Garrett Holeve and David Steffan will meet in a sanctioned MMA bout in St. Charles, Missouri, currently slated for November 7 at the Ameristar Casino. Why is this particular fight on the regional circuit making waves? Holeve is a fighter with Down syndrome, and Steffan has cerebral palsy.
Garrett Holeve, an MMA fighter with Down syndrome, will have a sanctioned match against David Steffan, who has Cerebral Palsy, in Missouri.
— Dan Robson (@RobsonDan) October 8, 2014
Holeve has been in the media previously. ESPN featured him on SportsCenter, where reporter Tom Rinaldi spoke about his cognitive ability:
Garrett is very highly functioning for someone with Down syndrome. He reads, but at or below a third-grade level, and has the cognitive ability of an eight- or nine-year-old. He will likely live with his parents as long as anyone can foresee.
Holeve started a petition asking the Florida Boxing Commission to allow him to compete, and it has collected over 100,000 signatures. Holeve and Steffan were previously scheduled to compete in Florida, but the commission stepped in to cancel the fight. Now, Holeve will have to travel to the Midwest for the bout, as the Missouri commission has given it the go-ahead.
Thanks to the media coverage, more is known about Holeve and his battle than Steffan. The MMA fighter has his own challenges with cerebral palsy. The two fighters have formed a friendship but will put that aside for however long the fight may go.
Steffan is an inductee in Nebraska’s Special Olympics Hall of Fame for soccer.
Sportnet’s Dan Robson attended Holeve’s February 2013 amateur bout and chronicled the emotions of the fight:
It’s a scary thing to watch, a man with Down syndrome being punched in the face or driven hard into a mat. The crowd went wild for Garrett, but you could hear the gasps with every blow he endured. It was uncomfortable, but it was real.
This sanctioned fight will assuredly draw national attention from both supporters and detractors, but it is without question an unprecedented moment in the sport.
The scheduled bout between the two fighters will be sponsored by Fighting for Autism, a charity helping promote autism awareness.
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