The first public look at official UFC concussion protocols were included in a new UFC Performance Institute document that is one of the most detailed breakdowns of the sport ever written.
The UFC has come a long way from its start in 1993 where it proudly proclaimed its blood and guts nature with the catchphrase “There Are No Rules!”
Now in 2021 the promotion has released its second volume of the UFC Performance Institute’s “Cross Sectional Performance Analysis And Projection Of The UFC Athlete,” containing the promotion’s first official concussion protocol for its fighters.
The protocol is similar to the NFL’s protocol and relies on a SCAT5 concussion assessment tool to evaluate the severity of a concussion and the timeline for recovery. Not only is the step by step method of safely resuming training laid out for anyone who has the interest in reading into it, the UFC Performance Institute has also included a massive amount of stats on past fighter SCAT5 scores and symptom severity.
This is really where this 482 page document shines: it takes all of the data collected by the UFC Performance Institute over the past four years and shares it freely. It is undoubtedly the most dense collection of fighter and fighting data ever released.
UFC Performance Instititue’s new cross sectional performance analysis doc is a pretty fascinating breakdown of MMA fighting.https://t.co/gZDsAbqGit pic.twitter.com/mzeATcqmyG
— MMA mania (@mmamania) May 4, 2021
“We are slowly aggregating our own insights and our information here in the Performance Institute, and we want to share that,” the UFC’s VP of Performance Duncan French said (via ESPN). “We don’t want the PI to become an ivory tower where the information is only retained for a discrete 600 roster of fighters.”
The deeper we dig into the Performance Institute’s new 486 page book, the more we think it contains the best fundamental understanding of the sport ever written. pic.twitter.com/7GFjoHVgwJ
— MMA mania (@mmamania) May 4, 2021
Beyond stats and data, the UFC PI also lays out the fundamental skills used in mixed martial arts and basically breaks the sport down to its raw components. A skill evaluation process included on page 45 isn’t just helpful for staff and coaches to assess fighters … anyone taking the time to evaluate athletes using this criteria could probably up their sports beting game as well.
All in all, we have to advise you download this tome now, it’s got next level knowledge about how mixed martial artists compete and how martial arts work on a basic level. Download the book here.