The injury epidemic that took place in 2014 has not slowed down in 2015. Fighters have been dropping out of fights at a high rate, and the blame is starting to fall on the fight camps.
Dana White recently trashed the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) for their dangerous training methods after Khabib Nurmagomedov pulled out of a much anticipated fight with Donald Cerrone.
Fight camp injuries were again brought into the spotlight when former UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis pulled out of his scheduled fight with Myles Jury. Team Roufusport is a camp that has been riddled with injuries from fighters like Pettis (4), Erik Koch (3) and Pascal Krauss (2), which is why they appear near the top of the list.
Full MMA Fight Camp Breakdown (Sorted by Injury %)
| Camp | Scheduled | Camp Injury | Percentage | Opponent Injury | Late Replacement |
| Serra-Longo | 43 | 7 | 16.3% | 5 | 6 |
| Nova Uniao | 88 | 14 | 15.9% | 12 | 1 |
| Roufusport | 73 | 11 | 15.1% | 6 | 2 |
| AKA | 97 | 14 | 14.4% | 6 | 1 |
| Blackzilians | 69 | 9 | 13.0% | 14 | 2 |
| Team Tri-Star | 97 | 10 | 10.3% | 10 | 0 |
| Black House | 111 | 10 | 9.0% | 14 | 3 |
| American Top Team | 163 | 14 | 8.6% | 16 | 10 |
| Jackson-Winkeljohn | 201 | 16 | 8.0% | 22 | 9 |
| Alliance MMA | 103 | 8 | 7.8% | 11 | 3 |
| Team Alpha Male | 98 | 5 | 5.1% | 10 | 4 |
| Total | 1143 | 118 | 10.3% | 127 | 41 |
The stats have been organized in a way that reflects fights under Zuffa owned promotions (UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Invicta) since January 1st, 2009. Injuries are only counted if the fighter was in an active fight camp for a scheduled fight, therefore a fighter like Dominick Cruz only has 2 injuries accounted for as his other injuries occurred when he was not scheduled for a fight.
The title of the most injury prone fight camp goes to Nova Uniao, with a 15.9% injury rate over 88 scheduled fights. The most injury prone fighters from the camp are Jose Aldo (4), Claudia Gadelha (3), Renan Barao (2) and Hacran Dias (2).
Although Team Serra-Longo posts the highest injury rate, half of those injuries come from one man, Chris Weidman (4), as well the team has a very low number of scheduled fights (43) within Zuffa owned promotions.
The American Kickboxing Academy found itself near the top of the list with a 14.4% injury rate, with fighters like Luke Rockhold (4), Josh Thomson (4) and Khabib Nurmagomedov (2) being the most injury prone. UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has only pulled out of one scheduled fight due to an injury, with his other injuries occurring before a fight was scheduled.
Team Alpha Male continues its reign as the least injury prone fight camp, sporting an incredibly low injury rate of 5.1% in 98 scheduled fights. Danny Castillo, Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez have all been scheduled for over 16 fights without pulling out due to injury. UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw is responsible for two of the fight camps five injuries.
Team Jackson-Winklejohn has had fighters scheduled in 201 fights while maintaining the 3rd lowest injury rate at 8%. Donald Cerrone has been scheduled for 30 fights while fighting for the UFC/WEC and has not yet pulled out of a fight due to an injury.
To check out the injury rates from November 2014, click the link.
