Blood Testing in Irish MMA

John Ferguson

Following from the announcement that Graham and the guys at Cage Warriors have introduced mandatory blood testing, I think this is something that as a community we should adopt their position and introduce it across the board.

I have txt every promoter in Ireland this afternoon with the following:

"Message to Irish MMA promoters:

Guys following Cage Warriors announcement that they have introduced blood testing I think this is something that we all should do, it has been spoken about before.

My suggestion is that we all agree to introduce it at pro level for now. The fighter would have to provide the test etc. Then to fairly cover the cost we pay a fighter a separate "Bloods" fee of £20 each time that fighter is on our cards.

This will only work if we all agree and stick together on it."



I can't see any reason for not doing this as a community. Does anybody have a reason why we don't?

paulmclaughlin

Would it not be useful at C class as well?

John Ferguson

paulmclaughlin wrote: »

Would it not be useful at C class as well?

Of course it would, but I think this needs to be done one step at a time.

paulmclaughlin

John Ferguson wrote: »

Of course it would, but I think this needs to be done one step at a time.

Suppose you're right. This is a good step forward for the Irish MMA scene anyway.

SBG Ireland

as and from 2012 no SBG Pro fighter will be on a show that does not have this policy.

John Ferguson

SBG Ireland wrote: »

as and from 2012 no SBG Pro fighter will be on a show that does not have this policy.

Great! Now any other clubs going to take this stand?

theboxingclinic

We also support this, it's a fantastic step forward by Graham Boylan and great to see it being taken up here as well.

David Jones

I think this is an excellent step forward both in terms of fighter, coach and referee safety and also as a more visible step forward to try and improve the public/media image of MMA.

From 2012 I will only referee pro fights for promotions that adopt this policy.

This sport is finally maturing!

John Ferguson

Thus far we have agreement from:



Cage Contender

Man of War

Chaos FC

SBG Ireland

The Boxing Clinic

Dave Jones

Dancor

Are ya looking for ped's or stuff like aids, hep etc

theboxingclinic

Blood borne diseases not peds


Quote=Dancor;74879208]Are ya looking for ped's or stuff like aids, hep etc[/Quote]

weemate

David Jones wrote: »

I think this is an excellent step forward both in terms of fighter, coach and referee safety and also as a more visible step forward to try and improve the public/media image of MMA.

From 2012 I will only referee pro fights for promotions that adopt this policy.

This sport is finally maturing!

its about time........I second this

Barry.Oglesby

My shows will also have this policy from 2012. I recommend using a simple google database to record times and dates of blood tests which the refs can witness and monitor.

manga_10

Sounds good but the problem is who will regulate these procedures and make sure that appropriate samples are being used etc. Tampering with samples happens at all levels in different sports look at cycling with the increase of EPOs etc.

John Ferguson

manga_10 wrote: »

Sounds good but the problem is who will regulate these procedures and make sure that appropriate samples are being used etc. Tampering with samples happens at all levels in different sports look at cycling with the increase of EPOs etc.

I see it as being very simple.

Fighter goes to doctor once a year like they do in boxing, gets all clear and a blood cert. Fighter then provides the promoter with the cert each time they fight.

At Cage Contender the blood cert will become part of the medical, no blood cert = failed medical = no fight

Barry.Oglesby

Why would anyone tamper with a blood sample to find out if they were ill or not?

cowzerp

manga_10 wrote: »

Sounds good but the problem is who will regulate these procedures and make sure that appropriate samples are being used etc. Tampering with samples happens at all levels in different sports look at cycling with the increase of EPOs etc.

If it was for peds I'd agree but no 1 is going to lie about aids, hepatitis etc..
I'm pretty sure people with diseased like that would stop fighting and would not ask anyone to fake the testing for that.

Let's try not to overcomplicate this and a start is better than nothing, I think we need to discuss what fighters need to do and how they can do it etc

theboxingclinic

It is not to test for peds!

manga_10 wrote: »

Sounds good but the problem is who will regulate these procedures and make sure that appropriate samples are being used etc. Tampering with samples happens at all levels in different sports look at cycling with the increase of EPOs etc.

theboxingclinic

Should this not be done before each fight to make the testing as effective as possible

John Ferguson wrote: »

manga_10 wrote: »

Sounds good but the problem is who will regulate these procedures and make sure that appropriate samples are being used etc. Tampering with samples happens at all levels in different sports look at cycling with the increase of EPOs etc.

