Combat Sports Regulation and Science
News and information on the science and regulation of combat sports: who may stop a fight, how fighters report injury, what the head absorbs before a stoppage, and how the rules change. Items link to the primary source. Feeds: Atom · RSS · JSON Feed.
Systematic evidence review, with amateur boxing as the model, and the 18-card RACE1 post-bout screen, released as a preprint for comment, co-authorship and initial peer review.
Primary-source census and verification review of ringside physician stoppage authority across United States combat-sports jurisdictions; final report includes 48-jurisdiction verification, technical appendices, and Supplement S1.
Reporting on the physician examination between rounds three and four at UFC Freedom 250 and the officials' decision to continue.
The article under review: a telephone and email survey of 47 commissions on who holds authority to stop a bout.
"The referee is the sole arbiter of a bout and is the only individual authorized to stop a contest."
A binding allocation: the referee is the sole arbiter, and "if a Ringside Physician recommends that a bout be stopped for medical reasons, the Referee must stop the bout."
NRUC 4.140: "The referee is the sole arbiter of a bout"; NRUC 4.220: the referee determines whether to stop for injury and may consult a ringside physician.
Among 3,765 pilots, 56.1% reported avoiding health care and 26.8% misrepresented or withheld information for fear of losing their certificate: the examiner-as-gatekeeper effect.
Professional Fighters Brain Health Study: 21% of fighters reported concealing head-injury symptoms from medical providers and coaches.
The ARP consensus statement, which notes the state-to-state variation in physician stoppage authority.
In 844 UFC bouts, the mean interval between a knockout strike and stoppage was 3.5 seconds; losers absorbed 18.5 strikes in the 30 seconds before a technical knockout.
Ringside physicians, commission staff, officials, and researchers may send items for this section to editor@searspublishing.net. Items are selected for primary-source value; commentary is labeled as such.
