Like all major sporting organizations, the UFC is aware of legal threats their business model poses and considers legal strategies in response to these. On March 25, 2014 the UFC’s Michael Mersch and Tom Wright along with two local attorneys hosted the Canadian Bar Association’s Professional Development … More Insight Into Zuffa’s Concussion Lawsuit Defence Strategy
UPADATE – After a series of setbacks this event was pushed back from its June date and is now scheduled to take place on October 3, 2014. ___________________________________________________________________ It is reported that the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission has approved a one night, 8 man elimination MMA tournament. Promoted as the “Battlegrounds ONE Tournament” it is advertised as … More What the ABC Thinks About Oklahoma’s One Night Elimination MMA Tournament
Dangerous weight cutting practices have been attracting an ever increasing spotlight in the combat sports community. The Association of Ringside Physicians have now weighed in on the issue providing the following press release (ARP Weight Cut Reform Press Release) calling for reform: Introduction Unhealthy and sometimes dangerous weight loss practices continue to be a significant problem in … More ARP Calls For Weight Cut Reform in Combat Sports
It is rumored that, following WSOF Canada’s Ford v. Powell card, fighter pay issues arose with some cheques issued being cancelled or otherwise not clearing. I reached out to WSOF Canada to verify these rumours but at the time of publication they have yet to respond: _____________________________ I am advised by a source … More Fight Purse Uncertainty – A Problem That Should Never Happen
As the Government appointed body tasked with amateur MMA regulation in Saskatchewan the SMAA is an agent of Government and must ensure that they operate with legal protections in mind including those set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Unfortunately one of the SMAA’s policies appear to run afoul of these protections, specifically … More Do the SMAA’s Licencing Policies Violate Canadian “Mobility Rights”?
Less than a year following passage of Bill S-209 the landscape for professional MMA in Canada continues to take shape with another Province formally legalizing the sport. On March 18, 2014 the Saskatchewan Athletics Commission Act (Bill 108) passed Third Reading. The Act creates a Province wide Athletics Commission which will … More Saskatchewan Professional MMA Bill Passes into Law
After much dysfunction it appear the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation has grown weary of the infighting between the CNMMAF and the CAMMAF (the two groups vying to be the Canadian representative in the organization) and has now dropped ties with both groups. In a press release issued today the IMMAF … More IMMAF Overhauls Canadian Representation
Research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society this week with an apparent breakthrough in PED testing noting that a new method has been identified which “is a thousand times more sensitive to performance enhancing drugs“. The new method is apparently commercially viable, inexpensive and can identify various PED’s up to two … More Cleaning Up PED’s in Combat Sports – Perhaps Science Has the Answer
(Flowchart via wikipedia) It was over 20 years ago when I ordered my first UFC event on Pay Per View (more accurately, my parents ordered it for me given that I was 16 at the time). The sport has come a long way since that time and revisiting the … More UFC 1 v. The Unified Rules of MMA; Some Fun With History
Alongside issues arising from Concussion Mismanagement and PED Abuse, Rapid Extreme Weight Cutting practices are a tragedy waiting to happen in MMA. Today, a teachable moment arose at the UFC 171 weigh ins that regrettably was overlooked. Welterweight title contender Johny Hendricks failed to make weight on his first attempt. Not only did he fall … More When Making Weight Does Not Cut It in Combat Sports
Combat Sports Law 