Update January 22, 2015 – Silver has now indeed been arrested and charged in an alleged corruption and bribery scheme. The full criminal complaint can be found here: Sheldon Silver Criminal Complaint —————————————————- As Yahoo Sports writer Kevin Iole speculated in 2013, Legal MMA in New York is not likely “until assembly speaker Sheldon Silver’s gone“. In … More Legal MMA In New York One Step Closer to Reality?
Last year the NSAC took bold steps in attempting to drug test Wanderlei Silva, who at the time was not licensed with the commission. After Silva unceremoniously ducked the test the NSAC doubled down and issued Silva a lifetime ban for the alleged infraction of their rules. Earlier this year I discussed why the NSAC … More Wanderlei Silva Files Legal Arguments in NSAC Lawsuit
Update February 17, 2015 – Today the NSAC heard the formal application and, as anticipated, ruled they did not have jurisdiction to overturn the bout based on the argued grounds ____________________________ Overshadowed in yesterday’s NSAC hearing was Francisco Rivera’s appeal to overturn his loss to Uriah Faber at UFC 181. After stunning Rivera with an … More Change of Decision – A Breakdown for the NSAC, Urijah Faber and Francisco Rivera
UPDATE – January 16, 2016 – the full CIR test results were released and can be found here – jon-jones-ufc-182-steroid-profile January 8, 2015 – Bleacher Report has interviewed NSAC Director Bennett who confirms that CIR testing was indeed done and that “none of the results were a concern“. ———————————————- In the wake of Jon Jones’ recent … More Will the Nevada State Athletic Commission Seek CIR Testing for Jon Jones?
Today it was announced that Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites in a random drug test taken 30 days prior to his latest title defense at UFC 182. The results were known ahead of the bout so why was the fight allowed to proceed? Because cocaine, while prohibited by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, … More Why Jon Jones Pre Bout Cocaine Use Is OK In Nevada
In my ongoing efforts to highlight studies addressing safety issues in combat sports, an interesting study was recently published by Benjamin Lee and Stuart McGill from the Spine Biomechanics Laboratory, at the University of Waterloo (Canada) testing the peak forces caused by MMA gloves contrasted with 16 oz boxing gloves. The study also reviewed the time … More MMA Gloves Produce “4‐5 Times Greater Peak Force” Than Boxing Gloves
As a long time fan of MMA and other combat sports I feel past, current and future athletes are owed a fair and sober discussion of the realities of traumatic brain injury. Yes a bit of common sense tells us these sports have inherent dangers and yes being hit in the head is not good … More Guy Mezger Shares the Legacy of “17 Years of Being Hit in the Head”
If you’ve ever attended to or listened to a live athletic commission administrative hearing you will note a lot of factual statements are provided without deep scrutiny (how did those steroids end up in your system? Uhhh, I think I took some bad supplements..). We now have a perfect litmus test to see how much … More Jon Jones Deceives Nevada State Athletic Commission? Will There Be Fallout?
Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, finding that a fee charging martial arts school is no different than any other business and is required to purchase a business licence. In today’s case (City of Burnaby v. Gildemeester dba Master Gee’s Black Belt Academy) the Respondent failed to pay … More Yes Martial Arts Schools, You Need to Buy a Business Licence too
BloodyElbow has provided coverage of the UFC Anti Trust lawsuit that is second to none. In their ongoing coverage economist Paul Gift, who is experienced as an expert witness in anti trust lawsuits, dissected the claims and provided a unique breakdown. One point Gift addressed was the fighters challenge to UFC’s exclusivity requirement in their … More Exclusive Contracts and UFC Fighter Career Length
Combat Sports Law 