Commission Watch: Virginia commission falls incredibly short on pre-fight medicals

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The UFC, its fighters and its fans shouldn’t be happy with VAC oversight ahead of UFC Norfolk event. The UFC is in Virginia for the first time since November 2017 for Saturday’s UF…

UFC Fight Night: Weigh-Ins

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The UFC, its fighters and its fans shouldn’t be happy with VAC oversight ahead of UFC Norfolk event.

The UFC is in Virginia for the first time since November 2017 for Saturday’s UFC Norfolk fight card. The Virginia Athletic Commission (VAC) oversees the event which is headlined by a flyweight title fight between Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo. A review of the VAC MMA rules brings up a number of concerns when it comes to pre-fight medical requirements for the competitors. The scoring standards for judges also deserve some pre-fight attention.

Somewhat alarmingly, the only clearly mandated pre-fight medical requirements for fighters in Virginia are the following blood tests: Antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies to virus hepatitis C. The blood work needs to be performed no more than 180 days before the event.

There is another item listed on the pre-fight medical requirements, but the wording of this prerequisite to a fight is weak. The rule states that fighters must submit the following certification:

I understand as a professional boxer or professional martial artist I should be aware that this sport includes many health and safety risks, in particular the risk of brain injury. As such I will take the necessary medical exams that detect brain injury. If I need further information about these exams I will ask my doctor or staff of the department.

As written, that requirement only seems to obligate fighters to agree to get the exams.

A physical is also needed, but again, the wording leaves a lot to be desired as no requirements are listed other than the physical needs to be performed within six months of the event and certify “that the applicant is in good physical health and that the physician has not observed any abnormalities or deficiencies that would prevent the applicant from participation in a boxing or martial arts event or endanger the applicant, the public, officials, or other licensees participating in the event.”

The rules also note, “The department may require additional medical tests to determine the fitness of a boxer or martial artist upon receipt of reliable information of a preexisting condition that may present a danger to the boxer or martial artist.”

When compared to the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), the VAC falls alarmingly short when it comes to pre-fight medical requirements. What follows are the requirements from the CSAC that the VAC falls short on.

Physical: Must be administered and signed by a licensed M.D. or D.O. The exam is valid for the one-year licensing period.

Eye Exam: An eye exam administered by either a licensed ophthalmologist or licensed optometrist is required. Eye exam is valid for the one-year licensing period.

EKG: Must be administered by a licensed M.D. or D.O. The EKG is valid indefinitely, unless the commission requires a new one on a case-by-case basis.

Radiological Exams: MRI of the brain without contrast and the GRE Technique must also be included. The MRI scan is to be performed on a 1.5 Tesla MR Machine with capabilities including fast spin echo and FLAIR imaging. Image sequences should include axial T1, T2, and FLAIR images; coronal images should be performed as a T2 coronal; and a single sagittal T1 sequence. MRI is valid for 5 years.

Neurological Exam: A Neurological exam is required and is valid for 15 months.

While Virginia requires a pre-fight physical, as noted above, no requirements are listed for that physical. In contrast, the CSAC has a physical exam form for MMA that can be accessed on its website. This three-page physical form details every piece of information the CSAC needs from the examining physician. Included on the form is a weight cutting section, which includes the CSAC 10 percent weight loss chart for all weight divisions.

As for the actual rules, Virginia has not approved the updated unified rules of MMA.

With that, the judging in Virginia differs from what we saw last week in New Zealand. One of the scoring provisions in Virginia is the one that might have cost Dominick Reyes when he faced UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC in Texas:

Effective aggressiveness and defense, judged by moving forward and landing a legal strike and avoiding being struck, taken down or reversed while countering with offensive attacks.

Some other notable references regarding scoring in Virginia:

Judges shall use a sliding scale and recognize the length of the time the contestants are either standing or on the ground as follows.

1. If the contestant spent a majority of a round on the canvas, the effective grappling is weighed first and effective striking second.

2. If the contestant spent a majority of a round standing, the effective striking is weighed first and effective grappling is second.

3. If a round ends with relatively even amount of standing and canvas fighting, striking and grappling are weighed equally.

Finally, Virginia does have a requirement on facial hair:

All contestants shall be cleanly shaven immediately prior to competition.

If fighters and fans are under the assumption that all athletic commissions are created equal, the past two weeks have shown us that is far from the truth. Hopefully going forward the commissions that fall short in pre-fight medicals will strengthen their requirements. If those commissions do not do so, the UFC should refuse to travel to those states until they do so.