Injuries are all too common in mixed martial arts (MMA). This year has been one of the worst years for the sport, plagued by injuries that have had major ramifications to events, fighters and promotions, specifically Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

As the promotion's head honcho Dana White stated, it's all part of the business.

Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez was the latest high-profile fighter under the ZUFFA umbrella that was struck down by injury, suffering a separated shoulder in preparing for his title fight against Pat Healy, which was scheduled to go down this weekend (Sept. 29, 2012).

One can't avoid injuries, it's a part for the sport as much as fighting itself. Many believe if fighters didn't go ‘hard' in training, many of the injuries would be avoided.

"El Nino," on the other hand, begs to differ and says if people want fighters to 'excel,' they can't expect them to take it easy in training, as he recently told Sherdog.com:

"I'm trying to just get ready for the fight and be prepared as possible [in camp]. You just hope to stay injury free. It's hard to put that on the fighters: the responsibility of not getting injured. You can't just spar light and go out there and perform like crap. It's a tough thing to do to tell them to take it easy. You guys want to see people excel and perform, but then you want them to take it easy in training. It's kind of a Catch-22. I think I did everything I could to get ready for this fight. Did I do everything I could to make sure I wasn't injured? Probably not, but you can't have that mentality in your training camp."

Gilbert's injury gave Showtime officials no other option but to cancel the event altogether.

How about it Maniacs, do you agree with "El Nino's" comments? Is there simply no way to avoid training-related injuries?