Death of MMA fighter in South Carolina raises questions about regulation
Published by Zach Arnold on July 7th, 2010 in Current Events

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When Michael Kirkham, aged 30, turned professional as a MMA fighter, he did so with a so-so amateur MMA record. One look at a recent fight he had with D’Juan Owens (which had been on Youtube but was pulled) from last April showed that he really didn’t look skilled or experienced enough to become a professional. The problem of having too many amateur fighters who are not skilled enough or overmatched to become true professionals is a big issue right now in Mixed Martial Arts.

That the fight took place in South Carolina should not matter, but obviously it will because there’s plenty of stereotypes against ‘the South.” Nevertheless, South Carolina recently passed MMA legislation. It’s a state that, compared to many other US states, is poor in a lot of ways. It’s definitely a working class state, but it’s not a state that attracts a lot of big fighting events and therefore the athletic commission does not have the funds of say, New York.

UFC has been sending Marc Ratner and some of its fighters to get MMA legislation passed in Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts. The idea, on paper, is that the more states with athletic commissions that regulate Mixed Martial Arts, the safer the sport will be in terms of its track record. It’s a theory that I largely agree with it, but it’s just that — theory. What’s theoretical is not always practical.

Many states that have athletic commissions are suffering from enormous financial problems. California, which has a state athletic commission has does take in good revenue, is in complete chaos. It’s economy resembles Greece more than anyone else, and the commission structure itself is a total bureaucratic mess. A place like South Carolina, where it’s hard to enough to find money for education, is likely not going to have the resources to adequately regulate Mixed Martial Arts events the proper way.

And therein lies the big problem. Half-assing regulation can lead to fighters suffering from permanent injuries or death. Eddie Goldman recently listed on his radio show a list of medical tests not performed for fighters to get licensed and fight on shows in South Carolina. An EKG (heart) test, not required. EEG (brain) test, not required. CT scan, not required. MRI, not required. Complete physical exam, not required. Only limited blood testing. No blood clotting test. No chest x-ray. No TB test (something you get tested for if you go to prison).

The only way you can justify not having fighters go through a battery of tests like this is to say you have no money to do it or that the sport is safer than boxing or another combat sport and therefore, why, there’s no need to do it. Ugh.

Scarily, we’ve seen this type of thing at work and in a state that actually generate revenue from high-profile moneymaking events and that’s Nevada. Under Keith Kizer’s tenure, we had a scandal a few weeks ago involving Matt Hamill being allowed to fight with what was thought to be a staph infection. His examination was performed by doctors who are specialized in emergency trauma, not dermatology or anyone who is a skin specialist. Also, Nevada continues to not do out-of-competition drug testing like they have been pushing in the media for so long to prove somehow that they were tougher than anyone else on steroids. We had no out-of-competition drug testing for anyone on the recent UFC 116 card, a card in which Brock Lesnar was arrested for steroids in the past and Chris Leben failed a UFC-administered drug test for steroids when he fought in the UK on a previous event.

The lack of real action by state athletic commissions, both big and small, is eroding the confident the public has in seeing legitimate regulation of Mixed Martial Arts events. It’s a dangerous sport and anyone who parrots the line that it’s the safest sport in the world should be immediately discounted in your book in terms of credibility. It’s a violent sport. The problem that the industry faces right now is decided on whether or not having every state implement half-assed regulation is better than no regulation at all. In other words, does regulation without resources actually help clean up the sport or just help to mask more of the problems that already exist?

In other words, are you just passing MMA legislation for legal liability and plausible deniability in case something bad happens? Is this simply an exercise to make everyone feel better about themselves and for PR purposes primarily to put up a facade on those who don’t pay attention to the sport closely? It’s a horrible debate to have because I don’t want the sport to be underground, but I also understand that half-assed regulation isn’t going to significantly improve the quality of the health & safety of fighters in the business on lower-level events. What you’re essentially doing with half-assed regulation is imposing more financial burdens on honest promoters and the underground promoters remain underground without getting exposed or worrying about a state bureaucrat wagging their finger at them while ignoring what’s really going on for medical testing.

The argument I usually hear about half-assed state regulation of Mixed Martial Arts is that it’s better than nothing. You hear this primarily on the steroid testing issue in Nevada.

‘Well, it may not be a great testing system and a lot of guys use, but hey, at least it limits the extreme users from going off a cliff with their dosage intake.’

You can half-ass regulation but you can’t half-ass somebody dying or being permanently disabled. Proponents of regulation, including me, need to come up with a cogent and coherent argument for regulation in all states but in such a manner that recognizes the financial realities of the times we live in. If we can’t be honest with ourselves on this point, then we are simply allowing more venues to open up for business where profit is put first over fighter safety.

Zach Arnold is the owner and editor of FightOpinion.com.