Page 5 of 10 FirstFirst ... 34567 ... LastLast
Results 61 to 75 of 148

Thread: MMA deaths

  1. #61
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    another death

    I'll be curious what the autopsy shows, but there's not much news on this, so we'll see if it gets published.
    Sturgis man dies after MMA fight in Rapid City
    May 30, 2012 4:00 am • Jeff Budllong Journal staff

    Funeral services are scheduled today for a Sturgis man who died one week after competing in a mixed martial arts competition at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City.

    Dustin Jenson, 26, was participating in full-contact fights at a RingWars event May 18 when he tapped out — a signal to end the fight. According to his mother-in-law, Violet Schieman, Jensen then watched the next two fights before going to the locker room area, where he suffered a seizure.

    "He laid down to do his stretches, and another fighter heard a moan," Schieman said. "He went over and saw Dustin having a seizure. They called an EMT, which took him to Rapid City Regional Hospital."

    Schieman said medical personnel determined that Jenson had increased pressure on his brain and put him in a medically induced coma before surgery was performed to relieve pressure. He was declared dead May 24 and was taken off life support the next day, Schieman said.

    "He did not wake up after the surgery and was declared brain dead at 10:23 a.m.,” she said. “He remained on life support until his organs were donated."

    Jenson, a husband and a father, was participating in only his fifth fight since taking up the sport less than a year ago.

    His funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at First Wesleyan Church in Sturgis. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday.

    Schieman, who was not at the fight, said her daughter, Jenson’s wife Rebecca Jenson, and several others told her the violence in the fight was "nothing out of the ordinary."

    "Doctors have watched the video and said it shouldn't have happened," Schieman said. "They said the fight may have triggered a brain aneurysm, but it was not overly violent."

    Civic center general manager Brian Maliske said Tuesday that he knew that one of the fighters had become ill after tapping out of his fight, but that was the extent of his knowledge of what happened.

    Maliske said he was unsure how or if the death would affect the scheduling of future MMA events at the civic center.

    "Obviously, if it is connected to the injury here, then we will have to look at and see how it would affect us and what we want to do into the future," he said.

    Maliske said this is the first significant incident outside of a broken arm he was aware that occurred at a RingWars event at the civic center.

    "We have had to have a couple of people transported to the hospital before, but to my knowledge, we have not had any serious injuries," he said.

    MMA is a full-contact combat sport that allows the use of striking and grappling techniques, standing as well as on the ground. It can take place in a ring or a cage that is often eight-sided. Victory in a match is usually gained either by the judges' decision after time expires, a stoppage by the referee or fight doctor, a submission or by knockout.

    Maliske said the event was promoted by Matt DeWolfe, who did not return calls Tuesday seeking comment. RingWars formerly was a regular event at the civic center but has become less frequent in recent years.

    "Matt used to be here on a monthly basis several years ago, and right now, he does approximately one to two RingWars events here a year," Maliske said. "This is the first time he has been in in nine or 10 months. The sport itself is not as popular as it used to be."

    South Dakota has no governing body to oversee or regulate the sport, unlike other states, according to Josh Usera, the lead MMA trainer at Dynamic Martial Arts in Rapid City.

    "In most states there is usually some kind of governing body, like the athletic commission or the boxing commission for that state, and what I understand is its job is to oversee the operations of the event from the ground all the way up," said Usera, who has trained MMA fighters. "Safety of the fighter is the No. 1 concern, so most states that have some kind of governing body require some kind of blood work or something that shows the individual is healthy."
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,655
    I'd say fighters should have CT scans of their heads to see if their are any obvious abnormalities.

    5 fights within one year of taking up a sport seems exccessive though?

  3. #63
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    4,381
    Quote Originally Posted by CFT View Post
    I'd say fighters should have CT scans of their heads to see if their are any obvious abnormalities.

    5 fights within one year of taking up a sport seems exccessive though?
    i agree its a lot for his first year, but doesnt say how many were amateur rules and if he had a back ground in combat sports, if he came in with a wrestling background its not that many fights especailly if alot were with AM and not pro rules

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,655
    I didn't think anyone, even AM, fought with that much regularity? Roughly every 10 weeks - just enough to recover and peak, IMO.

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    North, strong and Free
    Posts
    838

    First MMA fight

    I wonder if he had a condition that lead to this...

    A thirty-five-year-old Ontario resident died after competing in his first amateur mixed martial arts bout in Port Huran, Mich., on Friday.

    Nigerian-born Pablo Elochukwu, who recently moved to Ontario in 2012, was apparently very excited to compete in his first MMA bout. Unfortunately, it would be his last.

    The heavyweight, who sources say weighed 265 pounds for his MMA debut on Friday and was also a three-time gold-medal winner on the local grappling circuit, was competing in an unsanctioned event in Port Huron, Mich. According to sources, neither he nor his opponent was required to undergo pre-fight medicals for their bout.

