ironworks
03-08-2014, 12:16 AM
Feed Source: Bleacher Report MMA
MMA Fans are accustomed to seeing fighters stand up and dust off unbelievably brutal knockouts like playground boo boos. One can imagine the immediate shock when pro-fighter Booto Guylain suffered a TKO loss and never got back up.
The 29-year-old fighter was pronounced dead on Wednesday from severe head trauma sustained in a professional MMA bout for Extreme Fighting Championship, an African promotion, on February 27 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
According to a statement released on the promotion’s official website, Guylain was transferred to the hospital, where he was treated for swelling and bleeding of the brain after taking multiple elbows to the head in his bout with Keron Davies.
“We are devastated,” said EFC Africa president Cairo Howarth, after hearing of Guylain’s passing. “This is a huge loss to the sport and to all who know him. Our thoughts are with his family in this trying time.”
Guylain’s tragic death proves that any preconceived notion that MMA is a “safe” sport is erroneous.
This isn’t an attempt to isolate and bastardize the world’s fastest growing sport. Quite the contrary, it forces the world to take a hard look at a sport still in its infancy, fighting for mainstream acceptance.
The key could lie in the banning of elbow strikes to the head of a grounded opponent.
The possibility of getting elbowed in the face is a real nightmare for a fighter trapped underneath an opponent. Elbow strikes are particularly hard to defend against because the fighter on top doesn’t need a lot of space to generate the momentum required to cause serious damage.
There truly is no comparison to the potential trauma an elbow strike can leave to the head of a downed opponent. The impactful force from the strike typically adds to the trauma by sandwiching a fighter’s head between the forearm and the ground. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “bashing your brains in.”
Former UFC light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua comes from a long line of controversial techniques allowed in his MMA tenure with Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships. During an interview with MMAJunkie, the MMA star said elbows are more dangerous than the foot stomps and soccer kicks allowed in Pride.
“I think that the rule set from when I fought in Japan was safer than today’s rules. Elbows hurt a lot more than stomps,” Shogun said.
Retired UFC welterweight Nick Diaz has echoed Shogun’s feelings about elbows in multiple interviews. In a particular one-on-one with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Diaz paints a dark world beyond the glitz and glamour of fighting, one few get to see:
It’s very dangerous. It’s not like you’re not scared to fight. You’ve got to be stupid. It’s a very scary situation you’re in when people are trying to manipulate positions so that they can smash your face with an elbow or elbows and just rain it down. It’s hard times dealing with that idea of what might be in front of you for your whole life, one after another sort of thing.
Diaz further discredits elbows in a dual interview with his brother Nate Diaz for Fight! Magazine. While Nate refers to the utilization of elbows as “classless,” Nick says that fighters are literally fighting for their lives under the current rule structure.
Added emphasis on fighter safety is just one reason MMA should consider doing away with elbows to a downed opponent.
Not only are elbows more likely to leave a fighter concussed, the pointed bone is often the culprit behind opening up large cuts, which can lead to premature stoppages.
Depending on the severity and placement of a cut, referees are allowed to defer to the cageside physician, who then makes the final decision on whether or not the injured fighter is able to continue.
While elbows may not be the only strikes capable of opening a fighter up, they dramatically increase the chances of red spilling onto the canvas.
Fighters log countless hours in the gym, suffering through long-winded training camps to prepare for upcoming fights. Promoters put a lot of money and effort into selling fights and maximizing media exposure. Fans spend their hard-earned money buying pay-per-views.
No one ever wants to walk away from a fight feeling cheated, which is generally what happens from cut stoppages. What fighter wants to go through a rigorous training camp only to lose a fight in the first round from a cut? What fan wants to pay money to see that?
MMA Fans are accustomed to seeing fighters stand up and dust off unbelievably brutal knockouts like playground boo boos. One can imagine the immediate shock when pro-fighter Booto Guylain suffered a TKO loss and never got back up.
The 29-year-old fighter was pronounced dead on Wednesday from severe head trauma sustained in a professional MMA bout for Extreme Fighting Championship, an African promotion, on February 27 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
According to a statement released on the promotion’s official website, Guylain was transferred to the hospital, where he was treated for swelling and bleeding of the brain after taking multiple elbows to the head in his bout with Keron Davies.
“We are devastated,” said EFC Africa president Cairo Howarth, after hearing of Guylain’s passing. “This is a huge loss to the sport and to all who know him. Our thoughts are with his family in this trying time.”
Guylain’s tragic death proves that any preconceived notion that MMA is a “safe” sport is erroneous.
This isn’t an attempt to isolate and bastardize the world’s fastest growing sport. Quite the contrary, it forces the world to take a hard look at a sport still in its infancy, fighting for mainstream acceptance.
The key could lie in the banning of elbow strikes to the head of a grounded opponent.
The possibility of getting elbowed in the face is a real nightmare for a fighter trapped underneath an opponent. Elbow strikes are particularly hard to defend against because the fighter on top doesn’t need a lot of space to generate the momentum required to cause serious damage.
There truly is no comparison to the potential trauma an elbow strike can leave to the head of a downed opponent. The impactful force from the strike typically adds to the trauma by sandwiching a fighter’s head between the forearm and the ground. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “bashing your brains in.”
Former UFC light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua comes from a long line of controversial techniques allowed in his MMA tenure with Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships. During an interview with MMAJunkie, the MMA star said elbows are more dangerous than the foot stomps and soccer kicks allowed in Pride.
“I think that the rule set from when I fought in Japan was safer than today’s rules. Elbows hurt a lot more than stomps,” Shogun said.
Retired UFC welterweight Nick Diaz has echoed Shogun’s feelings about elbows in multiple interviews. In a particular one-on-one with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Diaz paints a dark world beyond the glitz and glamour of fighting, one few get to see:
It’s very dangerous. It’s not like you’re not scared to fight. You’ve got to be stupid. It’s a very scary situation you’re in when people are trying to manipulate positions so that they can smash your face with an elbow or elbows and just rain it down. It’s hard times dealing with that idea of what might be in front of you for your whole life, one after another sort of thing.
Diaz further discredits elbows in a dual interview with his brother Nate Diaz for Fight! Magazine. While Nate refers to the utilization of elbows as “classless,” Nick says that fighters are literally fighting for their lives under the current rule structure.
Added emphasis on fighter safety is just one reason MMA should consider doing away with elbows to a downed opponent.
Not only are elbows more likely to leave a fighter concussed, the pointed bone is often the culprit behind opening up large cuts, which can lead to premature stoppages.
Depending on the severity and placement of a cut, referees are allowed to defer to the cageside physician, who then makes the final decision on whether or not the injured fighter is able to continue.
While elbows may not be the only strikes capable of opening a fighter up, they dramatically increase the chances of red spilling onto the canvas.
Fighters log countless hours in the gym, suffering through long-winded training camps to prepare for upcoming fights. Promoters put a lot of money and effort into selling fights and maximizing media exposure. Fans spend their hard-earned money buying pay-per-views.
No one ever wants to walk away from a fight feeling cheated, which is generally what happens from cut stoppages. What fighter wants to go through a rigorous training camp only to lose a fight in the first round from a cut? What fan wants to pay money to see that?