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24–053 2017

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS: ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, 

AND TRADE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

Serial No. 114–179 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

energycommerce.house.gov 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

Chairman 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

Chairman Emeritus 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

Vice Chairman 

STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana 

ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio 

CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, Washington 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

DAVID B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia 

MIKE POMPEO, Kansas 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

BILL JOHNSON, Missouri 

BILLY LONG, Missouri 

RENEE L. ELLMERS, North Carolina 

LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana 

BILL FLORES, Texas 

SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana 

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma 

RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina 

CHRIS COLLINS, New York 

KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

Ranking Member 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

DORIS O. MATSUI, California 

KATHY CASTOR, Florida 

JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

PETER WELCH, Vermont 

BEN RAY LUJA ́ N, New Mexico 

PAUL TONKO, New York 

JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky 

YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York 

DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa 

KURT SCHRADER, Oregon 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III, Massachusetts 

TONY CA ́ RDENAS, California 

(III) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, AND TRADE

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

Chairman 

LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey 

Vice Chairman 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

MIKE POMPEO, Kansas 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana 

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma 

FRED UPTON, Michigan (ex officio) 

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

Ranking Member 

YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III, Massachusetts 

TONY CA ́ RDENAS, California 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

PETER WELCH, Vermont 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey (ex 

officio) 

(V) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hon. Michael C. Burgess, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Texas, opening statement .................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 

Hon. Leonard Lance, a Representative in Congress from the State of New 

Jersey, opening statement ................................................................................... 3 

Hon. Janice D. Schakowsky, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of Illinois, prepared statement ............................................................................ 4 

Hon. Markwayne Mullin, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Oklahoma, prepared statement .......................................................................... 6 

Hon. Fred Upton, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, 

prepared statement .............................................................................................. 43 

WITNESSES

Hon. Jeff Denham, a Representative in Congress from the State of California . 7 

Jeff Novitzky, Vice President, Athlete Health and Performance, Ultimate 

Fighting Championship ....................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 

Lydia Robertson, Treasurer, Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports ......................................................................................................... 14 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 

Ann McKee, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Pathology, Alzheimer’s Disease 

Center, Boston University, Neuropathology Core, Boston University ............. 18 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 20 

Randy Couture, President, Xtreme Couture ......................................................... 25 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 27 

SUBMITTED MATERIAL

MMA contract .......................................................................................................... 45 

Article entitled, ‘‘UFC antitrust lawsuit: Inside Bellator’s contracts and the 

effect on plaintiff fighters,’’ Bloody Elbow, March 4, 2015 ............................... 69 

(1) 

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS: ISSUES AND 

PERSPECTIVES 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING, AND

TRADE, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:57 a.m., in room 

2322, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Michael C. Burgess, 

M.D., (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Present: Representatives Burgess, Lance, Guthrie, Mullin, Schakowsky, Kennedy, Rush, and Welch. 

Staff Present: Grace Applebe, Staff Assistant; Graham Dufault, 

Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Blair Ellis, Digital 

Coordinator and Press Secretary; Melissa Froelich, Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Giulia Giannangeli, Legislative 

Clerk, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; A.T. Johnston, Senior 

Policy Advisor; Paul Nagle, Chief Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Dan Schneider, Press Secretary; Olivia Trusty, 

Professional Staff, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Dylan 

Vorbach, Deputy Press Secretary; Michelle Ash, Minority Chief 

Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Lisa Goldman, Minority Counsel, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; Chris 

Knauer, Minority Staff Director, Oversight and Investigations; 

Elizabeth Letter, Minority Professional Staff, Oversight and Investigations; Dan Miller, Minority Staff; Caroline Paris-Behr, Minority, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade; and Matthew 

Schumacher, Minority Press Assistant. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL C. BURGESS, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Mr. BURGESS. The subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, 

and Trade will now come to order. 

The chair recognizes himself for 5 minutes for the purposes of an 

opening statement. 

And good morning to all of our witnesses. We appreciate you 

being with us this morning. 

Before we turn to the matter at hand, I do want to make note 

of the fact that this is our last hearing before the 114th Congress. 

I certainly want to thank my vice chairman, Chairman Lance of 

New Jersey, and Ranking Member Schakowsky of Illinois for their 

hard work and the hard work of all of our members. 

2 

The Energy and Commerce Committee itself is probably one of 

the most productive committees on Capitol Hill. The Commerce, 

Manufacturing, and Trade Committee has justifiably earned the 

reputation as the think tank of the Energy and Commerce Committee. And I would just note to the members on the dais that we 

have passed over two dozen pieces of legislation from members on 

both sides of the dais over the past 2 years, one of the most productive legislative accomplishments for this subcommittee in several 

years. 