    The first two rounds were said to have been mostly grappling, but the inexperienced fighters both began showcasing signs of fatigue, especially in between rounds two and three.

    Sometime in the third round, Elochukwu was mounted and was not intelligently defending what were deemed to be soft hammer fists. The referee made the decision to halt the bout, potentially believing that Pablo was not going to be able to improve the position he was in.

    Elochukwu appeared to be fine during the announcement of the final decision and walked away on his own accord, albeit, with some assistance to ensure the fatigued fighter could make it to a seat.

    When he did sit down, those around him noticed something was wrong and offered him some orange juice, believing his blood sugar may have dropped significantly. He then fell off the chair, where paramedics were called in to assist.

    They showed up within minutes and apparently revived him, but took him away to be safe, likely to the nearest hospital. Shortly thereafter, Elochukwu passed away, and it is currently unknown if he did so en route to the hospital, or at the medical facility.

    An autopsy was expected to be performed Monday to determine the cause of death.

    Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/mma/ufc/onta...teur-mma-bout/

  6. #66
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    So tragic

    Good find, Brule. The webnews on my newsfeed this morning didn't have a name released yet. We'll have to stay tuned for the autopsy report.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Still inconclusive

    There has been a call for regulation in Michigan.

    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.

    Sidebar

    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.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  8. #68
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Ontario
    Posts
    22,250
    This may be a case in which the after fight medical examination was not adequate to find the damage that may have result in his death.
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  9. #69
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    CA, USA
    Posts
    4,900
    Many people assume that because a fight doesn't appear particularly damaging, that damage isn't occurring, or that a pre-existing medical condition wasn't being exacerbated by it. Particularly if the one who passes away looks strong and fit.

    Although a completely different scenario, I remember many years ago, a boxer died following a bout against an opponent who was described as a 'light hitter'. There were no knockdowns, and no stoppage. Yet it was later explained that most likely the man who passed away had been suffering from an accumulation of head trauma over his career, and that this last bout was simply the straw that broke the camel's back.

    The only comparison I make here is that sometimes, bouts that prove fatal to one of the fighters can appear relatively undramatic.

  10. #70
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Canada!
    Posts
    23,110
    Sadly, the greatest cause of death among mma practitioners is suicide.

    If you are getting hit and hit hard, you are taking damage, period.
    Human bodies are fairly fragile after all. Even the hardest among us
    is not that physically powerful compared to even the least of animals.

    So, if you are mixing it up, expect and accept that you will be hurt at some point.
    If you really practice martial arts with vigour, you will be hurt at some point.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  11. #71
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Western MA
    Posts
    953
    Quote Originally Posted by David Jamieson View Post
    Human bodies are fairly fragile after all. Even the hardest among us
    is not that physically powerful compared to even the least of animals.
    This just isn't true. Sorry, personal pet peeve. But the basic human body developed before the brain got big. Actually humans are bad*ss. We are not the best at anything maybe except long distance running, but we're better at climbing than the best swimmers, and better at swimming than the best climbers, and better at kicking than the best punchers, and better at punching than the best kickers, and so on... We bad.

  12. #72
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    I hope s_j is right...

    ...but it would be foolish to speculate at this point.

    Death can come from all sorts of unexpected trauma. Freak accidents can happen on the baseball diamond as well as in the cage. Check out the story below:
    8-year-old cheats death after baseball pitch to chest stops heart
    The lucky Calif. boy was saved by a pair of off-duty paramedics who were watching his game and rushed to his aid.
    By Lee Moran / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
    Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 7:41 AM

    An 8-year-old Rohnert Park, Calif., boy nearly died of cardiac arrest after being struck by a baseball pitch Sunday.
    abcnews.go.com

    A young batter whose heart stopped after he was hit in the chest by a baseball pitch was saved by a pair of hero off-duty paramedics.

    The eight-year-old, who has not been named, was left fighting for his life after suffering cardiac arrest during a little league match in Rohnert Park, Northern California, on Sunday.

    Shocked friends could only watch as he tried to run towards first base, but stumbled and came crashing to the ground.

    Luckily a pair of off-duty paramedics - Dan and Susan Farren - were watching the game, and immediately sprang into action.

    "I was right behind the plate and this kid got hit in the heart with the ball," 14-year-old umpire Trenton Starrett, told ABC's affiliate KGO. "He went to first, like he tripped once, and he got back up, and then fell again, and then he didn't get back up."

    They performed CPR on the boy until other paramedics could arrive with a defibrillator to kick-start his heart back into a normal rhythm.

    He was then taken to Oakland Children's Hospital for treatment, where he is expected to remain until Tuesday.

    "God had his hand on this kid's heart," Aaron Johnson, director for Cal Ripken Baseball in Rohnert Park, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

    Johnson also revealed that league officials were now thinking about keeping defibrillators on the grounds at all times.
    Of course, in the cage, where the intention of the game is to cause damage to your opponent, the probability is much more likely.

