MMA is a game of pinpoint accuracy, and fighters without glasses or contacts could have a leg up on the competition. Being close to your opponent is going to be crucial to your success in training and competition. Blurred vision could leave you open for serious injuries. How do MMA fighters who have glasses or contacts fight?
First of all, one has to realize that judging a fight is much harder than you might think. The scoring system and criteria judges are using are complex and have many flaws which often lead to very controversial outcomes of the fight. In recent years, we are seeing an increase in split or majority decisions. Out of 225 decisions in 2017, we saw 58 split or majority decisions which is a disagreement rate of 26%.
The times in which most of these fighters have fought were much, much different. Back then, they were earning much less money than modern fighters, and they were far less known to the public. To make matters worse, most of these legends have fallen into oblivion. It’s really a shame that millions of new MMA fans who follow MMA don’t know much about them.
There are always going to be possible accidents, which are simply part of life in general. However, there is a difference between some martial arts and others when it comes to safety.
In reality, MMA is all about being fast, agile, and having great endurance. And MMA fighting is one of the few sports where big muscles don’t play a vital role and it’s actually counter productive to have big muscles. As such fighters tend to be skinny to be conditioned for fighting than bulky physique.
Some martial arts are for exercise which is non-combat art such as Tai Chi. Therefore, being a martial artist in non-combat arts will not prepare anyone for real-world fighting.