15 years ago, I was in an elite MMA gym and a guy sparring got knocked out cold, completely unconscious. Except for the coach who waited for the fighter to come to, it looked like no one took any notice of it.

There has been a momentous change in the degree to which the sport takes head trauma seriously. That has extended even to boxing, where at places like Kronk Boxing the sparring was like a fight.

Following the recent death in Australia of Dwight Ritchie following a sparring session with Michael Zerafa, boxing legend Jeff Fenech has called for a new safety-first approach to sparring. Ritchie’s death follows that of a number of boxers this year, including American Patrick Day, Russian Maxim Dadashev, Argentinian Hugo Alfredo Santillan, and Bulgarian Boris Stanchov due to injuries sustained in boxing this year.

“We’ve got to get all these trainers together and let them know a spar is not to kill each other, a spar is to help them get prepared,” said Fenech, who is himself experiencing health issues related to head trauma, to Caden Helmers for The Sydney Morning Herald. “You don’t get prepared by getting your head bashed in, and it’s starting to piss me off. I’d love to have the opportunity to tell these guys, because I’ve been there.

“I’ve done it, I’ve hurt people, and I hate myself for it, when I think of how hard and how much I hit people. They bring somebody from another gym specifically to be a punching bag. It’s not right. Would you like somebody to bring your kid in there to be a punching bag? No, you wouldn’t. Those kids have got mothers, fathers and everything else. Look after them. Spar light, have some rules.

“Boxing is a sport where we try to knock people out. Now when I think of it, although I was this big gladiator and thought I was big, strong and tough, wow. I’ve had memory loss and think, ‘What’s it from? Is it from being 55 or getting punched in the head?’”

Fenech’s words apply equally to MMA. Sparring with the intent of causing injury should no longer be a part of our sport.