ABC donates $5k to Rondel Clark Foundation
Mike Mazzulli: “Until we stop rewarding people for not making weight, what are we doing here? Until we stop doing that, the fighters are going to keep doing it.”
The culture of extreme weight cutting has been responsible for an ever-growing list of injuries and health consequences in MMA, and at least three deaths. Friends and family of Rondel Clark, who died following an event held in Massachusetts on August 12, 2017, have launched the Rondel Clark Foundation which aims to educate stakeholders and bring about much-needed change.
Mike Mazzulli, president of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC), attended an event at Clark’s former gym, Integrated Martial Arts, announcing the start of the foundation. Mazzulli announced that the ABC’s charitable fund will donate $5,000 to the foundation.
Whenever somebody gets injured or loses their life in the sport, I think the ABC should be there to support them and their family, said Mazzulli to Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. At the end of the day, the ABC, we’re all working on behalf of fighter safety. Everybody has to remember this, too: If not for the fighters, we wouldn’t have jobs.
Until we stop rewarding people for not making weight, what are we doing here? Until we stop doing that, the fighters are going to keep doing it. Until we stop calling a fighter two weeks out knowing that they’re probably 30 pounds overweight and have them fight at a weight that’s gonna kill them to lose … It’s not just the commissions’ problem — it’s the promotions, it’s the trainers, it’s the fighters, it’s the families.
It’s the industry that needs to do something. Look, the commissions can put their foot down and do something and everyone is gonna hate us for it. But at the end of the day, it’s for the safety of the fighter.