Combat Sports Law

Fighting is dangerous. In many ways obviously so. In some ways the dangers are hidden. CTE is one of the hidden dangers which can creep up quietly many years after the damage is done. Repeated hits rattling the brain give rise to the disease. Both the CDC and the NIH have finally made this admission. … More Thank You Fight Circus! First Promotion To Promote CTE Brain Health Education

I am proud to announce that British Columbia has just become the first Canadian jurisdiction to adopt Fighting Foundation’s fighter brain health knowledge basics video. The “white belt” video. We presented this video at the 2022 Association of Ringside Physicians annual conference in Las Vegas last week. We are now approaching as many athletic commissions … More BC Athletic Commission Adopts Fighting Foundation’s “White Belt” Brain Health Knowledge Video!

Among the items for vote on this week’s agenda for the South Carolina State Athletic Commission were bare knuckle boxing and open scoring. Bare Knuckle promoter BKFC have confirmed via their twitter account that the commission voted to approve the sport. I also have been advised that the vote on open scoring passed.

Update October 26, 2022 – Anderson Silva provided a prepared statement stating he ‘misspoke’ about being knocked out with the following  “One, I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring. “Second, this sparring … More Anderson Silva Claims Knocked Out Twice in Training. If True Bout Should Be Called Off

This week the Nevada Athletic Commission green lit the new combat spectacle of ‘slap fighting‘. In short a competition where competitors allow themselves to be slapped in the head without utilizing defence to avoid the impact. Rose Gracie of Fighting Foundation, a charitable organization I’m involved with which has spearheaded various noteworthy health and safety … More Nevada Reveals More Details For “Slap Fighting”

The BC Athletic Commission enjoys monopoly jurisdiction over certain combat sports in BC including amateur kickboxing and amateur Muay Thai. Many events have taken place in recent years in BC that could meet the definition of these sports. Sometimes they are marketed as amateur karate which the BCAC does not oversee. This week the BCAC … More BC Athletic Commission Publishes Warning to Western Canadian Martial Arts Championship

Further update October 19, 2022– I reached out to the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports for comment on this regulatory development. Their only reply is “No comment, we will wait and see.“. Update October 18, 2022 – Nevada has now approved slap fighting. As expected. A ‘sport’ which takes out all defence from … More Nevada To Consider Approving “Slap Fighting”

Among the many important topics canvassed at the 2022 Association of Ringside Physicians annual conference this past week in Las Vegas was an open discussion on transgender athlete participation in combat sports. Like many topics in combat sports there is no universal regulatory standard. With commissions varying their practices from State to State, Province to … More Association of Ringside Physicians Holds Open Discussion on Transgender Athletes in Combat Sports