Thanks To Insurance Backing Out Becomes An Option

By Raphael Garcia

Many coaches frequently ask this question to their athletes: “Are you hurt or are you injured?” The manner that the question is answered determines whether an athlete can continue competing or not. UFC management may want to begin asking their fighters the same question, because it seems like more and more are stepping away from competition due to injury. And there is one main reason for this.

Zuffa has continued to innovate as it has grown into the most influential and powerful organization in the sport of mixed martial arts, with nearly every ranked fighter in every major weight class under contract. Part of this innovation has been to drastically alter the way they work with their contracted fighters. On May 9, Zuffa announced that they would begin to provide insurance to all of their contracted fighters. HCC Insurance Holdings agreed to provide year-round insurance to any UFC or Strikeforce contracted fighter, covering any type of injury sustained during training, or certain other non-competition activities. The acquisition of a year-round insurance provider is a major step towards the UFC becoming a “major league” sports entity on par with the mainstream organizations, and is crucial to the development of both Zuffa and MMA as a whole. However, this new insurance may be a factor in why we have recently seen so many fighters remove themselves from competition.

Both UFC 133 and UFC Live 5 have been riddled with injuries to fighters on tap to compete. The main event for UFC 133 had to be revamped, and now features Tito Ortiz replacing the injured Phil Davis against Rashad Evans. Less than a week later, two other light heavyweights, Vladimir Matyushenko and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, were forced to pull out due to their own injuries.

UFC Live 5 has also had a number of unexpected withdrawals. Stephen Bonnar, Tom Lawlor, John Makdessi and Paul Taylor have all removed themselves from the event due to various ailments. Between the UFC’s next two events, that’s seven different fighters who have already declared themselves too injured to continue. UFC brass has done a strong job in replacing each of these combatants, but it’s still a problem of which we may be only seeing the beginning.

Fighting hurt was the only option for many competitors at one time. Pulling out of an event would mean a substantial loss of money. Not only would fighters not receive the money for competing, but if the injury was bad enough to send them to the hospital, they would also have to foot the bills. Not anymore, due to the insurance policy that Zuffa has set in place. Now fighters on Zuffa’s roster can use that insurance to help cover the costs of said injuries; this option makes their roster spots that much more vital.

Having this insurance may help convince a fighter to step out of a competition to protect his or her career, especially when a loss in the UFC can quickly turn into walking papers. Instead of taking that chance, a fighter may be more likely to withdraw from a fight to compete another day, rather than show up injured and not be able to compete at his or her highest level.

Injuries are a constant in any type of athletic endeavor. There are many instances of a professional athlete having to step away from competition for an extended time to heal a growing number of pains. As Zuffa continues to grow into a worldwide sports entity that employs high-level athletes, and the stakes of their competition get higher and higher, the organization, and its fans, will have to deal with fighters stepping away to attend to their wounded bodies. How well they regroup in those situations will be an important factor in the sport’s potential development.