Tag: Ontario Athletic Commission

Does The Bearded Fighter Carry An Unfair Advantage?

We all know the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson was judge of Israel and derived his great strength from his lengthy locks. When his enemies discovered his secret they devised a plan to cut off his hair, gouge his eyes out, and imprison him to a number of years of hard labor…geez. So how would Samson favor in the new age of MMA? Well if he fought in Ontario, let’s just say I wouldn’t exactly put the house on it.

The post Does The Bearded Fighter Carry An Unfair Advantage? appeared first on Cagepotato.

Hair today…

We all know the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson was the judge of Israel and derived his great strength from his lengthy locks. When his enemies discovered his secret they devised a plan to cut off his hair, gouge his eyes out, and imprison him to a number of years of hard labor…geez. So how would Samson favor in the new age of MMA? Well if he fought in Ontario, let’s just say I wouldn’t exactly put the house on it.

Under Ontario Athletics Commision fighters must be clean shaven or wear a closely cropped mustache prior to competing. This left welterweight Emil Meek as well as two other fighters dumbfounded and shocked prior to their 206 bouts.

“After I had cut weight, I just checked the weight with the UFC commission [liaison team]. I was waiting to get called up to the official weigh-ins. As I was there, the Ontario commission sat there and asked if they could have a word with me. I just sent my cornerman since I was dehydrated,”

“He yelled at me, ‘Emil! You need to shave your beard.’ I was like, ‘Uh, that’s funny.’“

Nope, it’s a thing. Meek discovered the hard way what many fighters have had to deal with for years. These rules started from boxing and were implemented into MMA, stemming from reasons from making the sport more palpable to the public to being able to medically inspect cuts and bruises. Other reasons include possible beard grabbing, friction from rubbing, hygiene, and possible cushioning. Fortunately, Unlike Samson, Emil “Valhalla” Meek doesn’t derive his strength from his sweet sweet Norwegian beard and pulled off a unanimous decision over a lackluster Jordan Mein.

But despite the red tape, do these reasons really post any significant advantage to the fighters who chose to grow out their mane? If cushioning is the reason then guys with long hair would be immune to head kicks, if it’s being able to inspect cuts and bruises, most of those things happen over the eye and nose. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fight stopped via chin cut. If it’s a broken jaw they’re looking for well that’s determined from the inability to close your mouth, and/or protruding teeth or jaw – nothing to do with facial hair.

With that being said, there are many wrestlers who will tell you grappling a guy with a long beard is no fun. In the high stakes world of MMA every little bit counts, and competitors are always looking for an edge, could this be the next budding issue of MMA?

Hit us up with you thoughts and comments below.

The post Does The Bearded Fighter Carry An Unfair Advantage? appeared first on Cagepotato.

According to Zuffa, All UFC 129 Drug Tests Came Back Clean


(If the OAC wants to be taken seriously, it can’t expect promotions to self-regulate.)

If you recall, we reported after UFC 129 that the Ontario Athletic Commission had passed the buck in terms of post-fight drug testing to Zuffa for the April 30 event held in Toronto and that the UFC had hired an unnamed independent laboratory to look after testing the fighters on the historic card.

According to UFC Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, Marc Ratner, who responded to a request from CagePotato.com today for test results from the event, all of the samples came back clean two weeks ago “for both [performance enhancing drugs] and illegal street drugs.”


(If the OAC wants to be taken seriously, it can’t expect promotions to self-regulate.)

If you recall, we reported after UFC 129 that the Ontario Athletic Commission had passed the buck in terms of post-fight drug testing to Zuffa for the April 30 event held in Toronto and that the UFC had hired an unnamed independent laboratory to look after testing the fighters on the historic card.

According to UFC Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, Marc Ratner, who responded to a request from CagePotato.com today for test results from the event, all of the samples came back clean two weeks ago “for both [performance enhancing drugs] and illegal street drugs.”

This isn’t the first time that the UFC has administered its own tests. An independent lab discovered that Chris Leben had the anabolic steroid Stanazolol in his system for his UFC 89 loss to Michael Bisping October 18, 2008. He was handed a nine-month suspension from Zuffa for his indiscretion.

What’s of note is that the results of the UFC 129 tests were not made public by the Ontario Athletic Commission, which begs the question: Is the OAC properly regulating the sport in the province, or are they depending on promotions to self regulate?

Part of the OAC’s mandate in sanctioning MMA in the province was that it would provide drug testing for promotions that require it of its fighters. Right off the bat they dropped the ball with the first promotion that required testing.

What other rules are being overlooked by the established commission that many feel is ill-equipped to handle regulating MMA as it stands today due to deficiencies in manpower, experience and knowledge of the sport?

EXCLUSIVE: Several Promotions Including Strikeforce Apply for Promoter’s Licenses in Ontario

(Now that MMA is legal in Ontario, the bandwagon will undoubtedly carry in a glut of Dana White wannabes. Let’s hope the OAC knows how to weed out the legit promoters from the scumbags.)
It looks like the UFC might get beaten to the proverbial punch…

(Now that MMA is legal in Ontario, the bandwagon will undoubtedly carry in a glut of Dana White wannabes. Let’s hope the OAC knows how to weed out the legit promoters from the scumbags.)

It looks like the UFC might get beaten to the proverbial punch when it comes to holding the inaugural sanctioned MMA event in Ontario.

CagePotato.com has learned from a source close to the situation that several promotions, including San Jose-based Strikeforce and Edmonton’s Maximum Fighting Championship have applied for promoter’s licenses in Ontario and pending approval by the Ontario Athletic Commission, at least three shows have been penciled in ahead of the UFC’s April 29 show in Toronto.

Although none of the shows have been given the go-ahead by the province as of time of writing, a number of venues have been tentatively reserved — some by first-time promoters — across the province in such locales as Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton and Orillia. 

read more

Now That It’s Legal, What’s the Next Step in MMA Sanctioning in Ontario?

(When will Ontario see its first event?)
 
When the Ontario government announced a little over a week ago that it had decided to sanction mixed martial arts in the Canadian province, the news came as a very welcome surprise to pretty much all of t…


(When will Ontario see its first event?)
 

When the Ontario government announced a little over a week ago that it had decided to sanction mixed martial arts in the Canadian province, the news came as a very welcome surprise to pretty much all of the issue’s stakeholders.
 

It wasn’t the fact that the province’s Liberal majority government finally decided that MMA was on par safety-wise and skill-wise with other sports that are legally contested in Ontario, making it a no-brainer to legalize that threw so many people off; it was the fact that the announcement came without much warning or fanfare.

The then-Minister of Consumer Services (she was shuffled to a different cabinet position four days after the announcement) Sophia Aggelonitis tweeted the news early on the morning of Saturday, August 14. Within an hour of sending out her brief message, that simply stated “Ontario will move to allow mixed martial arts,” Aggelonitis’ office posted a press release regarding the decision pointing to “competitor safety and boosting local economies” as its main reasons behind its landmark decision.

read more