Coma>> Gotcha. I was at ECU for about five minutes back in the mid nineties. Always good to hear from folks back at the homeplace.

@ReX

Greenville

Nope, I saw this on BE and it was really 6’9″ and 155 lbs. The dude was a LIGHTWEIGHT, not a LIGHTHEAVYWEIGHT. Does that sound healthy to anyone else??

Yeah, it just like she seemed to be getting a beating way past what was required to finish the fight, In the first round I was like yo Cuddles go girl, get in there, but second round was like, fuck, someone stop this, what was her corner doing allowing her to get the piss beat out of her like that?
On a side note, I’d say Jan Finney would give Yager the father of all hidings just based on heart and competitive spirit

Exactly frank, when has a ref ever asked a dominating fighter where they want the fight? Not saying finney wins on the ground, saying she took WAY more damage standing. Yet kept getting quickly pulled there.

Really was a bad fight top to bottom.

Should never have been made.
Threat from management prior to start.
Ref giving to one fighters obvious advantage.
Ref allowing to go way past point of decided.
Announcers who were biased even called for stoppage.
Point taken with no warning, though allowed 9 hits before said a word.

Seriously. First time I worried for a fighters health ever. Not because of cyborgs “mystique” but because it felt orchastrated and everyone knew but the woman fighting for her career. Seriously felt like a movie scene minus the miraculous comeback. Gina would have had a second round if given half this consideration, she took 1\3 the damage and was defending.

@ CCman, yeah, I thought that was a bit funny, she just kept asking Cyborg if she wanted her up, looked like the last thing Finney wanted (or needed) was to keep getting stood up.

I am rewatching the cyborg fight now and counted 6x this should have been stopped. Nevermind how often the ref quickly put finnley back into cyborgs strengths quickly. I think fedor thru his but I seriously think ref had some serious instructions to make this masacre. Sf is struggling and weird shit is starting to happen in this organization.

6’9″ and 150 lbs??? That is so ridiculous it’s almost unbelievable. Even if it’s a typo and the author meant LHW, that’s still only 205 lbs for someone nearing 7 feet tall.

The horrible part about this incident is that noboby intervened. The promoters, coaches, cornermen, ringside doctor, family, friends, and the fighter himself… no one saw the danger this fighter put himself in?

Even Stefan Struve looks too skinny and gangly at times, and he’s a HW.

This really is a tragedy, and the only consequences that will arise out of this are the loss and pain that the Kirkham’s will live with.

In regards to the High School football v. MMA reference, there are over 30,000 football games played per week during the fall. While I am a huge proponent for sanctioning MMA in every state, I think it’s unfair to compare the two. I mean, if we’re lining up statistics what’s more dangerous: stepping into a cage or sitting down behind a steering wheel?

Seriously… I like to make jokes as much as the next guy… but someone died. I do not think humor is really appropriate in this regard.

I honestly was watching the Finney fight and said aloud, “This ref is gonna have consequences.” Not that it was any serious injuries or anything but what the fuck. The fetal position is not intelligently defending oneself. Additionally no fighter is ever going to quit no matter how small the chance of victory. No promotion will back a “quitter”. I really blame her corner. Why the fuck didn’t they throw in the goddamn towel. If that was two men I’d say the same. I’ve seen that female ref before not hopping in when it was close but that was egregious. I like women’s MMa and don’t have a disgust factor seeing a woman get pounded in the face but there was no intelligent defense and it should have been called. If Roy can tap his own gut and then Kimbos head and it gets called that was certainly more punishment from Santos. That will do more against MMa then this death. The death only invites comparisons for others sports in which it fares quite well.

*I don’t know why recently I have become a windbag.

Actually there would have been senators in need of female votes faking being horrified pretending to respond to those horrified casual fans.

But close enough.

CCman, your absolutely 100% right on that one, I would imagine there would have been casual fans watching the Cyborg/Finney fight who would have been horrified with the beating Jan Finney took.

RIP Michael, no simple answer to this one, the sport needs across the board standards as per DW’s points, however, unfortunately I beleive there will always be Cowboy promoters out to make the most they can and relegating fighters health and safety to a non -issue.
Whilst it would be a sad day for the sport if the smaller regional shows can no longer operate, there needs to be an across the board set of standards that must be adhered to before a fighter steps in the cage.

We are lucky this was not finney v. Cyborg this weekend.

Overmatched, higher weightclass, promotion saying prior to make a show or look for work.

Chick dies this sport get legislated out FAST

This is a sad story for two reasons. First, it is always sad to hear someone lost their life when it easily could have been prevented. Two, people are going to use this dudes death against the sport he most likely loved when they could use it to actually help make the sport safer.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight… My point was if these smaller shows don’t even have their shit together(case in point, the promoters for Mayorga-Din Thomas)how can they ensure their fighters are medically sound?? I mean, it’s great that you’re aware of these exemptions, but that doesn’t mean Joe Blow the promoter knows about them when all he’s thinking about is cash money.

Thiago Alves prior to his UFC 11 fight with Jon Fitch.

I didn’t realize that fight was that long ago.

Didn’t UFC 11 have Coleman winning the Tournament by forfeit?

RIP. Article said he was 6’9″ and 150 lbs – should raise some initial warning signals about health.

In Texas, I can personally vouch that our medical testing is absolutely non-existent. Eye exams and a blood test for HIV and Hep? You’re good to go. They recently added an EKG requirement for fighters over 35 but it was pretty much added just for show.

@Mike Russell Oh I know it was unsanctioned …But lets not forget him he died while the sport was still relatively underground here in the US… sad part is If I remember correctly he didnt even get paid.. or in his case his family didnt get paid for his bout. Sanctioned or not its still a death of an american fighter in a sport that really needs to be, Imo.

Woo, chalk one up for my glorious state. Stay classy SC.

 In Canada those tests are free and in the U.S. fighters can claim them as an independent contractor work expense.

For every UFC event there’s probably a hundred regional shows across the States and Canada. Hell, they even have mma shows in Meheeko nowadays. I wouldn’t be suprised if less than a third of those events require brain scans. They can barely make ends meet, so how can they afford to pay for those thorough tests?

Lay in Peace, Michael

 Dedge died from injuries incurred in an unsanctioned NHB bout.

Coma>> You in SC? Whereabouts?

This wont effect the sport that much! I live in Texas wehre that Sam Vasquez cat died and there are still shit loads of shows here in fact the sport has grown at an alarming rate. So I see this as no setback.. bottom line is there too much money to be made on the backs of the fighters.. the sport will not stall because of this. Besides if I remember correctly the average number of deaths per year in boxing is like 9 compared to less than one in mma per year… so hey Just like Douglass Dedge , Sam Vasquez and now Michael Kirkham, can anyone even name off the people that died in boxing last year alone?

First off my condolences to the family of Michael Kirkham.
How is this possible in 2010 in MMA that a fighter is not required to have a MRI or a CT?
Even in Amateur bouts in my province this is mandatory.
Someone will have to answer some tough questions in the state of South Carolina, Some greedy lawyer is wringing his hands, sitting outside the family house of this man, dying to start a big lawsuit. Tragic.
A black eye for the sport.

Wow, that happened here in SC and the first I hear about it is on Cagepotato? I’m sure Bob Jones University will be using this to try and have MMA outlawed again. R.I.P Michael, You went out by doing what you loved. Much respect.

He wouldn’t have died if his hobby was scrap booking.

What a bummer, I feel for his family.

RIP Kirkham. But hopefully these idiots will use their heads and beef up sanctioning…

too bad it wasn’t KKK Byrd in the ring that night