Dangers of an actual Fight Club? (Hypothetically only)

[Twinrehz]

So I was honestly wondering, if one started an actual fight club, where men punch at each other just for the hell of it, would it be dangerous for the participants? As in, would the bodily harm be just superficial, or would participants actually be in danger of contracting severe, debilitating injuries and possibly suffer death?

I know the human body is a pretty frail thing, but in some cases it's actually pretty durable. I've also heard that before they started using gloves in boxing, they never threw punches at each others face, is this true?

 

[Phasmal]

Uh, yeah, it wouldn't be a good idea. People would die.

It's not unheard of for a person to die from just a single blow to the head.

 

[Twinrehz]

But are they edge cases, or does this happen a lot?

 

[Lieju]

would participants actually be in danger of contracting severe, debilitating injuries and possibly suffer death?

Yes. Don't start a fight club.

I've also heard that before they started using gloves in boxing, they never threw punches at each others face, is this true?

Well there are plenty of images of people punching each other in the face from that time period... From wikipedia:

"Furthermore, as the contestants did not have heavy leather gloves and wristwraps to protect their hands, they used different punching technique to preserve their hands, because the head was a common target to hit full out. Almost all period manuals have powerful straight punches with the whole body behind them to the face (including forehead) as the basic blows."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing#Early_London_prize_ring_rules

 

[Thaluikhain]

I know the human body is a pretty frail thing, but in some cases it's actually pretty durable. I've also heard that before they started using gloves in boxing, they never threw punches at each others face, is this true?

IIRC, it's because you hurt your knuckles more.

As an aside, the "king hit", a single blow to the head had Australian law come down on it hard because of a fatality one NYE and a media circus.

 

[omega 616]

Bit of fear mongering here.

People have died from single blows but in the ones I have heard of it's when a guy gets punched, falls and his head bounces off say a table or stage or kerb stone etc it's not the punch, it's what your head bounces off on the way down .... otherwise a lot of world star hip hop would be snuff films.

On the other hand, getting blasted in the head over time causes brain trauma. I watch a lot of Joe Rogans podcast and he has doctors and stuff on, they talk about that kind of stuff. (has other people on like he had Gary Johnson pimping his campaign to beat Clinton and Trump. Has fighters on, hunters, comedians etc)

However if it's truly like fight club, it would be bare knuckle, which is so much safer. In boxing and MMA the gloves protect the hands/wrist NOT the opponents head. They allow you to punch so much harder and with whatever technique you like and still be effective.

If you take the gloves off, head shots are dangerous to your hands and wrists 'cos the skull is pretty dense and you have a lot of small bones in your hand/wrist and if you can't punch properly, then you're definitely breaking something. If you look at the wrist part of gloves, it's very thick and rigid to support the wrist from the shock of punching.

You're meant to land a punch with your index and middle finger knuckles, nothing else. So if you can't do that, you could end up shattering the last two knuckles (ring and pinky finger) or your wrist bends wrongly. People often punch with their palm facing them, which means you either punch with your fingers (breaking them and deliver less power) or have very limited range or you slap your opponent and not punch them. (palm faces down when throwing a punch)

So taking all that into consideration, bare knuckle is safer if you know how to do it properly but fight club style stuff is usually under ground fighting, which is as dangerous as all fuck!

It's illegal, so people will take P.E.D's, fixing will happen, doubt there will be any medical team 'cos what trained doc is going to be at an illegal event? Probably run by blood thirsty dumb dumbs.

If you want to fight do it properly. Go to a proper gym and in all likelihood they will get you a safe fight

 

[Zhukov]

... or would participants actually be in danger of contracting severe, debilitating injuries and possibly suffer death?

Yes. This would happen.

One punch can kill you. It usually won't, obviously, but it can. The most common cause is someone getting knocked out and then hitting their head on a hard surface on the way down.

Upwards angled blows to the nose can inflict long term injury as can blows to the bone around the eyes.

A good kick to the knee, the kind that any chump can manage, can put someone in hospital and unable to walk for weeks.

Also there's the possibility of some arsehole actively trying to inflict injury for shits and giggles.

A grappler who knows what they're doing can fuck up a body long term in more ways than I care to count. I'm a half-trained amateur and I can dislocate a guy's shoulder four different ways, break a wrist, break fingers (anyone can do that), hyper-extend knees and elbows, the works. Then consider that there are people out there who make me look like an anemic kitten.

Fight clubs are a shitty idea. As has been demonstrated by numerous people who had the same idea after seeing the movie of the same name.

If you want to fight, join a boxing gym or something similar.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

But are they edge cases, or does this happen a lot?

No, its actually pretty common. Most punches to the head will cause minor brain damage, and after a few more you'll likely die from swelling.
An actual fight-club would be 5-20 second long bouts to KO, usually ending in death.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

One unavoidable danger is halving of IQ the second someone joins followed by injuries.

