According to the article, it is believed that Kirkham died from injuries he sustained during the fight -- a fight in which he was knocked out and never regained consciousness.
This is, of course, extremely sad and my condolences go out to Kirkham's family.
As of this morning, there had only been one death in connection with a sanctioned MMA fight as reported here by Kevin Iole:
Since 1993, when the Ultimate Fighting Championship was founded and what has become known as the MMA era began, there has been one recorded death in a sanctioned fight. Sam Vasquez died of injuries sustained in an Oct. 20, 2007, fight in Houston.
Unfortunately, as in all things political, this tragedy may be used as ammo by those opposed to MMA, including those politicians in New York currently attempting to prevent passage of a bill (and a budget) that would lift the ban on "combative sports." As I posted here, New York Senator Liz Krueger, in her blog post on her opposition to MMA in New York, has already stated as follows: "How can we legalize a sport which has shown time and again to have tragic consequence for its participants?"
Despite what the opposition, including Liz Krueger, may say, however, the fact remains that MMA has still had less deaths in regulated bouts than even high school football.
Indeed, as Kevin Iole pointed out in his article today:
according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, there were three deaths among high school football players in 2009 and there have been 63 since 1993, the year modern MMA began.Accordingly, two deaths in sanctioned MMA bouts since 1993 -- as opposed to one -- does not do much to change the comparative argument that can be made that MMA is no less dangerous -- in fact it is still less dangerous -- than boxing and other contact sports despite what the opposition might argue.
Fight Lawyer
