Over the past few years, one of the biggest research areas in the field of sports mouthguards is the potential they have to protect the participants of contact sports both directly and indirectly.

In particular,smart mouthguards, which feature sensors that can warn doctors, teams, referees and players themselves if they have taken a hard enough hit that they might be at risk of having a concussion, have evolved from a promising concept to being rolled out in Rugby.

One particular question that has troubled MMA fighters and trainers is the effects of full-speed full-contact training, with a lot of questions being raised as to which types of training increase the risk of injury and particularly repeated concussions.

This has led,according to ITV News, to a project by the University of Essex in conjunction with MMA gym The Combat Institute in order to study how athletes approach full-contact training and how head impacts during sparring sessions affect the health of fighters.

The study investigates the use of smart mouthguards, how they can be used to quantify potential head impacts and how this information can be used to shape training protocols and allow athletes to shift their regimens as soon as possible.

Given that a risk factor for early-onset dementia is repeated concussions and heavy impacts to the head, having a system that can help athletes to protect themselves and determine the difference between a stiff bump and a potentially concussion-causing impact is essential.

The study, led by Dr Nasir Uddin, aims to equip athletes with the knowledge that could help them make sensible decisions when it comes to their training and how hard they want to go on any given day.

Given that everyone wears mouthguards during contact training and sparring, and the widespread use of smart mouthguards in sports such as rugby has allowed them to get cheaper and more versatile, it could provide the same revolution to training as fitness watches.