So, thanks to the participation of all of our members, I believe, 

no pun intended, we have been punching above our weight. And I 

am happy to close out this Congress with my colleagues on the 

Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Committee and look forward 

to a busy agenda for next year. 

Once more, we turn our attention to something where this is 

plowing new ground for Congress. As broad and varied as our jurisdiction is, mixed martial arts, especially the industry of mixed martial arts, is probably a new concept to some of us. In fact, it is to 

your chairman. 

As the industry continues to evolve swiftly, it seems that now is 

the time to bring Congress up to speed on mixed martial arts and 

understand if there is a role that Congress should be playing in 

this multibillion-dollar industry. I want to thank Congressman 

Mullin for making sure this issue was on the subcommittee’s agenda. 

The latest major mixed martial arts event drew a little under 2 

million viewers and around 1.5 million pay-per-view buys. It generated $18 million at the gate, $1.5 million of which went to the 

State of New York in taxes. Perhaps most importantly, since about 

half of the mixed martial arts fan base is comprised of millennials, 

the event created 14 billion social media impressions, which 

Nielsen now tracks. 

The winner at the top of the fight card made $40 million. That 

doesn’t match what a top boxing championship fight brings, but 

there is no longer a doubt that mixed martial arts is ready for 

prime time, and there is certainly no doubt that it is an economic 

driver. 

In our previous sports hearings, we have grappled primarily with 

athlete safety and the implications of safety rules on youth sports. 

The safety of MMA fighters is of importance, and this will figure 

into our broad discussion of how the industry works and how it is 

regulated at the State level. 

The politics around combat sports are tough. To some degree, 

fighters assume risks. All 50 States have legalized mixed martial 

arts and regulate it to some degree. State athletic commissions 

have generally promulgated rules that prohibit certain maneuvers 

in the ring, require certain equipment, and provide for athlete drug 

testing. Some States are stricter than others, depending upon a 

State’s resources, how popular the State is as a venue for mixed 

martial arts. 

As with boxing, fighters must generally obtain a license to fight. 

States and the major promotions also require physicians to be 

present and make certain that the fighters are healthy before, during, and after a bout. 

3 

I thank the panelists, who represent a variety of interests and 

perspectives, for their participation today. I certainly look forward 

to a lively and interesting discussion. 

And I would like to yield then to the gentleman from New Jersey 

for his opening statement. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Burgess follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL C. BURGESS

Good morning and welcome to our hearing on Mixed Martial Arts. 

Before we turn to the matter at hand I note that this is our last hearing of the 

114th Congress. I’d like to thank Vice Chairman Lance and Ranking Member Schakowsky for their hard work and the work of all of our Members. Thanks to the participation of all of our Members, we’ve been punching above our weight. I’m happy 

to close out the Congress with my CMT colleagues and look forward to next year’s 

busy agenda. 

Once more we turn our attention to something Congress has not focused upon before. As broad and varied as our jurisdiction is, mixed martial arts-especially the 

industry of MMA-is probably a new concept to some of us. As the industry continues 

to evolve swiftly, now is the time to bring Congress up to speed on MMA, and understand if there is a role Congress should be playing in this multi-billion dollar industry. I also want to thank Congressman Mullin for making sure this issue is on 

the committee’s agenda. 

The latest major MMA event drew a little under 2 million viewers and around 

1.5 million pay-per-view buys. It also generated about $18 million at the gate, $1.5 

million of which went to New York in taxes. 

Perhaps most importantly-since about half of MMA’s fan base is comprised of 

millennials-the event created 14 billion ‘‘social media impressions,’’ which Nielsen 

now tracks. 

The top ticket only received, combined, $4 million. That doesn’t match what a top 

boxing championship fight brings, but there’s no longer a doubt that MMA is ready 

for primetime or that it is an economic driver. 

In our previous sports hearings, we grappled primarily with athlete safety and the 

implications of safety rules on youth sports. 

The safety of MMA fighters is of utmost importance and this will figure into our 

broad discussion of how the MMA industry works and how it is regulated at the 

state level. 

The politics around combat sports are tough. To some degree, fighters assume 

risks. All 50 states have legalized MMA and regulate it to some degree. State athletic commissions have generally promulgated rules that prohibit certain maneuvers 

in the ring, require certain equipment, and provide for athlete drug testing. 

Some states are stricter than others, depending on the state’s resources and how 

popular the state is as a venue for MMA. 

