The Edmonton Combative Sports Commission and city administrators plan to work together to hire a third party to investigate the death of an MMA fighter at the Shaw Conference Centre.
Beaumont-based MMA fighter Tim Hague, 34, died on June 18, two days after he was knocked unconscious in the ring by Adam Braidwood, a former defensive end for the Edmonton Eskimos.
A video of the match shows Hague, who had a history head injuries, getting knocked down several times.
On June 19, the city announced it would hire an outside party to review the circumstances surrounding Hague’s death. It mentioned the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission would be involved.
There were no updates on progress until Monday night’s meeting of the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission, during which it was revealed the commission was not actually consulted by the city about the investigation.
While the commission regulates professional MMA fighting, it’s the city that oversees event operations.
David Aitken, the city’s branch manager of community standards and neighbourhoods, said there was some confusion over jurisdiction.
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“Initially, administration wanted to be seen as acting quickly for a full review,” Aitken said, noting that the assumption was that both regulations and operations would be looked at.
“There was no intent to cut the commission out in any way, shape or form,” he said.
The city has already started gathering statements from officials about what they saw at the fight.
Over the past month, Steven Phipps, the chair of the commission, has been in talks with city administrators about the review.
“The goal is to ensure that there is a true level of independence with the reviewer, that they aren’t simply reviewing materials that the city or the commission has gathered,” Phipps said.
“We would want to know what was on the application. Were there any previous suspensions for medical reasons? Were the policies with respect to sanctioning this fight applied?”
The commission wants the report from the third-party reviewer, who has not yet been hired, to be completed by mid-September.
Phipps said the hope is that it will be publicly available.