Calgary unlikely to follow Edmonton year moratorium on combat sports
Calgary, the other major city in the province of Alberta, has said they are not likely to follow suit.
Mixed martial arts is everywhere legal in North America, and is regulated in nearly every state and province as well as a number of tribal reservations. In Canada, as well a number of cities have provincial athletic commissions.
On June 16, 2017, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, MMA fighter Tim Hague boxed Adam Braidwood in an 8-Round contest for the WBU heavyweight championship. He was knocked out in Round 2, and died two days later of injuries suffered in the ring.
The City of Edmonton hired an independent group to report on what happened. The City Council heard an interim report from the group, and has imposed a moratorium on combat sports in the city for a year.
Calgary, the other major city in the province of Alberta, has said they are not likely to follow suit.
ABy: Autumn Fox has the story for Canada’s Metro News.
Brian Bird, owner and trainer at Calgary’s Champions Creed Martial Arts, said that he believes Hague’s death illustrates the difference between the Edmonton and Calgary Combative Sports Commissions.
There were a lot of preventable things that could have been done, but there is mismanagement, he said.
In the case of Hague, questions have arisen as to whether he was medically fit to fight in his final bout, after suffering several blows to the head in previous fights throughout the year.
Commissions are put in place to protect fighters, and the commission in Calgary does a good job of that.
Calgary city councilors echo Bird’s sentiments, saying they have no reason to believe a motion to place a similar ban on fighting events in Calgary will be raised.
Ward 12councilorShane Keating said the Calgary Combative Sports Commission has been actively involved in creating a safe governance model and criteria for its events, but Edmonton’s decision could be the impetus for the commission to re-evaluate its current policies.
Keating said while it’s impossible to fully prevent serious injury or fatalities due to various factors such as medical history, it’s the commission’s job to limit any such occurrences from happening.
The risks are there in any sport, he said. But it never hurts to do a review.
Some figures in the regional MMA community would like to see a provincial governing body for combative sports. Such a step is under consideration at present.