    Quote Originally Posted by David Jamieson View Post
    Sadly, the greatest cause of death among mma practitioners is suicide.
    Woah, where did you come across that?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  13. #73
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Canada!
    Posts
    23,110
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post

    Woah, where did you come across that?
    Sherdog is where I first learned that.
    8 recorded deaths, 50% of which were murders, murder/suicides and suicides.
    But this is actually about combat sports in general.

    here's (i'm really sorry it was first grab) a short write up from yahoo about it: http://voices.yahoo.com/death-rates-...s-5462889.html
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Interesting

    That's a pretty small sample size, so I must question its statistical validity. But it is intriguing. I hope there are additional studies along these lines in the future.

    Meanwhile, back on topic:
    Michigan Moves to Regulate Mixed Martial Arts
    Posted By Dylan Scott | April 16, 2013

    On April 9, 35-year-old Felix Elochukwu Nchikwo, a Nigerian who had crossed into the United States from Canada, died after a bloody amateur mixed martial arts fight in Port Huron, Mich. As a result, the world of amateur MMA might never be the same.

    The day after Nchikwo died, the Michigan House passed a bill that would for the first time place statewide requirements on fighting competitions between non-professionals. With Nchikwo’s death still fresh in their minds, legislators overwhelmingly approved the measure, 106-3. The legislation would require, among other things, promoters to hire an ambulance to be at the scene of a fight, to take out $10,000 in health insurance for each fight and to test participants for HIV and hepatitis.

    State Rep. Harvey Santana has been the lead force behind the bill’s passage in the House. It has become a bit of a personal passion: Santana is a major boxing fan and recently attended an amateur MMA fight that opened his eyes to the need for greater regulation. He recalls watching a fighter get knocked in one fight, come back to fight again later that night and get knocked out again. It took two minutes to revive that fighter after the second knockout, Santana says. So he introduced a bill this session; Nchikwo’s death accelerated its passage in the House.

    “It’s the wild, wild West out there. Anything goes. When you’re putting two human beings in a cage and they’re fighting, anything can happen,” Santana says. “I believe that Felix’s death was a sign, as sad and as ill-timed as it is. People understand what it’s all about.”

    Michigan is just the latest state to confront the brutal reality of amateur mixed martial arts. Almost every state, with the notable exception of New York, allows and regulates professional MMA, but state oversight of amateur bouts is much more haphazard. According to the Association of Boxing Commissions, amateur MMA is either illegal or legal but without any regulation in 16 states, including Michigan. Nchikwo wasn’t the first amateur to die in a fight, though exact numbers are hard to confirm.

    Most other states have decided to regulate amateur fights through their state boxing commission. But Wyoming stepped out on its own in 2012 to become the first state with a commission devoted specifically to MMA. It was partly out of a necessity—Wyoming doesn’t have a boxing commission—but it has set the new standard for how states oversee what is often characterized as “the fastest-growing sport in America.”

    The Wyoming State Board of Mixed Martial Arts is overseen by Michael Hresko, a 20-something former fighter from Hawaii. He has authority over amateur and professional fights, and he's been tasked with implementing regulations that include some of the same provisions that Santana has proposed in Michigan—most importantly, ensuring medical assistance for fighters. In the process, he and Gov. Matt Mead are hoping to prop up a budding industry for the state. An estimated 20 MMA events will take place in the first fully sanctioned year, and officials hope that number might grow in coming years.

    It is a delicate balance, Hresko says: Too little regulation could lead to more injuries or deaths. Too much could put a financial burden on promoters and fighters, encouraging them to skirt the rules or operate outside the system altogether. But it’s a balance that states, including Michigan, have increasingly decided they must learn to find.

    “The bottom line is that there is no consistency. It’s definitely a challenge,” Hresko says. “There’s a ton of room to improve.”

    The map below is courtesy of the Association of Boxing Commissions.

    Informative map, yes?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  15. #75
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    This death was not in the cage

    But it the dubious death of an MMA champ apparently.
    Martial Arts Club Chief Killed In Daghestan
    July 09, 2013
    The head coach of the Gorets (Highlander) martial arts club in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan has been shot dead.

    The Daghestan branch of the federal Investigative Committee said on July 9 that Musail Alaudinov's body was found with multiple gunshot wounds late on July 8 in his car on the Makhachkala-Kaspiisk highway.

    His rifle and a Kalashnikov were found at the scene.

    Alaudinov was a two-time winner of the World Cup of Mixed Martial Arts.

    The club Alaudinov ran is Russia's leading center for training fighters in mixed martial arts.

    Investigative Committee officials said Alaudinov was a close associate of former Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov, who was arrested recently for allegedly ordering a murder.

    Daghestan, along with other republics in Russia's North Caucasus, continues to experience violence linked to Islamic extremists and organized criminal groups.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •