The 2025 UFC glove

Professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has had a rough beginning. Senator John McCain, a lifelong boxing fan, tried to ban MMA fights from happening within the United States, calling it “Human cock fighting” because of its minimal rules and how it was unfair matchups, but if you look into the evidence, you can tell him and a lot of other people who thought that were wrong.

Deaths from boxing-related injuries have sadly not been rare throughout the sport’s long history. Between 1950 and 2007, there were 339 recorded deaths directly linked to boxing matches, which highlighted the serious dangers of repeated head trauma and the owners of the leagues not caring about the boxers’ health but caring about the money they make. Boxing focuses on only stand-up striking, long matches, and the “standing eight count,” which allows concussed fighters to keep fighting. In comparison, MMA has had only about 20 deaths worldwide across both major leagues, like UFC, PFL, and ONE, or smaller promotions like a local league.

People assume MMA gloves are dangerous because they are smaller, but that can actually make them safer than boxing gloves. In boxing, boxers wear a minimum weight of eight-ounce gloves that have a larger surface area than the hand, which allows the boxer to throw punches with an equivalent force to MMA, but it does more damage. The constant head trauma adds up and can cause serious long-term brain damage. MMA gloves only weigh about four ounces and are mostly there to protect the bones in the hand. In fact, the first 14 UFC events didn’t even force fighters to wear gloves; it was optional. 

Another reason MMA is considered safer than boxing is that the fights are shorter. A standard MMA fight has 3 rounds of 5 minutes each, or 5 rounds in championship matches, while boxing fights can go up to 12 3-minute rounds. This means boxers spend much more time taking repeated punches to the head. The longer lasing boxing matches allow for hundreds of hits to the head. This makes there a higher chance for concussions and long-term brain damage. 

In conclusion, MMA is considered safer than boxing because of its lower death rate, lighter gloves, and shorter fight times. All of those reasons show that MMA has a lower chance of dying in the ring or getting brain damage.