Welterweight boxer Oscar Diaz remained in critical condition Thursday after undergoing surgery to relieve swelling in his brain.  The boxer collapsed after the 10th round of his recent loss to Delvin Rodriguez on Wednesday night, as part of the main event of ESPN2’s “Wednesday Night Fights”.  The surgery was performed at San Antonio’s medical center where Diaz was under heavy sedation, although it was not a medically induced coma. 

Diaz, who is only 25 years old, was 26-3 with 12 KO’s coming into the showdown but had been taking heavy punishment the entire fight.  Fighting in front of his hometown crowd in San Antonio, Diaz’s right eye was completely swollen shut and he appeared to be dazed, although clearly he did not want to dissappoint the crowd.  While receiving instructions for the 11th round from his trainer Tommy Brooks, Diaz collapsed and was stationary as they took him out on a stretcher.

For fans of combat sports this is a worst-case-scenario.  Death or serious injuries occurring during a fight is a two-pronged attack of negativaty due not only to concern for the individual at risk, but for the future of the sport and its mainstream popularity.  Luckily for boxing, the sport has broken through the mainstream years ago, and despite a consistent string of deaths and serious brain damage to its participants, it has become a part of American culture and lure.  Popularized by mythical figures like Mohammed Ali, Joe Frazier, and brawlers like Mike Tyson, the sport is not in danger of being shut down or even more heavily regulated.

That being said, MMA is often a target of heavy criticism in recent years as its popularity has expanded. Despite the fact that only ONE MMA related death has ever occurred, compared to countless in the sport of boxing, it is MMA that is taking the fall for all combat sports.  It doesn’t even make sense–the diversity of MMA allows for strikes to occur to such a wide variety of areas on the body,  while boxing focuses virtually all of the strikes on the most sensitive part of the body–the brain. 

Boxers almost always have long-term brain damage while no such link has ever been made to MMA fighters.  Simply put, the outward appearance of brutality in MMA does not equate with actual danger to the professional fighters.  Those who are in positions of power to sanction or not sanction sports in their respective states need to keep the reaility of the sport in mind and not just judge a book by its cover, so to speak.