Filed under: UFC
Saturday night’s Nonito Donaire vs. Fernando Montiel fight was a big event for boxing, and a big victory for Donaire. But it was also something else: A demonstration of why mixed martial arts is a safer sport than boxing.
One of the key differences between MMA and boxing is that when an MMA fighter gets knocked down by a punch, he has to be alert enough to protect himself, or else the fight is over. In boxing, when a fighter gets knocked down, the referee starts counting, and the fighter has until a 10 count to get back to his feet. Which means a boxer whose brain is concussed badly — as Montiel’s brain was concussed when Donaire knocked him down in the second round — can stagger back to his feet to take more punishment.
Donaire hit Montiel with a huge left hook and then a right uppercut as Montiel was tumbling to the canvas, and when Montiel hit the floor it was frightening: Montiel’s arms went straight up over his head and his legs were twitching, and it looked like he was having some kind of seizure. In MMA, a competent referee would have immediately called off the fight, and the ringside doctor would have rushed in to treat the fallen fighter.