 

[Cycloptomese]

A good punch can easily result in getting your jaw wired shut for months. You DO NOT want that to happen. You have to keep wire snips on you at all times, in the event that you have to vomit. Say goodbye to solid food... etc.

 

[Twinrehz]

If I gave anyone the impression that I actually wanted to put my life on the line and actually try forming or joining any underground fight club, I'm sorry; that was not the intention, and I have no desire to do so. (I'm too much of a coward and a lazy man to do so).

It's not that long ago that I actually saw the movie Fight Club (I'm 28 years old, btw; I don't watch movies all that much), and it's been grinding a bit in the back of my head, because based on what I've seen around the web (like for example Honest Action on youtube) it made me wonder where the border between wound and debilitating injury actually lies. I realize that there can be a lot of hyperbole in both directions, hollywood exaggerates violence for the sake of entertainment, yet in many cases the human body seems extremely frail.

To put people reading this at ease; I know the difference between film and reality most of the time (i.e what is and what isn't possible to do or achieve); this was merely a minor thing that's been buzzing in my head, mostly because of the idea of letting people have an outlet for their aggression. Yes, the plot of Fight Club is a lot more convoluted and messed up than that, but I was genuinely curious about this minor point about the durability of the human body.

I realize there's not much point behind this thread, but the thought got stuck in my head, and so I mostly just wanted to confirm my suspicions about it being a very bad idea.

Decent enough movie, though.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Yeah, definitely a pretty dangerous endeavor for anyone involved. Having said that, it depends, the term "fight club" could sway pretty loosely in any direction. In a dusty underground basement, where everyone is hyped up and just wants to see blood, it's almost a given that things go wrong. It's mostly in the hands of the fighters, and their code of honor.

However, if there's some kind of agreement that people stick to the rules of when to stop fighting (like in the movie, someone goes limp, taps out, or gives up I think?) then generally that should do it, as well as a sprung ground on which to be slammed/fall onto. Also, a referee or two, at least to stop someone from going apeshit and dislocating limbs or disabling/disfiguring someone for life would be handy.

I've seen various documentaries of actual fight clubs, to the guys in the hay bale squares in Ireland, to the neighborhood redneck punch fests, despite how savage they look, rarely do people go home with immediately apparent extreme damage. I would say it's the long term damage that is the worst, i.e. head trauma and joint injuries, resulting in calcium deposits, and scarification. The head trauma is the scariest, with the NFL being a prime example of how badly people can wind up, even with helmets on their whole careers.

Have a quick look at this if you're curious of the effects of these high-impact sports.

Chronic traumatic encelopathy (punch-drunk)

 

[bdeamon]

The drama can get annoying. Members complaining about how people not wiping off the blood from the last round, or not picking up all the teeth. Tony starts sleeping with Mitch's ex-wife, and instead of trying to kill each other, they start arguing and crying. Before you know it, cliques are formed, and you have to take sides...
It's just not worth the hassle. Also, yeah I guess you could get injured.

 

[happyninja42]

But are they edge cases, or does this happen a lot?

There is significant, and growing evidence that repeated head trauma can, shock of shocks, cause brain damage. Not to mention damage to other parts of the body over time.

This has been apparent in professional boxers (basically organized, regulated, relatively safe fight clubs) for years, and has also been made apparent for american football players as well. And these are people who are wearing protective clothing, to minimize the damage they would incur from their sport. And if this is a club, where the people regularly show up to fight each other over and over, yeah the damage would be cumulative.

To think that bare knuckle, unregulated fighting wouldn't cause serious and permanent harm seems a bit silly.

 

[Thaluikhain]

It's not that long ago that I actually saw the movie Fight Club (I'm 28 years old, btw; I don't watch movies all that much), and it's been grinding a bit in the back of my head, because based on what I've seen around the web (like for example Honest Action on youtube) it made me wonder where the border between wound and debilitating injury actually lies. I realize that there can be a lot of hyperbole in both directions, hollywood exaggerates violence for the sake of entertainment, yet in many cases the human body seems extremely frail.

I'm not an expert, but I'd say the distance between an easily recoverable injury and a serious lasting one is somewhat less than the width of random chance.

 

[axlryder]

As I'm sure everyone else has said, it can be very lethal. Just getting hit the wrong way aside (which is pretty rare), both participants often have no idea what preexisting conditions one of them might have, and it could just take a regular blow to the head or chest to kill them. This is not as uncommon an occurrence as you might think.

I say this because, given the proper fighting conditions (padded floors, nothing to hit one's head on, observation of basic rules, etc.) and two healthy participants, usually simple bouts will not result in any kind of dramatic short term injury beyond a minor concussion.