the 'mma is healthier than boxing' thing is a counterintuitive malcolm gladwell style thing that like all those things is complete bullshit upon closer inspection, retired mma fighters have equally high if not higher rates of CTE and significantly worse quality of life injuries, it was just that for years the oldest cohorts of mma fighters were younger than boxers so the damage wasn't as apparent
UFC are exactly the guys I’d expect to oversell their safety, but c'mon, sniff test. I totally buy that “UFC fighter” is like “professional linebacker” in that you might get CTE from the accumulation of massively forceful hits.
But like, the idea that you might get “punch-drunk” from one bad round and your manager had to make sure not to match you against someone too hard or else your career and human function would be permanently over, that was a boxing thing