Just like with boxing, fighters must generally obtain a license to fight. States and 

the major promotions also require physicians to be present and make sure fighters 

are healthy before and during a bout. 

I thank the panelists, who represent a variety of interests and perspectives, for 

their participation today and look forward to a lively and interesting discussion. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LEONARD LANCE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY 

Mr. LANCE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

In my three terms serving on the Energy and Commerce Committee, this has been by far the most productive session for the 

Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee, due in large 

part to the leadership of Dr. Burgess and the hard work of the committee staff. 

Through the highly successful ‘‘disruptor’’ series, CMT has asserted itself as the principal subcommittee supporting the technological innovations our economy needs to thrive. We have acted on 

4 

the information learned from these educational hearings by passing 

bipartisan, targeted legislation and beginning the first legislative 

update to the Federal Trade Commission in 20 years. 

We have also passed legislation to help consumers,for example, 

to review their experiences without businesses engaging in retribution. Under Dr. Burgess’s leadership, CMT has also provided vigorous oversight of the Takata airbag recall, the largest safety recall 

in automotive history. 

Congratulations, Dr. Burgess, on an exceptionally effective session, and I look forward to continuing our work on these important 

issues and other issues in the full committee next Congress. 

I also take a moment to recognize outgoing Chairman Fred 

Upton of the full committee. And today is a historic and important 

day, as the 21st Century Cures Act goes to the President’s desk. 

At this season, I wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year, and particularly safety to our troops, our magnificent 

troops across the globe, who protect us and the American people in 

general. 

And, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of our time. 

Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman for his remarks. 

Notes the gentleman went a little bit over, but since his remarks 

seemed so important and you were thanking the chairman, I would 

ask unanimous consent that the gentleman be allowed to do that. 

And, of course, I want to thank the ranking member of the committee, Ms. Schakowsky from Illinois, for being here, as well, and 

for a very productive 2 years on the Commerce, Manufacturing, 

and Trade Subcommittee and recognize you for 5 minutes for the 

purpose of an opening statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to 

thank you too. It has been a very interesting and, I think, productive session of Congress. And it has been a personal pleasure to be 

able to serve with you as the chairman and myself as the ranking 

member. 

I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy 

Hanukkah, which actually happen to fall at the same time. 

And then to the business of the morning. 

When I first heard that we would be having a hearing on mixed 

martial arts, I was surprised. I confess I am not an MMA fan. 

Aren’t you shocked? I have had to learn a little more about MMA 

in preparation for the hearing, and I don’t think that it is going 

to be my new hobby. However, you don’t have to be an MMA fan 

to recognize the need for greater negotiating power and stronger 

protections for MMA fighters. 

Our colleague Congressman Mullin used to be an MMA fighter. 

I chatted with him about his sport, and yesterday I met with other 

MMA fighters in my office. The lack of leverage that they have in 

their contract negotiations is, frankly, pretty shocking. And that 

comes through when you look at differences in pay and benefits between MMA and other sports. 

5 

Congressman Mullin comes to this issue as an MMA fighter; I 

come to it as a fighter for workers’ rights and safety. But today I 

think that puts us on the same side. When I saw what MMA is, 

the mother in me came out a little bit. I don’t know why you would 

do that to yourself, but MMA fighters love their sport, and they 

should be able to fight. I do, however, want to make sure that they 

aren’t put at unnecessary risk. 

Safety for fighters and the structure of MMA are very interlinked. Generally speaking, fighters only get paid if they are in a 

match. They have to secure their own health insurance, because 

the promoters’ insurance just covers injuries within a match, not 

the injuries that frequently happen in weeks of training beforehand. That forces fighters to push themselves, sometimes at great 

personal risk. 

MMA can involve blows to the head, and, for me, that immediately raises concern about brain injury, which we have seen in 

other contact sports. Two months ago, 25-year-old Jordan Parsons 

became the first MMA fighter to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. This should not be surprising. Research has shown that repetitive hits to the head have cumulative 

long-term effects on brain function and physiology and may increase the risk of CTE. 

CTE is not new to members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Last March, in response to a question I raised, a National 

Football League representative admitted for the very first time a 

definite link between football and CTE. Dr. McKee, who we will 

hear from today, was at that roundtable. Representatives Frank 

Pallone, Gene Green, and Diana DeGette and I have also been 

pressing the National Hockey League to do more to reduce the risk 

of head injuries. MMA is just the latest sport where CTE is an 

issue. 

We have seen some progress at the state level already. New York 

State included a provision in its MMA legislation that recognizes 

the risk of brain trauma and requires MMA promoters to carry insurance to cover treatment of life-threatening brain injuries. 

