MMA (or cage fighting) and marijuana

According to InsideSport, over 300 million people are following MMA closely. You may not belong and are wondering: What is MMA and does it resemble a cage fight? Oh well. MMA is the extreme sport of mixed martial arts. A combination of different techniques including boxing, wrestling and martial arts are used in a cage until a winner is determined.

Everything is overseen by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), an American mixed martial arts promotion company based in Las Vegas. They are the world’s leading provider of MMA promotions. Zuffa is the parent company of Endeavor Group Holdings.

MMA is about as dangerous as any other full contact sport. MMA athletes can suffer the same injuries as players in sports like hockey and soccer, including sprains, fractures and concussions. The difference lies in the intensity of the one-on-one combat versus two teams.

So do MMA fighters use marijuana, or at least medical marijuana? Oh yeah.

In 2020, 45.9% of MMA fighters used the plant to improve their mental and physical abilities, recover from intense training sessions, and heal injuries or pain. Around 76.5% say they use CBD for the same benefits.

In January 2021, the UFC and the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced a significant change to the UFC’s anti-doping program. The updated rules went into effect on January 1, 2021, and said that athletes would no longer be penalized if they tested positive for marijuana, specifically THC.

Before the change, athletes were only tested for marijuana in-competition around a fight, but thresholds existed and a positive test above the threshold resulted in a doping violation. Under the new rules, fighters will no longer be penalized if they test positive for marijuana unless there is evidence that the substance was used for performance-enhancing purposes.

“It really is backed by science, like everything we do with this program,” Jeff Novitzky, UFC’s senior vice president of athlete health and performance, told MMA Fighting.

Increasingly, professional athletes in sports such as soccer, cycling or long-distance running are turning to cannabis use to relieve pain from post-game injuries and speed recovery. Medical marijuana can help with pain, swelling, and healing from injuries.

RELATED: Marijuana and Athletes — What You Should Know

Cage fighting has become such a popular and mainstream sport that Twitter owner Elon Musk has challenged Meta founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg to an MMF match. Musk seemed surprised that the martial arts expert seemed to accept Zuckerberg. While Musk is a marijuana fanatic, Zuckerberg isn’t sure he’ll use it for his fight recovery.

Photo by 2H Media via Unsplash

RELATED: Are So Many NFL Players Really Using Marijuana?

UFC is part of new holding company William Morris Agency and Endeavor Talent Agency. Endeavor Group Holdings represents artists in film, television, music, theater, digital media and publishing and represents the NFL and NHL. They also own Professional Bull Riders (PBR). A deal to buy WWE and merge with UFC is set to be finalized in the second half of 2023. Endeavor is led by CEO Ari Emanuel, whose brother Rahm Emanuel was Mayor of Chicago and President Obama’s chief of staff.