Today it was revealed that Brazilian fighter Daiane Silva, who was making her Bellator/PFL debut, fell into a coma during a rapid extreme weight cut. The news was confirmed by Cris Cyborg’s MMA promotion This tragedy occured a full month ago but is just making public headlines today. In a concerning twist to this tragedy … More PFL/Bellator Fighter Reportedly in Coma From Rapid Extreme Weight Cut
A recent study was published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine reviewing recent studies addressing female concussion rates and outcomes compared to males. In the article, titled Concussion in Female Athletes of Contact Sports – A Scoping Review, the authors reviewed 22 studies on the subject published in recent years. In short they found … More Study Review – Female Contact Sport Athletes Suffer More Concussions With Worse Outcomes Than Men
Headaches, suicidal ideation, depression, traumatic brain injury, likely CTE, financial hardship and outright disability. These are facts contained in sworn declarations by UFC veterans in a recent court filing in the Le v. Zuffa class action lawsuit. By quick background the UFC is facing two class action lawsuits alleging they unlawfully suppressed fighter pay via … More UFC Vets Declare They Are Broke and Broken
Dr. Chris Nowitzki just shared some useful observations and a new study on X. CTE is caused by repeated hits to the head or other serial brain rattling events. Some like to speculate that other factors cause the disease, often without evidence. Drug and alcohol abuse often come into the conversation. A new study was … More Study – Don’t Blame Booze For CTE
Earlier this year the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports voted to update the unified rules. The 12-6 elbow was removed as a foul and the situations where a fighter can be kicked and kneed to the head have been expanded. Today the California State Athletic Commission with the assistance of referee Mike Beltran … More California Releases Explainer Video on MMA’s Brand New Unified Rules
Today it was revealed that a new deal was reached in one of the antitrust lawsuits against the UFC. In an SEC filing the following was revealed: As previously disclosed, TKO Operating Company, LLC (f/k/a Zuffa Parent, LLC) (“TKO OpCo”), a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”), and/or certain of its affiliates, including … More New Settlement Proposed For UFC Antitrust Lawsuit
What is Battle Tag? Its the soon to be launched North American rebranding of a rapidly growing professional sport from India known as Kabaddi. Kabaddi is basically a team tag wresting elimination sport where “the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a “raider”, to run into the … More UFC Apex to Host Inaugural “Battle Tag” Event
Last year the Athlete’s Voice Committee asked all Athletic Commissions to share brain health education materials as part of licencing. The Ali Act actually tells commissions to do so. Few do. But it appears ongoing advocacy is working and commissions are starting to listen. Ontario is in the process of overhauling how combat sports are … More Ontario Proposes Brain Health Education As Part Of Fighter Licencing
This week in Louisville Kentucky the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports held their annual conference. Two changes were voted in for MMA’s ‘unified rules’. In short the 12-6 Elbow was removed as a foul and the ‘grounded fighter’ definition has been changed clarifying the circumstances when a fighter can still be kneed or … More MMA’s Two Brand New Rules
An interesting study was published this week in the peer reviewed journal The Physician and Sports Medicine looking at white matter signal abnormalities in a group of professional fighters. White matter signal abnormalities are associated with traumatic brain injury. Previous research of MMA athletes did not find greater white matter abnormalities in them compared to … More Study – White Matter Signal Abnormalities in Brain “Significantly Greater” In MMA Fighters With Football or Rugby History
Combat Sports Law 