Fan Fight

2011 may go down in history as the year with the worst streak of last-minute injuries to fighters in the UFC since the dawn of time. Main events, co-main events, preliminaries, and even last minute fights that got thrown together to replace injured fighters have been cut from cards or had fighters on them replaced due to injuries across the board.

The injuries range from busted up knees, to torn up hand ligaments, to diverticulitis, to a rather large share of shoulder injuries. But why is this happening? Is there something new in the air? Is someone gunning for the UFC's fighters and purposefully injuring them? Have the Fertitta brothers been cursed with the malocchio, the evil eye?

Ack! Frank, turn it right side up darn you!

But, while we at Fan Fight are open to the possibility of an evil Italian curse we also believe there is in fact a secret reason as to why so many injuries are occurring of late. In fact it is a combination of three different things, with all three resulting in what has been one of the unluckiest fighting seasons in recent memory.

How do we know what is causing this while countless others are left speculating and asking "Why is this happening?". Well it might be because we keep all our copies of interesting mma articles in a folder so we can reference them quickly and easily. But we like to think its because we're so awesome.

This is our seal. Isn't it beautiful? No, you can't touch it.

1. Unprecedented Athleticism: Yep, you heard us right, one of the main reasons why so many fighters are being cut from the fight cards of UFC events is due to their nearly unprecedented training to achieve the highest levels of athleticism. But in reality this is one particular aspect that is easily predicted. Why? Because the demands for better, more perfect fighters, and the athleticism that is expected of them has been increasing constantly since day one of the UFC.

It is just a fact that there is more pressure on fighters to be stronger, faster, and fitter than ever before. And that those who don't strive for such physical perfection are often left in the dust, never to gain a name or a reputation for themselves. With of course a few notable exceptions.

Allow me to present the former IFL Heavyweight champ and the Season 10 winner of The Ultimate Fighter

#2 Weight-cuts and gains: This one is pretty much a spin off of the first. With everyone striving to be the best; fighters are cutting more and more weight to enter divisions that they feel they would have an advantage in, or they are adding on the pounds to get into the shallower upper weight divisions.

Here's the thing though, weight cuts and gains are tough on the body. Its like stripping down a car and then building it back up, repeatedly. Eventually all the nuts and bolts will get worn out and the body will be damaged.

Fighters are anxious to gain any advantage they can, with so many pressures its easy to see why hormone and steroid abuse is on the rise. Its also easy to see how fighters are getting injured easier, they're burning out their bodies too quickly.


#3 The Insurance: We at Fan Fight love to save the best for last. And that is what we did this time. This is the big one, the real hidden reason, the silent elephant in the room that is the world of mma. All that other stuff is really just icing on the cake, effective, realistic, but in the end not enough to make a whole meal or argument in and of itself.

Because lets face it, yes the weight-cuts and training are more extreme but they were extreme in 2010 also. There must be some new factor that has been added to the equation. Something that has tipped the scales from some injuries, to lots of injuries.

There is only one real answer. The new UFC health insurance plan.

Bah! Health insurance! What kind of fighter would need that?

Doesn't it seem like an interesting coincidence that all of these fighters are declaring their injuries AFTER the new UFC health care insurance plan was announced by Dana White and the gang? But surely that was just some brief ploy to gain news coverage and make the UFC look good in front of the New York legislature to get mma legalized in New York State, right?

Wrong. Actually the insurance plan covers a fair amount, a surprising amount in fact. And it is given to all 350 fighters under the Zuffa banner which includes both the UFC and Strikeforce promotions. Here are just some of the insurance's highlights as reported by MiddleEasy.com (here)

"Each fighter will have $50,000 USD in annual coverage.

Coverage will be in any type of accident (slipping on ice, automobile accident...etc.) Full coverage.

Separate from if the fighter is injured in an event. Actually, fighters now have two separate policies protecting them.

It doesn't cover if someone gets a cold, flu...etc.

They didn't want there to be any disputes from insurance companies, so they covered every accident.

Very narrow group of insurance companies that wanted to participate.

As long as fighters under contract, they have insurance.

The health plan is for UFC and Strikeforce fighters.

They wanted a full coverage insurance company since day one of acquiring UFC.

Dana White wanted to announce the new insurance policy when Chuck Liddell retired, but the details weren't quite ironed out.

If a fighter is cut after a fight, all damage sustained in the fight will be covered.

Staph infections will probably not be covered.

Name of the insurance company is called 'Houston Casualty'.

No restrictions on what fighters can't do (skiing, bungee jumping...etc).

Ground breaking stuff, never been done in the history of combat sports."

So, what does all that mean? It means that if you break a leg training, you have more options than (a) Tough it out, and (b) go without a paycheck for a LONG time.

All in all, it makes perfect sense that fighters will be taking more downtime. Yeah, many of them will still tough out some injuries, but when it comes to injuries that if they aren't healed correctly may derail their career? Nah-uh, not gonna happen. Now the fighters have the option of playing it safe.

And we the fans are the ones that have to suffer for it. We ask you, is that fair?

Well, yeah. Actually it is. We aren't the ones whose livelihoods depends on being able to get the crap beaten out of us once every six to nine months. Nor are we the ones putting in the time and energy at the gym. All in all, we can't blame the fighters for taking advantage of the insurance. That's why it was built, to help give this sport and its athletes longevity. And you can bet your bottom dollar that because of this plan the shelf-life of all of the fighters with the UFC has been extended considerably.

You can also expect more injuries to keep on getting announced. But, we should also see the amount of injuries we are seeing now begin to trickle back down to manageable levels. Why? One word, overload.

You see that train? That's a UFC fighter. You see those people? Those are accumulated injuries. Get the picture?

You see for the longest time the idea of a health insurance plan specifically designed for combat sports was laughable. Why? Because who was going to risk money on guys not getting hurt in a combat sport? So fighters dealt with, all those little bruises, scratches, sprains, pains, and small muscle tears were ignored. Or largely ignored. They were only dealt with when they couldn't fight anymore.

Overtime those injuries build up. Thus at this time most fighters in the UFC (particularly in the more shallow divisions i.e. light heavyweight) are running with at least a few nagging pains in their limbs and sides. But now with this insurance, they can afford to heal and recover.

We at Fan Fight predict that soon all that healing and downtime will drive the fighters crazy and soon they will be back in the ring, fresh and ready to go. All our favorite fighters will get all healed up, and that nasty overload of injuries will be dealt with.

Or at least that's what we hope. We shudder to think about what would happen if we were wrong.

Hi, my name is Jon Jones. I injured my finger. Sort of. I said was going to get surgery so I pulled out of a championship fight, but then I changed my mind after it was too late to get the fight rescheduled, cause it was only a little boo-boo. Aren't I the greatest?