If, knowing the risks, adults still want to be part of MMA fights, 

I guess that is all right, but fighters and promoters should take 

some basic precautions, and fighters should have the leverage to 

stand up for their own safety. 

In Dr. McKee’s written testimony, she provides some recommendations on the risk of brain injuries in MMA, how they can 

be reduced. We also need to support further research on the connection between CTE and contact sports so that adults know the 

risk. 

Research is especially critical, given the risk to young athletes. 

According to ESPN, an estimated 3.2 million kids 13 and under 

now participate in MMA. Kids can start classes as early as 6 years 

old. Some leagues ban head hits for younger fighters. However, Dr. 

Rebecca Carl from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on 

Sports Medicine and Fitness warns that kids don’t need to be hit 

in the head to experience brain injury. ‘‘The force of being thrown 

to the ground is enough to injure the brain.’’ That is a quote. And 

to continue the quote, ‘‘I don’t think there is enough data available 

to say that MMA is safe for children.’’ 

6 

I want to explore how MMA can be safer and fairer for fighters 

of all ages. 

I want to thank the witnesses for being here today, and I look 

forward to your testimony. 

I yield back. 

Mr. BURGESS. The gentlelady yields back. The chair thanks the 

gentlelady. 

The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma, Mr. 

Mullin, 5 minutes to summarize your opening statement, please. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARKWAYNE MULLIN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA 

Mr. MULLIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And real quick, maybe you misspoke in something you said a while ago, that the top card, the top fighter received over $40 million in payout. Wasn’t even close, which I know is just misspoken. 

The top ticket only received, combined, $4 million. Compared to 

boxing, it is a big difference. I just want to make sure that everybody understands the difference on that one. 

Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman. We will correct 

the record. 

Mr. MULLIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important hearing to examine a growing sport that I am passionate 

about like MMA. I also want to thank Chairman Upton for his help 

in getting us to this point. This informational hearing is vital to 

educate the members of this committee and the public on the history, current status, and the future of MMA. 

As we look at varying issues, from contracts to health, from antidoping to conflicts of interest, I hope we can keep one thing in 

mind: It is the fighters. Without them, there is no UFC, there is 

no Bellator, there is no sport. The promoters have done so much 

to grow the sport, but the fighters are what make this sport so 

compelling and so great to watch. 

The sport is much different than when I was younger. There is 

more media, more money, and with that brings more fans. As MMA 

continues to grow, we need to make sure we keep it growing with 

everybody. 

Before I yield back, I want to highlight my bill, the Muhammad 

Ali Expansion Act. Although it is not the focus of this hearing, it 

is certainly relevant. And I look forward to hearing the perspectives of our witnesses on the legislation, on the issues it addresses 

with fighters’ contracts, the ranking system, and the role of managers and promoters. 

It is my hope that all members of this committee leave this hearing with a better understanding of MMA and will continue working 

in the next Congress on the issue that affects all parties in this 

room, especially the fighters. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman. 

We will conclude now with member opening statements, seeing 

no other members wishing to offer an opening statement. The chair 

would remind members that, pursuant to committee rules, all 

members’ opening statements will be made part of the record. 

7 

We do want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today, 

taking time to testify before the subcommittee. Today’s witnesses 

will have an opportunity to give opening statements, followed then 

by questions from members. 

Our witness panel for today’s hearing includes the Honorable 

Jeff Denham from the State of California, the 10th District,thank 

you for being here this morning, Representative. Mr. Jeff Novitzky, 

the vice president of athlete health and performance at the Ultimate Fighting Championship; Ms. Lydia Robertson, treasurer at 

the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports; Dr. 

Ann McKee, professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University School of Medicine; and Mr. Randy Couture, president at 

Xtreme Couture. 

We appreciate each of you being here today. We will begin our 

panel with Representative Denham. 

And, Representative Denham, you are recognized for 5 minutes 

for an opening statement, please. 

STATEMENTS OF THE HON. JEFF DENHAM, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA; JEFF 

NOVITZKY, VICE PRESIDENT, ATHLETE HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE, ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP; LYDIA 

ROBERTSON, TREASURER, ASSOCIATION OF BOXING COMMISSIONS AND COMBATIVE SPORTS; ANN MCKEE, M.D., PROFESSOR OF NEUROLOGY AND PATHOLOGY, ALZHEIMER’S 

DISEASE CENTER, BOSTON UNIVERSITY, NEUROPATHOLOGY 

CORE, BOSTON UNIVERSITY; AND RANDY COUTURE, PRESIDENT, XTREME COUTURE 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JEFF DENHAM 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for 

allowing me to testify today. I also want to thank Representative 

Mullin for bringing this issue to the forefront. It is an important 

issue to address and make sure there are some minimum mandatory requirements as we move forward with this great sport. 

I had the opportunity to enjoy another great sport, boxing. I 

spent a lot of time in and around the ring but also saw the challenges and the damage that a very difficult sport can have, the 

lasting impacts on those that engage in it. 

I believe that we need to have some minimum standards, because, oftentimes, if the health of a fighter is not addressed, you 

can have a fighter that gets back into the ring early or before they 

are completely healed. If that happens, that also lends itself to 

have irreparable long-term damage as well. And I have seen the 

lasting impacts of friends that have gotten back into the ring too 

early or before they were completely healed. 

So I do believe that the boxing industry has changed. In 1996, 

the Professional Boxing Safety Act did make some changes. It focused on the physical well-being of boxers by establishing the minimum health and safety standards for professional boxing, with 

limited Federal oversight by the Department of Justice and the 

Federal Trade Commission. I don’t want to see Congress insert 

itself so much that it really interferes with the great sport, but I 

8 

do believe that there needs to be some minimum mandatory requirements. 

I also believe that, as any business, you hire people, you expect 

them to operate on your behalf. So I hire a manager, much like I 

would hire a chief of staff or somebody to manage my company, I 

expect them to operate on my behalf. And so I think there needs 

to be some transparency between the manager and any type of payment, outside of the fighter, that they may be receiving. 

In the Ali Act in 2000, after the 1996 initial act, the Ali Act addressed that issue. It also addressed some consistency across the 

States to make sure that boxing commissions across every State 

had those minimum contracts as well. 

And much like boxers, MMA fighters also receive a card, but I 

think that it is important that we have a consistent health inspection for the safety of the fighter to make sure that they are prepared to go back into the ring, back into the battle, and they are 

fully healthy and prepared to do so. 

So those minimum standards, I think, are very important across 

the country, making sure that our State boxing commissions or, in 

this case, MMA fighters also have that same safety, health inspection, a clearance to get back into the ring so that their future is 

safe as well. 

There are other experts up here that will talk about the rankings 

and contract negotiations. I think those are important discussions 

to have right now, but I don’t think that there is anything more 

important than the health and safety of the individual that is engaging in an incredible, great sport. I want to see MMA continue 

to flourish. I am a big fan. But, as a former boxer, I also know that 

the safety that can go with that sport needs to be addressed as 

well. 

So I am proud to be a coauthor of this bill and look forward to 

working with you as we have future hearings and future amendments and go through the continued process. This is something 

that I think is not only exciting to address, but it is something that 

is critically important to address. And, again, I want to thank Mr. 

Mullin for bringing this issue to the forefront. 

Thank you for allowing me to testify. 

Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman. 

Mr. Novitzky, you are now recognized for 5 minutes for an opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF JEFF NOVITZKY 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. It is an honor to be up here today with my fellow witnesses. 

My name is Jeff Novitzky. I am the UFC’s vice president of athlete 

health and performance. I would like to thank you for holding this 

hearing. I think it is important to recognize the significance we all 

place, and to mirror what Representative Denham just said, on the 

most important issue that we will talk about today, athlete health 

and safety. 

I would like to start off by giving the committee a brief history 

of my experience outside of the UFC and what ultimately led me 

to the UFC last year. 

9 

In April of 2015, I retired from 22-plus years in Federal law enforcement in the United States. In 2002, I opened an investigation 

on a company known as BALCO Laboratories for the illegal distribution of athletic performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs. 

While the case and subsequent cases that I worked in this arena 

focused on the illegal distribution of PEDs and not the athletes 

that used them, nevertheless the BALCO Laboratories investigation ended up involving some of the biggest names in sport in the 

world at the time who were athlete clients of BALCO: Barry Bonds, 

Marion Jones, dozens of Olympic athletes, boxers, NFL athletes, 

and several Major League Baseball players. 

The high-profile nature of the investigation steered many investigative leads my way over the course of my career and led me to 

subsequent investigations involving the distribution of PEDs to 

high-profile athletes. And finally, I conducted an investigation on 

professional cycling, including the United States Postal Service Cycling Team, whose members included Lance Armstrong. 

I estimate that throughout my career I spoke with between 150 

and 200 professional athletes who chose to use PEDs, and I always 

took the opportunity to ask them why they made that choice. And 

more often than not, the answer came down to one word, and that 

word was ‘‘trust.’’ They didn’t trust that their teammates, who they 

were competing for playing time and contracts, weren’t using. They 

didn’t trust that their competitors weren’t using. And, most importantly, they didn’t trust that their sports organization really cared 

about the issue, and that doping was allowed to fester because 

there were not sufficient programs in place to catch as well as 

deter athletes from ultimately harming themselves and others. 

When I was first approached by the UFC to develop and implement their new anti-doping program, I saw this as an opportunity 

to change that tide in sentiment. The more I talked with UFC executives, I quickly realized that their passion and commitment to 

athlete health and safety was paramount. They told me repeatedly, 

‘‘We want the best anti-doping program in the world. We want to 

be the gold standard for not just combat sports but for all sports.’’ 

I realized I could be part of a program within a sports organization 

that its athletes could trust and could be a positive influence toward athlete health and safety for not just the UFC but for all professional sports. 

I can confidently state that in the year and a half since our antidoping program has been up and running, the UFC has put together the most comprehensive, robust anti-doping program in professional sports in the world. 

A major pillar of our program is the outsourcing of the administration of the program to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, or 

USADA, who is widely considered the most reputable anti-doping 

organization in the world. 

Earlier this year, the UFC renewed our commitment, a 5-year 

commitment, $1 million commitment, to the Professional Fighters 

Brain Health Study that is being conducted through the Cleveland 

Clinic. This commitment makes UFC the largest combat sports contributor to the study. We currently have 88 current and former 

UFC fighters enrolled in the study. It is done over longer periods 

10 

of time to develop ways to improve safety in combat sports, along 

with other professional athletes exposed to repetitive head trauma. 

Another big development relating to fighter health and safety is 

the construction of the UFC’s new Athlete Health and Performance 

Center. The goal of this state-of-the-art facility will be to provide 

our athletes, free of charge, with the best training, rehabilitation, 

nutrition education, and injury prevention practices available in 

the world. We will team with universities to conduct studies on our 

athletes to learn best practices as it comes to training, rehabilitation, brain health, nutrition, and weight management practices. We 

will use these studies to not only help UFC athletes but all professional athletes. The center is scheduled to be completed in the 

spring of 2017. 

As you can see, the UFC has taken concrete steps towards increasing safety standards and protocols, not just within our organization, not just throughout mixed martial arts and combat sports 

community, but across the board in the professional sports landscape. 

From our anti-doping program, which has been recognized by the 

media as the best anti-doping program in professional sports, our 

continuing education of athletes on topics relating to their health 

and safety, safer weight management guidelines and practices, our 

participation in brain studies through the Cleveland Clinic, and our 

new Athlete Health and Performance Center, we have made great 

strides to ensure all of our athletes compete on a level playing 

field, take proactive steps to protect their health and safety, and 

enable to them to lead fulfilling lives both in and out of competition. 

As an organization, we are not only looking to lead combat sports 

in this area but take a leadership role and set an example for all 

of professional sports. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Novitzky follows:] 

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Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman. 

Ms. Robertson, you are recognized for 5 minutes, please, for an 

opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF LYDIA ROBERTSON 

Ms. ROBERTSON. I am serving as treasurer of the Association of 

Boxing Commissions. And just a little background on the organization: In the late 1980s, a group of concerned commission representatives got together in the hopes that they could standardize some 

safety regulations for the professional boxing industry. And, shortly 

thereafter, the bill known now as the Mohammed Ali Act came into 

being, and it helped unify those various States. So more and more 

states joined, because in the Muhammad Ali Act it specifies that 

if you do not have an authorized regulatory body from within the 

state, that you must use a different recognized organization. And 

every state wanted to participate. 

Not too long after that, the law was amended and now includes 

a lot of tribal governments. So we have about 75 members that are 

housed within the U.S. borders and about another 70 members 

from outside our borders. 

The ABC, which is what we call the Association of Boxing Commissions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and maintains a Web site and offers continual training courses to enhance uniformity and skill 

among professional boxing and MMA referees and judges. 

Roughly 8 years ago, the ABC began working on uniform, standard safety rules for MMA, just had been done for boxing, and they 

were updated this past summer in 2016. 

The ABC receives no funds from the Federal Government but exists on the dues collected from state and tribal commissions and 

from registration at the annual educational and training symposium. The ABC has no employees; we have no contract help other 

than the occasional CPA. I am here on my own time. And ABC 

President Mike Mazzulli had hoped he could be here, and there is 

a brief statement from him included in the comments. 

The ABC’s interest is always focused on fighter health and safety: How do we protect fighters, sometimes from themselves, and yet 

let them participate in the sports of their choosing? The interest on 

the fighters, the fair treatment of the fighters, and their future is 

always uppermost. Without these brave athlete souls, this meeting 

wouldn’t even be held. And without the promoters putting on those 

shows, this meeting wouldn’t be held. There is a delicate balance 

between the two. 

The Association of Boxing Commissions expanded their name 

this past summer to Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports, as, clearly, the ABC is ready and willing to accept 

more responsibility of the Ali Act or some other bill directed at 

safety and to benefit the fighter passes. 

The ABC, among its many members, possess unique and valuable perspectives. I was actually a promoter for years. One of our 

board members was a fighter at one point. Another state commissioner that I know of trained fighters. This five-member board of 

directors for the ABC currently has 90 years’ experience just between us, some of it regulatory, some participatory. 

15 

Unlike some laws with good intentions, the Muhammad Ali Act 

has greatly contributed to competition standards in title fights, altered the way contracts are entered into between managers, promoters, and athletes. The simple fact is that if a bill will reduce 

MMA exploitation and enhance fighter safety and if it is something 

the fighters are ready for, the ABC, after seeing the final bill, will 

probably support the bill. 

The ABC does not concern itself with promoters and their needs 

regardless of whether they are a multibillion-dollar promoter or a 

small one found in the State of Alabama. It is the fighters with 

whom the ABC is most concerned. 

In closing, I would like to remind everyone that the small local 

promoter will also be required to adhere to changes in any law. The 

ABC’s goal is uniform enforcement of protections. 

And my last comment would be, there is a balance between a 

business model and a sports model. I am not an expert enough to 

tell you what that is, but I think, with all of the committee’s experience and dedication, you will arrive at those decisions. 

And the ABC is so grateful to be a part of this. Thank you for 

allowing me to testify. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Robertson follows:] 

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Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentlelady. 

The chair recognizes Dr. McKee, 5 minutes for your opening 

statement, please. 

STATEMENT OF ANN MCKEE, M.D. 

Dr. MCKEE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank 

you for the invitation today to testify on mixed martial arts issues 

and perspectives. 

My name is Dr. Ann McKee. I am a professor of neurology and 

pathology at Boston University School of Medicine. I am chief of 

the neuropathology service for the VA Boston Healthcare System, 

and I am director of the CTE Center at Boston University. My testimony today reflects my personal professional opinion. I am not 

speaking officially on behalf of the Department of the Veterans Affairs or Boston University School of Medicine. 

CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a major problem in 

contact sports, such as boxing and football, and any other sport 

that involves a high number of head impacts, such as mixed martial arts. Even though there is not much research available on the 

long-term consequences of MMA, we know it has a high concussion 

rate and, importantly, it has a high subconcussive impact rate. 

CTE is a neurodegenerative disease triggered by repetitive head 

trauma that causes buildup of an abnormal protein called tau in 

the brain. The abnormal tau is toxic to nerve cells and causes a 

progressive brain deterioration over time. Symptoms of CTE include memory loss, confusion, impulse control problems, aggression, 

depression, and dementia. 

CTE was originally described in boxing and now has been found 

in many other sports. We found evidence of CTE in the only MMA 

fighter we examined, a 27 year old who took his own life, and there 

is good reason to believe that a significant portion of other MMA 

fighters are at risk for CTE. This is because exposure to repetitive 

head impacts is the major risk factor for CTE, and MMA fighters 

experience substantial head trauma during their fights as well as 

during their training and sparring sessions. 

There has been a primary focus on concussions in the development of CTE. Even the movie about CTE was named ‘‘Concussion.’’ 

Yet all of our research to date points to the fact that CTE is associated with prolonged exposure to repetitive small impacts, the subconcussive hits that are asymptomatic. 

In sports like MMA, the risk for CTE is not directly related to 

concussions; rather, the risk for CTE is related to the cumulative 

exposure to subconcussions that occur with every blow to the head. 

The longer you play contact sports, the higher your exposure to repetitive head impacts and the higher the risk for CTE. 

Starting a contact sport at a young age often leads to a longer 

playing career and greater exposure to head trauma, but another 

factor that contributes to enhanced risk for young athletes is that 

the developing brain is more susceptible to damage from repetitive 

trauma. 

There is a lot of skepticism regarding the significance of CTE. 

For years, people have said that CTE was not a real disease. They 

say there is confusion and debate among scientists, that CTE cannot be distinguished from Alzheimer’s disease or aging and epiVerDate Nov 24 2008 12:12 Feb 23, 2017 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 114\114-179 CHRIS
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lepsy. But there is no scientific confusion about whether CTE exists. CTE not only exists, it is definitively diagnosed by 

neuropathologic examination of brain tissue. 

