-Amyloids and get them out of the brain, thus reducing concussive damage.
That's one of the main reasons I try to do BGZ's Circle Walking (Moving Meditation) everyday.

.

[grzegorz]

I think that if you're going to compete at that level there's really no way around it, injuries are just part of the game obviously you can spar less but the guy who spars more will probably come out on top.

[Spncr]

... until he retires early that is

[grzegorz]

... until he retires early that is

It's definitely not for everybody, but boxing is determining the outcome for most UFC fights these days when it comes to the men.

Head injuries is why I stopped going to the boxing gym. The human body was never meant for that.

Then again at 48 Bernard Hopkins was still holding the belt and knocking fools out.