According to this study by Michael Hutchinson the rate of injury among the eleven biggest MMA/UFC camps is about 10%. The highest rate of injury belongs to the camp with the least total fights (Serra-Longo) at 16% (7 of 43). AKA, who Dana White singled-out as being archaic, have a rate of 15%. The lowest rate of injury belongs to Team Alpha Male at 5%. Specific individuals like Anthony Pettis, Cain Velasquez, Josh Thomson, and Jose Aldo tend to skew the numbers by being injured more frequently than their teammates. The average fight card has 12 fights meaning there are 24 fighters competing. A 10% injury rate means 2.4 of those fighters will be forced to drop-out, affecting up to three fights. The UFC is building a massive new headquarters in Las Vegas which will include a rehabilitation clinic for the fighters, presumably in response to the outbreak of training injuries. In my opinion the real issue is bloat. The UFC has upwards of 600 fighters on the roster competing in ten weight classes. Although they aim for three fights per year per fighter they actually only get about two, meaning there are 600 fights per year, necessitating about 50 events, with roughly half or more of those cards not having title fights as headliners. Even if the titles were defended three times per year only 60% of the cards would have title fights maximum. If one of the fighters who is injured is a main-event or co-main event participant the card suffers, sometimes to the point where it has to be called-off. It leaves the UFC with two options--have the fighters compete more frequently (the Cerrone model) or trim the roster to ranked fighters (25-30 per class) for more significant events (the Stacked model). On the surface both options seem unrealistic so the UFC is attempting to find a workaround by preventing injuries altogether. Good luck with that.