I see it as being very simple.

Fighter goes to doctor once a year like they do in boxing, gets all clear and a blood cert. Fighter then provides the promoter with the cert each time they fight.

At Cage Contender the blood cert will become part of the medical, no blood cert = failed medical = no fight

Clive

Is it not fairly standard in the States and across Europe that the blood test should be within six months of the event?

Fair play to Cage Contender for covering some portion of the costs for fighters, hopefully other promoters will follow suit.

theboxingclinic

Standard in the states, in fact I'm sure in the states they have a test before each fight, I may be wrong, I'll ask Jake Hecht tomorrow for clarification on that. has not been done at all in Europe!

Clive wrote: »

Is it not fairly standard in the States and across Europe that the blood test should be within six months of the event?

Fair play to Cage Contender for covering some portion of the costs for fighters, hopefully other promoters will follow suit.

Raze_them_all

I always got one after a fight for the next fight when I was competing was for myself just as much as any promotor that asked for it.

Can only be good for the sport

SBG Ireland

theboxingclinic wrote: »

has not been done at all in Europe!

its standard in sweden

usually has to be redone every 6mths

John Ferguson

SBG Ireland wrote: »

its standard in sweden

usually has to be redone every 6mths

As far as I am aware Dave O Donnell has been doing it for a while now and there was talk on here about the ISKA requiring pro fighters to have bloods tested.

It's great to see individual promotions introducing testing, but it will be a much bigger thing if we can get agreement and introduce it across a whole country/community. This is another way that we can all practice what we preach in regard to fighter safety.

Barry.Oglesby

"Europe" covers a lot of jurisdictions! I think they do it in Germany and Finland too.

A yearly medical isn't too much to ask and really only costs about €50 for a consultation plus the blood testing costs, which last time I got one were included in the consultation fee. Either way as long as the promoters agree to add a €20 fee to your purse you'll recover it.

The biggest prize for anyone serious about being a professional fighter though has to be the peace of mind of knowing that the guy who might bleed onto you across the cage has had the same tests!

reganreggie

This is a great idea and a big step for Irish mma, I would like to see it extended to C class fairly quickly and I`m sure most guys would be willing to pay for the peace of mind.

John Ferguson

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Either way as long as the promoters agree to add a €20 fee to your purse you'll recover it.

Cage Contender will be giving €20 for events in the Rep of Ireland and £20 on Northern events.

I am guessing when Dave and Peter said they would back the system they mean the system as a whole including every promoter paying the bloods fee.

weemate

John Ferguson wrote: »

Cage Contender will be giving €20 for events in the Rep of Ireland and £20 on Northern events.

I am guessing when Dave and Peter said they would back the system they mean the system as a whole including every promoter paying the bloods fee.

We can only back the use of blood tests...we cannot make a promoter pay any money toward it.I would imagine however, that your idea to contribute to the test will probably make fighting on cage contender a more attractive deal for fighters...that should nudge all the other promoters in the direction of a 'blood fee' as well.

John Ferguson

weemate wrote: »

We can only back the use of blood tests...we cannot make a promoter pay any money toward it.I would imagine however, that your idea to contribute to the test will probably make fighting on cage contender a more attractive deal for fighters...that should nudge all the other promoters in the direction of a 'blood fee' as well.

Thats cool, but to be clear Cage Contender will only pay a blood fee if it is agreed and implemented by all promoters.

Niall0

John Ferguson wrote: »

Thats cool, but to be clear Cage Contender will only pay a blood fee if it is agreed and implemented by all promoters.

Wont that be kind of difficult considering there is so many promotions? Actually, how many promotions is there? does anyone have a list?

John Ferguson

Niall0 wrote: »

Wont that be kind of difficult considering there is so many promotions? Actually, how many promotions is there? does anyone have a list?

The only way we will pay is if it's a level playing field for all, there is no reason why one promoter should pay and another not pay, that's why it was included in the initial message to all. Sure we can all just implement the blood tests for fighter safety (which is the main reason that we are doing so) but I think the promoter should help the fighter out with the cost.

When i sent the original text yesterday it went to 17 promoters in Ireland.