Combat Sports Law

Update February 26, 2017 – Today,  in response to the Province’s position, the Canadian Jiu Jitsu Championships have been cancelled.  Canada National Pro Jiu Jitsu reported as follows on their Facebook page – After careful consideration, the Canada Pro Jiu-Jitsu committee and the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation has decided to postpone the Canada Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championships … More Quebec Declares Amateur BJJ Events Illegal Under the Criminal Code

Update March 10, 2017 – Zuffa have now responded to this motion.  Their full argument of why Bellator should be forced to open their books can be found here – Zuffa Opposition to Bellator Motion to Quash _________________________________________ Never let a good crisis go to waste!  This Winston Churchill strategy appears to be to the UFC’s liking. The … More Scott Coker – UFC Opening Bellator’s Books Would Cause “Grave Harm”

Reasons for judgement were released last week in the ongoing anti-trust lawsuit against UFC parent company Zuffa ordering disclosure of various documents that “contain Zuffa’s negotiating positions and business strategies and decisionmaking.” In the recent judgement (Le v. Zuffa) Zuffa tried to hold back 12 documents from production arguing they were subject to attorney-client privilege.  The … More UFC Forced To Disclose Documents Showing Negotiating Business Strategies in Anti Trust Suit

Update February 21, 2017 – Today Ryan Madden, Communications Manager for USADA, was kind enough to reply to both questions posed below.  He elaborated on the retroactive TUE standard in place for USADA and further confirmed that Justino did not initially disclose her use of Spironolactone to USADA’s doping control official when collecting her sample. … More Two Questions from “Cyborg’s” Retroactive UFC/USADA TUE

Today USADA published a press release advising of changes to the UFC/USADA anti-doping policy which come into force in April, 2017. The new policy can be found here. USADA summarized the changes as follows: Policy Changes 2.1.5 – Limited Conditions for No Violation In the event an Athlete entering the Program voluntarily and promptly discloses … More UFC/USADA Update Anti Doping Policy

Today the British Columbia Athletic Commission released a position paper confirming that all of the changes to the unified rules adopted by the ABC at the 2016 convention are not being adopted. The paper also suggests these will not likely be adopted in much of Canada noting “as a member of Federal/Provincial/Territorial Athletic Commission, BCAC … More BC Athletic Commission Not Adopting All Changes to MMA’s “Unified Rules”

Update February 28, 2017 – The NYSAC dismissed Holm’s appeal _________________________________ As first reported by MMAFighting, Holly Holm is appealing her UFC 208 loss. In short Holm argues that she was repeatedly fouled by late blows and the referee erred in failing to deduct points from her opponent. The issue Holm will face is the deduction … More Holly Holm Appeals UFC 208 Loss

Update February 16, 2017 – Today Marc Raimondi reports that GSP is indeed not currently in the USADA testing pool. Also noteworthy are the UFC/USADA’s updates to the anti doping policy revealed today which could shelf GSP for up to 6 months if his return is not finalized before April 1 absent the UFC playing … More GSP Reportedly Back – Will USADA Testing Sideline him for 4 Months?

After a scheduled heavyweight world title bout between Alexander Povetkin and Deontay Wilder was cancelled due to Povetkin testing positive for Meldonium the parties turned to the judiciary. ESPN reports that a jury in US Federal Court took just over 30 minutes to decide that Povetkin indeed ingested Meldonium after it became a banned substance … More US Jury finds Povetkin Used Meldonium Clearing Path for $5 Million Judgement

(Image via the UG) I have written many times that amateur combative sports not on the “programme of the International Olympic Committee” are illegal in Canada unless Provinces pass laws specifying otherwise pursuant to the powers given to them by s. 83 of the Criminal Code. Despite this reality some Provinces have failed to enact … More Quebec Government Confirms Amateur Muay Thai / Kickboxing / MMA Illegal