Alberta’s minister of sport has announced the province will launch a review to improve athlete safety in combat sports, following the death of a fighter after an amateur MMA charity match outside of Edmonton.
In a statement sent Tuesday afternoon, Tourism and Sport Minister Joseph Schow said he’ll be meeting with the province’s municipal combative sport commissions “to better understand what gaps and opportunities exist,” and review recommendations to make combative sports safer.
Schow says former Edmonton Elks CEO Victor Cui will lead the engagement, adding that his “extensive experience working with governments to establish combative sport commissions and improve athlete safety will be a vital asset.”
Schow’s statement notes Alberta is the only province without a provincial commission for combat sports, and says the province will look at steps that would need to be taken to establish one.
“Everyone should be able to compete fairly and safely in the sports they love,” Schow said in the statement. “In the coming months, our government will work closely with provincial and municipal partners to determine next steps in enhancing the safety of Alberta’s athletes.”
Schow says the first meeting is scheduled to take place before Christmas.
Cui, who left the CFL team in 2023, is co-founder of the combat sports promotion ONE Championship.
Schow’s announcement follows the death of Trokon Dousuah, 33, last month.
The amateur MMA fighter died after fighting a three-round bout at the community centre in Enoch, a First Nation community west of Edmonton.
The mixed martial arts event, organized by Ultra MMA, was called off shortly after Dousuah was carried out of the ring.
An Edmonton MMA fighter died after winning his Ultra MMA match on the Enoch Cree Nation. Another fighter, who was expected to fight that night, seeks answers as to what happened. As CBC’s Travis McEwan reports, the death comes weeks after a fatality report recommended regulating fights in Alberta.
Schow said the government “will work closely with provincial and municipal partners to determine next steps in enhancing the safety of Alberta’s athletes.”
The statement from Schow notes the public fatality inquiry into the death of Timothy Hague, who died after a boxing match in 2017, included recommendations on how to increase athlete safety in combative sports. Justice Carrie Sharpe urged Alberta to replace the current patchwork of municipal sanctioning commissions with a single governing body.
In an interview last week, Erik Magraken, a combat sports regulatory lawyer in British Columbia and a licensed MMA judge, described Alberta as the “wild west” for combative sports regulations.
He said the death of Dousuah was the first in MMA that he is aware of in Canada.
“There’s pressure on the government to no longer put their head in the sand,” he said.
“It’s a very dangerous sport. And it’s unfortunate it takes a death for the provincial government to take a hard look at it.”