Prevalence, Patterns, and Characteristics of Eye Injuries in Professional Mixed Martial Arts

Figures & data

Table 1 Frequency and Rates of Eye Injuries in Professional Mixed Martial Arts Competition in Nevada from September 2001 to March 2020

Year of Competition
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Number of eye injuries	5	2	3	11	24	17	24	33	21	21	30	21	17	29	29	26	17	20	12	1
Number of events	3	5	5	6	13	9	25	22	17	18	18	14	8	12	17	13	15	15	19	2
Number of fights	24	39	40	45	103	74	221	185	148	145	171	125	87	121	162	148	110	109	129	22
Number of fighters involved	48	78	80	90	206	148	442	370	296	290	342	250	174	242	324	296	220	218	258	44
Rate of eye injuries per 100 involved fighters	10.42	2.56	3.75	12.22	11.65	11.49	5.43	8.92	7.09	7.24	8.77	8.40	9.77	11.98	8.95	8.78	7.73	9.17	4.65	10.42

Figure 1 Relationship between year of competition and rate of eye injuries sustained per 100 fighters involved from September 2001 to March 2020, with corresponding p-value for Mann–Kendall testing in the upper right-hand corner.

Table 2 Decisions Rendered for Fighters Who Sustained an Ophthalmic Injury During Professional Mixed Martial Arts Competition from September 2001 to March 2020

Decision Type	N	%
Unanimous	139	38.3
Technical knockout (TKO)	116	32.0
Submission	59	16.3
Split decision	31	8.5
Knockout (KO)	7	1.9
Majority decision	6	1.7
No decision	3	0.8
Draw	1	0.3
No contest	1	0.3

Figure 2 Type of eye injuries sustained by fighters in professional mixed martial arts competitions from September 2001 to March 2020.

Table 3 Mean No-Contact Time Recommended by Ringside Physicians for Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Sustaining Various Ophthalmic Injuries, September 2001 to March 2020

Injury Type	N	Average No-Contact Time
Orbital fracture	23	3.2 weeks
Unknown	4	5 weeks
Eye injury	3	3.7 weeks
Retina injury	2	4.5 weeks
Eye laceration	2	3 weeks
Eyelid laceration	2	4 weeks
Eyebrow laceration	1	4 weeks
Corneal abrasion	1	3 weeks
Contusion/hematoma	1	3 weeks