There has been a rare but continuing string of catastrophic injuries caused by executing a takedown while in a guillotine.
in 2009 Zach Kirk shot for a double leg in the main event of an amateur show, and got caught in a guillotine. When the fight hit the ground, Kirk’s fifth cervical vertebra shattered, bone fragments ground into his spinal cord, and his muscles went limp forever.
In early 2010 Franco Lescano was training at Argentina’s Tiger Gym for his MMA debut when he attempted a takedown while caught in a guillotine. The resulting injury left him paralyzed from the neck down, and he died 21 days later.
In 2010 Braulio Estima was temporarily paralyzed while shooting for a single leg.
On May 14, 2012 fighter Devin Johnson suffered a spinal cord injury during practice at Urijah Faber’s Sacramento gym, Ultimate Fitness. He was training for his final amateur fight before turning pro. He will never fight in the cage again, but is fighting to regain as much function as he can.
On April 26 of 2014 former college club wrestler, grappler, music promoter, and guitar player Steve Watts was paralyzed from the neck down in an unregulated amateur mixed martial arts event at Cher-Ae Heights Casino, in California. The catastrophic injury occurred when Watts defended a guillotine attempt by Michael Hebenstriet by slamming his opponent. His head hit the canvas and the impact fractured Watts’ V-4 vertebrae, damaging his spinal cord.
There is a degree of ambiguity in the images below as to whether it was a guillotine, but the first account of the injury refers to a “headlock” that in context can only be a guillotine variation.
Watts attempted a takedown in the beginning of the first round, when opponent Michael Hebenstriet wrapped him in a headlock before the brawlers hit the canvas.
Photographer Sebastian Hedberg caught the tragedy.
Watts, now paralyzed from the neck down, was then attended to by a ring card girl, a cornerman, a referee, and reportedly some off-duty paramedics in attendance.
Watts before the accident.
And afterwards.
“I’m going to work hard and continue to work for a long time, and I hope to have certain faculties return, but I’m not delusional,” said Watts, 40, to Thadeus Greenson for the North Coast Journal. “I could end up being the same, where I’m totally paraplegic and paralyzed from the shoulders down. I understand what’s real, but I’m going to put energy every day into trying to change that.”
The event, put on by Canadian coach and promoter Don Arnott, was called “So You Wanna Fight.” There was no doctor in attendance, or ambulance. It took 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and transport Watts to a hospital.
It was reportedly the 25th time Arnott had promoted at the casino. Unfortunately, the casino sits on tribal land, beyond the reach of CSAC executive director Andy Foster. Some tribal nations have world-class athletic commission, like the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut under Mike Mazzulli. The Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria has no athletic commission, leaving the promoter to do whatever he wants.
So You Wanna Fight is a long-time toughman event, that moved from boxing to MMA, as the latter became more popular. Arnott does four-man tournaments, and in order to encourage knockouts, gives fighters only 30 seconds on the ground, and reportedly makes shark vs. fish fights.
Card tweeted by casino showing the four-man tournaments.
After the tragedy Arnott pulled down his website for some seven months, and then returned to the casino, now with ISCF sanctioning.
The rate of catastrophic injury in MMA is less than that for a number of physical activities, including cheerleading. However, catastrophic injury is possible. With now multiple cases of permanent paralysis and a death resulting from a takedown while in a standing guillotine, trainers and fighters need to heighten their awareness.
Although MMA is widely regulated in North America, the government cannot be relied on to prevent injury in our sport. It is up to the fighters, trainers, referees, and officials to develop on awareness that some aspects of the sport are exceptionally dangerous, and that catastrophic injury has resulted in the past, and in all likelihood will do so in future. In sum, understand that driving into a double with the head trapped in a Guillotine can cause paralysis and even death.
Watts is now attending the Project Walk Paralysis Recovery Center in Fremont, CA. Donate to the Give Forward fundraiser.
