The appalling photos of the injured Rory MacDonald and Robby Lawler from UFC 189 jolted viewers and once again highlighted the wide gulf between the fantasy of MMA and the harsh reality behind it. Many fans had been anesthetized by the quick finishes of Ronda Rousey and mesmerized by the undeniable virtuosity of a Conor McGregor, but now – this bloody carnage made everyone squirm. Yet all too often we are seduced by MMA’s quest for main stream respectability, which also tries to divert us from uncomfortable truths. At least, let’s try to be honest about what we are watching.

Medical Trauma

First, the reality. Despite Dana White’s Hamlet-like protestations that MMA in the UFC is “the safest sport in the world”, the consequence of repeated hard blows to the cranium by knees, elbows and lightly padded fists should be self-evident by now. If common sense is not enough, the American and British Medical Associations have condemned MMA and you can read the research done by the Cleveland Clinic and other institutions. Or just look at the damage sustained by Junior Dos Santos, the batterings endured by Erick Silva, Wanderlei Silva and many other brutal beatdowns in the cage.

And according to the American Academy of Neurology, it is not such a simple matter to deal with concussions. The Academy recommends many things including psychological counseling, graded plans for return to physical and cognitive activity, and retirement from play after multiple concussions. CT imaging should not be used to diagnose sport-related concussions. There can be microscopic trauma to the dura matter covering of the brain which will not show up on X-rays or CAT scans, only to be seen at autopsies. On top of that, we have seen four deaths which have occurred from MMA bouts sanctioned by promotions other than the UFC.

What may be less familiar is how numerous fighters routinely torture their bodies with brutal weight cutting techniques. Read this article by Matthew Stanmore at NJ.com, complete with photos of rubber sauna suits, hot baths with 8 pounds of Epsom salts and 10 pints of isopropyl rubbing alcohol and the subsequent mummy-wraps and sauna sessions. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found four in 10 fighters fought while significantly or seriously dehydrated. Many vomit or get seriously sick; while on the Shooto Brazil 43 card, one fighter even died. And the perils of crash rehydration immediately before a fight are also real.

Add to this the fact that steroids and hormones are merely the tip of the chemical iceberg (see more below about the “supplements” hustled by MMA stores). It doesn’t take rocket science to realize how the craniums of “Big Foot” Silva and Cris Cyborg evolved into a modern day “Elephant Man”.

Who Cares For The Fighters?

But the promotions “protect” their fighters, don’t they? Well, some incompetent referees have permitted extended beat downs resulting in serious damage; one need only look at the volume of unanswered blows endured by Erick Silva from Jon Fitch at UFC 153 with the referee seemingly out for a stroll halfway across the octagon. Leading MMA doctor and “fighter advocate” Sherry Wulkan stated “much more research needs to be done to fully understand the risk factors”, despite the AMA and BMA condemnations and a 2006 study that concluded “the overall injury rate in MMA competitions is now similar to other combat sports, including boxing.” But ringside doctors are impotently cast in a reactive role after the damage has already been done, and at worst, are a disgrace to their profession. (It wasn’t so long ago we viewed 1949 TV ads proudly asserting why “more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.”)

It could very well be that the UFC have minimized risks for injuries, it could very well be that their drug testing policies are the strictest in all sports and it could very well be that they have more ‘safeguards’ in place than other combat sports. But however much you try to regulate and make it safer, there are still all those dangerous blows to the head. And if you outlaw that, can you still keep the sport of MMA?

While a squatting and battered Rory McDonald was rocking back and forth at UFC 189, the doctor in high heels and bright yellow dress did not even cradle his backward collapse to the mat; she seemed to be concentrating on stuffing cotton in his nostril. Sure, they issue post fight medical “suspensions,” but fighters are encouraged to endure ever more vicious exchanges to qualify for bonuses. (An orthopedic surgeon who treated many Notre Dame football players once told me that after shooting up their knees with cortisone, he told them if they got injured one more additional time, in all likelihood they would never walk again.)

Wanderlei Silva announced in 2014 that the UFC offered him more money to fight even though he was injured at the time. Look at Rory MacDonald during his latest fight and later in the hospital. Is any amount of money worth being carried out on your shield in this manner?

Aside from being the best thing to happen to the UFC, Conor McGregor is a loyal company man, through and through. Rumor has it he had a torn MCL entering the octagon to fight Mendes. Other fighters have suffered worse. Is there a fund set up for long-term medical care when a few years down the road, fighters can’t remember what they are doing one minute to the next? And who pays the medical bills and picks up the tabs for all the wannabes in local gyms who will never see a payday?

Meanwhile, the crazy “warrior” culture marches on. Michelle Waterson recently announced proudly how “MMA is a way of life!” We are still awaiting a serious study about why fighters enter MMA, but from what we have already heard from several female fighters about early abuse and violence, it will probably not be a pretty story. After the fight, Rory MacDonald tweeted, thanking Lawler for “the best time of my life, I’ll never forget this fight.” Unfortunately, MacDonald could not even remember what year it was on his way to the hospital.

So how are we enticed into watching, regardless?

The Slick (and sick) Fantasy

Because all of this is glossed over with a veneer of fantasy. If the promotions truly cared for their fighters and spent as much time detailing the medical condition of a fighter in a hospital (and afterwards!) rather than just praising his “great heart” and “warrior” spirit, the jig would soon be up as we would have to face the human tragedies.

A big part is the training and nutrition. I remember the old Charles Atlas comic book ads where for 10 cents you received his “famous Dynamic Tension book that can make you a new man” and which promised broader chest and shoulders, iron hard stomach muscles, tireless legs, more energy and stamina, more magnetic personality… all for only 10 cents. The dozens of today’s MMA magazines push a similar fantasy and are quite similar in many areas.

Printed on glossy stock reminiscent of 1960s skin mags, their layout and art productions are pretty much cutting edge. And big advertising rolls in from numerous magical dietary supplements. Like Donizetti’s quack Dr. Dulcamara’s “Elixir of Love”, these ads toss around pseudoscientific terms: myostatin levels… boosting nitric oxide… osmotic carb complex spikes insulin… multi-source creatine… probolic… clinically tested… clinically dosed… hydrolyzed peptides… patented 12 hour muscle-feeder technology… super recovery blend…ATP replenishment…BCAAS complex… E-I-E-I-O! Phew!… enough snake oil to make your head spin faster than from a hard left of McGregor’s.

Anyone knows you get more benefit from drinking egg yolks than any of those vanilla flavored powders – and that muscle mass dramatically increases from steroids, not from magic dietary supplements. Pity all the young readers taken in by this gobbledy-gook, which is nothing more than an updated version of late night TV boner pill infomercials with claims of rainforest aphrodisiacs… closely guarded Chinese secrets… amazing herbs cultivated by the Incas… from deep inside the jungles of Krakatoa, etc. No wonder these same magazines run ads for opening your own nutrition shop.

We, the Viewers

Finally, what does our fascination with this “sport” say about us and our culture? To say “the fighters know what they are getting into” is missing the point. We discard our human empathy at our own peril. As our culture becomes more coarse, we fans talk more about primitive emotional “Rocky” scenarios than about the actual skills involved. How much plain old reptilian-brain blood lust is involved? And how much is it a vicarious kind of self-validation – my guy wins, therefore that means I win? Doesn’t our involvement raise disturbing questions about our own honesty? And doesn’t it reveal more about ourselves than all the fighters we analyze and argue about?

Main Photo:

LAS VEGAS, NV – JULY 11: (L-R) Robbie Lawler punches Rory MacDonald in their UFC welterweight title fight during the UFC 189 event inside MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)