In April 2007, the Iowa legislature voted to de-regulate MMA. The sport would be legal -- there were not enough votes to ban MMA outright -- but the state would “get out of the regulation business.” The bill’s aim was to minimize the financial cost of MMA-related injuries to the state.
The UFC, as well as prominent Iowa MMA fighters and promoters, attempted to educate the Iowa legislature on the risks of unregulated MMA. They were ignored.
No thought was given to the human costs of unregulated MMA.
Two years later, when Kirk entered the ring for the last time, the state of amateur MMA in Iowa was a disgrace. Professional MMA was overseen by the state’s boxing authority, but the amateur sport was a free for all. No blood tests for HIV or Hepatitis were required. No proof of age. No proof of sobriety. No physicians ringside.
Prior to his fight, Kirk claims he had asked the promoter, Craig McIntosh, if he was carrying insurance for the fight. Of course, McIntosh allegedly assured him. It was only weeks later, laying paralyzed in a hospital bed facing wave after wave of medical bills, that Kirk discovered the truth. The insurance purchased by McIntosh covered injuries to the fans in attendance, but not injuries to the fighters in the ring.
In days, Kirk went bankrupt. The rest of Kirk’s medical care costs -- hundreds of thousands of dollars -- was paid for by the citizens of Iowa.
The only possible winner was the promoter. In a situation analogous to the national economic crisis occurring at the same time, the profits associated with amateur MMA were privatized -- kept by the promoter -- while the financial costs of those risks were borne by the taxpayers.
In the fall of 2009, public outrage with the disgraceful state of affairs in amateur MMA forced the Iowa legislature to reconsider MMA sanctioning and regulation.The Senate, which just two years prior had de-regulated MMA by a vote of 35-12, voted unanimously to subject amateur MMA to the same protections as professional MMA.
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