After ongoing advocacy through our charitable organization Fighting Foundation I am very proud to announce that this week Ontario’s Athletics Commissioner became the latest regulator to share concussion, CTE and other vital brain health information with fighters.
Ontario is Canada’s biggest jurisdiction and the Commission just enjoyed their busiest year of regulation since 1950 overseeing 29 sanctioned and regulated events in 2022, 21 boxing and 8 in MMA.
Luke Kotyk, the acting Commissioner, just emailed every single contestant, second, promoter, manager, matchmaker and official in the Province and shared Fighting Foundation’s brain health basics video. CTE and Concussion posters co-created by the Association of Ringside Physicians along with additional brain health resources.
Thank you Ontario for becoming the latest Athletic Commission to take brain health knowledge seriously and to share vital information about serious issues such as the occupational risk of CTE with fighters. We appreciate your support! Every regulator should follow this example. Research shows that far too few of those involved in combat sports understand brain health basics and that better educated fighters have better long term brain health outcomes.
Below is some of the information Ontario shared with their licensees.
Important Brain Health Information:
As always, health and safety of our athletes is the main priority for our Office. Brain health, specifically, is a concern for combative sports. Concussion and CTE risks are, unfortunately, often overlooked by athletes and coaches. Recent studies have shown that there is an alarming lack of awareness and understanding of the brain health basics in the combative sports community. Researchers believe that contestants educated on the basics of brain health make better and safer decisions leading to improved competition career as well as quality of life outside of sport. We would like to share a few resources that we hope you take time to review and educate yourself.
- Fighting Foundation’s White Belt Video – Short video made in collaboration with some of the leading MMA athletes on the basics of Concussions and CTE.
- Association of Ringside Physicians (ARP) Resources for fighters – resource portal launched for education and information specifically designed for combative sports athletes. Contains printable brain health posters that we would strongly suggest for all combative sports clubs and gyms.
- Rowan’s Law: Concussion Safety – the Government of Ontario established Rowan’s Law to protect amateur competitive athletes by reducing their risk of getting a concussion and to bring awareness to concussion safety. Currently, this Law only applies to amateur athletes but the resources provided are immensely useful for the professional athletes and coaches as well.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/rowans-law-concussion-safety
- OAC’s Head Injury Fact Sheet – attached you can find a copy of our Head Injury information handout that we distribute to all contestants after the weigh-ins.
Combat Sports Law 