Professional Mixed Martial Arts GPS Tracking: An Exploratory Report.

Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Florida, USA

Objective. The purpose of the investigation is to report live-sparring microsensor data for the Professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) athlete. Background. Microsensor, wearable technology is a non-invasive approach to monitoring an athlete’s training stress through multiple variables such as load, acceleration, change of direction, jumps, etc. Although data has been analyzed in multiple athletic populations, minimal data exists in the MMA population. Methods. Professional MMA athletes (n=3; 27.25 ± 2.4 yrs.; 180.7 ± 4.4 cm. 77.3 ± .34 kg.) signed under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) were monitored using a single validated microsensor with 100Hz tri-axial accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer (Catapult Sports, OptimEye S5). The athletes participated in a sparring practice (1h 17min 58s) consisting of multiple disciplines including striking, wrestling, and MMA. The microsensor was secured to the middle of the upper-back located between the right and left trapezius muscles. Player Load (PL), Player Load Per Minute (PLM), Maximum Heart Rate (MHR), and Average Heart Rate (HR) were reported for the sparring session. Means and measures of variability (i.e, standard deviation) were computed for all variables via. SPSS 20. Results. A descriptive analysis of the session demonstrated a mean PL of 425.51 ± 74.11, PLM of 5.45 ± 1.0, MHR of 207.33 ± 15.32, HR of 138.80 ± 5.41. Conclusion. The exploratory data and use of validated microsensors may contribute to the quantifying of variables such as PL and PLM during a MMA sparring session. Grants. N/A