Compared to other martial arts – deaths in BJJ are incredibly rare. Whilst practicing martial arts very rarely leads to deaths in general, it is even less likely when doing BJJ. There are several reasons for this that will be explored, but it’s safe to say that training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is far less dangerous than the average martial art – especially when striking is involved. Data from 2019 shows us that there was not a single death in a sanctioned grappling match, whereas boxing had 4 deaths during this period. If data was taken from un-sanctioned bouts then there is no doubt that this gap would grow much wider.
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BJJ has very few concussions
If you take the average boxer or muay thai practitioner and look at their sparring over a 10 year period – the chances are they’ve been concussed or knocked out at some point. Sadly, this is part of doing a combat sport and with strikes involved, there are always risks. Whilst concussions will rarely kill – in rare cases they both can and do.
For example, if the practitioner is highly dehydrated then the concussion is more likely to be serious. Further, even if the practitioner isn’t killed then repeated concussions can lead to CTE and brain damage down the line. Whilst this doesn’t kill the person, it does substantially worsen their quality of life.
In BJJ, concussions are incredibly rare due to the lack of striking. BJJ is a grappling-based sport instead of punches or kicks, so concussions are incredibly rare. Perhaps the average BJJ practitioner of 10 years has had one concussion or maybe none at all. This is because it’s difficult to get hit during BJJ and would only happen during a freak accident if someone fell badly onto their head or something similar. Because of this, the chance of dying whilst practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is incredibly low.
BJJ doesn’t involve brutal weight cutting, unlike other martial arts
If you’re a competitor then weight cutting isn’t an issue in BJJ. Whilst it’s something to be mindful of – you can often compete at your normal weight and have a healthy diet throughout the year. Even the top competitors don’t really have to cut too much weight, it isn’t like cutting weight for other martial arts.
For instance, an amateur BJJ competitor could compete once a month and not have to cut weight as it isn’t really needed when competing. However, an amateur kickboxer, for instance, may only compete once or twice per year. Culturally weight cutting is far more prominent when competing in a striking-based setting.
This can be seen in sports like MMA where cutting can be dangerous due to extreme dehydration. If done wrong, cutting weight can threaten your life and is very dangerous. This simply isn’t a part of BJJ competitions, even at the highest levels. Whilst death by cutting weight is very rare in itself, it’s something that doesn’t happen in BJJ so it’s not something to worry about.
Chokes don’t kill?
To date, there have been a few scientific studies on chokes in BJJ and Judo. Whilst chokes can definitely kill, there’s still a lot of confusion around the dangers of choking someone unconscious. For example, if a choke is applied during training, you will often tap before going out. It’s incredibly rare for people to go out, even whilst competing. Because of this, the brain isn’t deprived of oxygen so the practitioner is fine – even if it may feel uncomfortable.
Not only this, but the few studies done on being choked unconscious say that there’s no long-term brain damage. For instance, if someone goes out for 30 seconds and wakes up then they will be ok in the long-run. The only time this is dangerous is if the student is unconscious for over 1-2 minutes which is incredibly rare. At this point, brain damage or death becomes more likely. However, even still people have woken up with no apparent issues.
Because of this, chokes should be practiced in a safe environment. Typically most practitioners will never go unconscious, but those who do are only out for a few seconds. Chokes are only dangerous when the person is out for over 1-2 minutes and even then a lot of the time this is ok. However, if the person is out for longer then death is always a possibility. To date, however, there haven’t really been any cases of this in the media which shows how unlikely death is whilst training.
One issue which is again incredibly rare, is if the person choked has a blood clot on their brain. In this case, the likelihood of death is much higher if practicing chokes. However, it should be noted that if the individual has a blood clot on their brain then they are already in a high-risk category. With this in mind, you could be more likely to get a stroke whilst training if you do have an undiagnosed blood clot. It should be noted that yet again, this is an extreme example that is very rare.
Summary
Deaths in BJJ are very unusual – and this is to the point where it’s almost not worth talking about them due to being such a rarity. Not only are deaths in martial arts rare in general – but when looking at BJJ deaths specifically, this is even less. As mentioned, BJJ doesn’t feature striking like other martial arts so it instantly becomes less dangerous. Not only this, but it is often taught in a safe environment where choking safely is the main priority. The result is that if you’re concerned about deaths in BJJ – you shouldn’t be. From scientific studies to common sense, the reality is BJJ is one of the safest martial arts around.
