Councillor, promoter in war of words

Winnipeg councillor Grant Nordman wants the city to ban mixed martial arts fighting after an 18-year-old competitor in a pro bout Friday had to be treated in hospital for a concussion and a bleeding brain.

Paramedics rushed Dean Lewis to the Health Sciences Centre after the Fort McMurray, Alta., fighter collapsed after the third round against Winnipeg's Eric Perez at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

Nordman (St. Charles) has instructed the city's Community Services Department to explore what measures Winnipeg could take to institute a ban on mixed martial arts events.

"We don't allow dogfighting, we don't allow cockfighting, so why should we allow this?" Nordman said Monday.

"There's no reason an 18-year-old should be hospitalized."

Nordman, who sits on the convention centre's board, said he is curious as to why mixed martial arts events are held in the government-funded facility. He called the people who watched the event "ghouls."

His comments sparked outrage from those within Winnipeg's mixed martial arts community.

"(Mixed martial arts) is not cockfighting, it's a sport," said Giuseppe DeNatale, president and founder of the Canadian Fighting Championship, the organization behind Friday's fight. "Coun. Nordman is trying to sensationalize everything."

DeNatale, a Muay Thai kickboxing champion, stressed that MMA fights are sanctioned by the Manitoba Boxing Commission, and that fighters undergo a number of medical tests before events.

"If they're not physically fit to compete, they're not going to," he said.

DeNatale would not comment on the fight itself, other than to say he would release a statement in the next few days.

"The reality is that it's an isolated incident and we feel horrible about what happened, but we had trained professionals on site, we had doctors and paramedics at ringside," he said.

The CFC's matchmaker, Marc-Andre Drolet, said Nordman insulted both the sport and its fans.

"I don't think he should use one injury as a means of comparing the sport to dogfighting or cockfighting," said Drolet, who also owns a mixed-martial arts website called www.cageplay.com.

"And calling people who watch the events ghouls? I don't think that's fair to fans of the sport."

Dr. Henry Janzen, chairman of the Manitoba Boxing Commission, said mixed martial arts events were illegal in Manitoba until recently.

Prompted by growing interest in the sport, the province decided to regulate the fights in 2006, allowing them to be held legally.

For the event to pass MBC standards, there must be a doctor and ambulance at every fight, and all competitors must pass a yearly medical exam.

"Prior to us making those approvals, the events still occurred all across Manitoba but there'd be no doctors there, there'd be no medicals, there'd be no ambulance. So these were occurring without any safety precautions for the combatant or even for the fans," said Janzen.

St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal, another member of the Manitoba Boxing Commission, agreed it makes no sense to suggest a ban on mixed martial arts, one of the fastest-growing sports in North America.

"If we, the government, ban mixed martial arts, it will just go underground, where there will be no doctors or paramedics. In a situation like that, the young gent on Friday night would be dead today," said Vandal, who boxed professionally before entering politics.

Mixed martial arts matches are no different than any other form of contact sport, he suggested.

"The people who participate are adults. They train for months, if not years. They get paid money and they know the risks," Vandal said. "It's a very tough sport but, not unlike professional hockey or football, people sometimes get hurt."

Lewis remained at HSC on Monday morning in fair condition, said hospital staff.

While mixed martial arts shows are allowed in most of Canada, the events are still illegal in Ontario.

Vancouver also imposed a temporary ban on mixed martial arts events in September 2007, said the city's chief license inspector, Barb Windsor.

The city asked Windsor's office to investigate whether MMA fights should be regulated, and she said her report will be complete in the next two months.

According to DeNatale, there have been no Canadian deaths as a result of a regulated mixed martial art fight. In November 2007, an American MMA fighter died in Texas after being knocked out during a fight.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca arielle.godbout@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 10, 2009 A6