Tests continue after autopsy on city MMA fighter finds no trauma
Photo courtesy of LeAnn Kobe Hamilton's Felix Pablo Elochukwu in Port Huron, Mich., on Saturday, just before his first mixed martial arts bout. The 35-year-old died not long after the fight.
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THE RULES HERE AND THERE
Until Wednesday, when a new law was passed by the state house of representatives, amateur MMA was legal but not regulated in Michigan. This meant extensive pre-fight medical exams — blood tests, CT scans and other checks — were not required for amateurs as they would be for professionals, who are regulated in the state.
It also meant there were no official checks of fighters’ hand wraps, weigh-ins and opponents to prevent potentially dangerous mismatches. That has now been changed.
Ontario, on the other hand, is widely considered to have the most-stringent licensing criteria anywhere and has since MMA was legalized here in 2010. In fact, fighters and promoters often complain the requirements are too harsh.
Both professionals and amateurs must undergo thorough medical examinations to ensure there are no pre-existing health concerns before getting a licence to fight. In many cases, fighters must also be checked by doctors after a fight.
PORT HURON, MICH. It will be six to eight weeks before investigators know why a 35-year-old mixed martial artist from Hamilton died shortly after finishing his first fight on the weekend.
The chief forensic investigator for the St. Clair County Medical Examiner in Port Huron, Mich., says Felix Pablo Elochukwu didn’t sustain any fatal injuries during the fight. Mary Palmateer says no signs of trauma were discovered during an autopy performed Sunday.
That preliminary finding would seem to support the stories told by Elochukwu’s coach Jeff Joslin — a former UFC fighter and longtime instructor at his family’s gym on Concession Street — and numerous others that the bout was far from a war and the fighter hadn’t taken anything close to a pounding.
Joslin, who was at the fight held in a faded, orange-brick American Legion hall just off the main drag and near the Black River, 10 minutes from the Canadian border, says it was a relatively tame contest.
Most of the time, both of the 260-pound heavyweights were grappling and wrestling.
“There were no strikes on the feet hardly at all,” Joslin said.
Port Huron Detective-Lieutenant Duane Loxton, who oversees the department’s detective bureau and has witnessed other MMA fights in the area, told The Spectator a similar story. He viewed a tape of the fight and said Elochukwu’s opponent seemingly inflicted no serious damage.
“It wasn’t a brutal fight. They both looked exhausted at the end of it.”
He said both fighters were of similar size, but Elochukwu was far more muscular.
In the third round the two tired fighters went to the mat, where Elochukwu ended up on the bottom and was hit with a number of hammer fists — a downward punch with the baby-finger side of the fist — to the head.
As Elochukwu was unable to defend himself because of fatigue, the referee stepped in and stopped the bout.
The defeated fighter was not knocked out, and was coherent after the fight.
Others who were there tell a similar story.
“It’s kind of funny but the first two rounds, there wasn’t much going on at all,” said LeAnne Kobe, who was ringside.
Kobe, a photographer who regularly shoots for the Amateur Fighting Club which staged the event, added: “I didn’t even think he got hit that hard. I’ve seen much worse.”
Elochukwu stood on his own steam in the cage during the announcement of the winner and then started walking back to the dressing room. Part way there, he stopped and sat down for a rest, citing exhaustion.
Moments after paramedics helped him onto a chair, he fell from it.
Joslin — and a report from the Detroit News — say the medical team gave him CPR, and an ambulance was dispatched at 9:31 p.m.
Elochukwu was treated and pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m.
By the time Joslin arrived at hospital, he was told Elochukwu had passed away.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Kobe said few people at the fight realized they had witnessed a tragedy, as no announcement was made.
“I don’t think anyone knew what was going on,” said Kobe. “They didn’t want to make an announcement if they hadn’t notified the family.”
The legion has hosted an MMA card in the past, but not for at least a year. Fights have, on occasion, been staged at other venues in the town.
Perhaps as many as 200 people packed the hall on Saturday night.
“There were a lot of young people there, they really believe in that stuff,” said Tom Shay, a 72-year-old legion member who is a veteran and retired police officer.
Shay did not view the fight but he saw Elochukwu warming up before the match from another area of the legion. He saw the huge fighter stretching for about 20 minutes in the low light of the lounge area, where old firearms hang from the wall and Pabst Blue Ribbon is served on tap.
Detective-Lieutenant Loxton witnessed the autopsy and met with two female members of Elochukwu’s family, who came to Port Huron from Chicago to identify the body. Detectives also contacted family members in Newfoundland, England, Nigeria, Ontario and New York.
He said the investigation is essentially finished, pending the final autopsy report. Nothing of a criminal nature is being investigated.
Elochukwu began training at Joslin’s club a year or so ago.
Joslin said he walked in the door one day and said he wanted to be a fighter. He had a white belt in jiu jitsu but had won gold medals in all three competitions he’d entered.
His death has had an instant impact on the lax rules governing amateur MMA fighting in the state of Michigan. The Detroit Free Press reported that the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday that will regulate the industry.
The bill will require promoters and fighters to be licensed, that they must be at least 18 years old, and that they receive a series of medical tests before competing.
Loxton said he has personally witnessed MMA fights in the area in which 13-year-old boys have competed.
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Originally Posted by CFT
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