It’s a question fans of combat sports have long grappled over: What is more dangerous, mixed martial arts or boxing?

With news of Ronda Rousey’s six-month medical suspension after being knocked out by a kick to the chin during her U.F.C. bantamweight championship defeat, it might seem that the mix of strikes, slams and submissions makes M.M.A. the victor. But a new study that compared the two sports found that although combatants in the octagon get hurt more often, their counterparts in the boxing ring suffer more severe injuries, such as getting knocked unconscious.

After reviewing post-fight medical examination records from more than 1,180 M.M.A. combatants and 550 boxers over 10 years researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada reported that M.M.A. fighters end up with minor injuries such as contusions, bruises, bloody noses and facial cuts at higher rates than boxers, while boxers are more likely to suffer from more serious injuries such as concussions, loss of consciousness, broken noses and bones, and eye injuries including retinal detachment. Boxers were also more likely to receive longer post-fight medical suspensions than M.M.A. athletes.

The study, which was published earlier this month in The Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, is one of the first and largest to compare injuries between the two heavy hitting sports. Though it offers insight into the dangers of the two sports, it does little to answer another question that fighting fans also wrangle with: Could Ronda Rousey beat Floyd Mayweather in a no rules match?