In 2015 and 2016, a panel of expert neuropathologists, convened 

by the National Institute of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke, determined that CTE was a unique disease that could be easily distinguished from other tau-based diseases. And they even went on to 

say there is a pathognomonic lesion for CTE—a brain lesion that 

is found in CTE that is not found in any other disorder and is specific for CTE. 

The other misinformation about CTE is that it is very rare, it 

has only been diagnosed in a few hundred people, and millions of 

people have played contact sports. But CTE is not rare. We would 

not be able to find 218 cases of CTE in 291 athletes over the past 

8 years if it were rare. If you don’t look for something, don’t know 

how to look for something, and don’t find it, that doesn’t mean that 

something is rare; it means it is underrecognized. Recent brain 

bank studies have shown that CTE is present in 5 percent of the 

general autopsy population. 

Now, if you were to ask me how to limit risk for CTE in MMA, 

in addition to the minimum standards previously suggested by 

Representative Denham, I would say: Don’t allow children and 

young adults to participate in full contact with head strikes; educate fighters to limit their exposure so as to not allow head strikes 

in training and sparring; limit the number of head strikes during 

a match; and reduce the number of full-contact matches per season. 

CTE is a big problem from contact sports, and what we know 

today is very likely the tip of the iceberg. While we recognize the 

importance of contact sports to an athlete’s physical and psychological well-being, CTE is a known and preventable consequence. 

There is great urgency for funding for CTE research and the 

risks associated with sports like MMA and military service. We 

need to bring hope to the players and veterans who are in the beginning of stages of CTE and showing signs of memory loss, behavioral changes, and depression. We need to develop effective interventions and treatments for CTE so that all individuals can continue to participate in the sports that they love but also live long, 

healthy, productive lives. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. McKee follows:] 

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Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the doctor. 

Mr. Couture, you are recognized for 5 minutes for an opening 

statement, please. 

STATEMENT OF RANDY COUTURE 

Mr. COUTURE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the 

members of the committee for having me here as a representative 

of Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association, or fighters, and to give 

a mixed martial artist’s perspective on a great sport. 

I have been a combative sports athlete since the age of 10, for 

over 40 years. I wrestled at Oklahoma State University. I was a 

three-time All American there and received a degree, a Bachelor of 

Arts, in foreign language and literature. 

I started my mixed martial arts career in 1997 as a wrestler, 

rolling years of wrestling experience into mixed martial arts. My 

first title fight was that year, in December of 1997. I am a six-time 

world champion in the sport of mixed martial arts through the 

UFC most of my career and fights took place. 

As an athlete, I want to give our perspective on what is going 

on in the sport and the things that we are up against. 

I think we fill out the same paperwork and are governed by the 

same regulatory committees in each state, the athletic commissions 

we fill out much of the same paperwork as boxers. There is one difference that is going on in mixed martial arts and a flaw in the 

structure, and that is that the regulatory promoter and the sanctioning body are one and the same person in mixed martial arts, 

which isn’t the case in boxing. 

Independent sanctioning bodies are formed in boxing and licensed by the athletic commission to create rankings and titles for 

boxing. In mixed martial arts, the promoter does both of those jobs. 

He promotes the fights; he also creates those rankings and those 

titles for those fighters. That gives him an unfair advantage and 

reduces the ability of the fighter to negotiate a fair value in the 

marketplace. 

An obvious example of that is that recently the UFC, through 

Zuffa, sold for $4.25 million. If you do the simple math of the 16 

years that they owned the company and how much they put out to 

the fighters during that time period, it is literally less than 10 percent of that amount. 

This is a significant problem. It creates a conflict of interest, 

where they create the titles and the rankings for us as fighters. If 

we want to participate, we have to sign a contract basically signing 

away a lot of our ancillary rights and abilities in sports that a lot 

of other athletes and the protections of the Ali Act give boxers. 

So what we are trying to accomplish is to get the Ali Act amended simply by changing the definition of what a boxer is to a combative sports athlete. Under those provisions, it standardizes contracts across the board, creates a separate independent agency to 

determine rankings and titles, and it allows us a free and open 

market for the promoters then to bid on those top fights and gives 

us a chance to estimate our fair value in the market and get our 

fair share of the revenues that are generated. 

Right now, the number-one promotion in the sport is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. They are garnering over 90 percent 

26 

of the income that comes from the sport. There are other promotions that are using this same, exact flawed model, creating 

their own titles and their own rankings, but obviously on a much 

smaller scale. 

We obviously realize this is a process, but it is our hope that you 

will consider amending the Ali Act to encompass and incorporate 

mixed martial arts and other combative sports that fall under it, 

just like boxing. 

Thank you guys very much for giving us a voice here. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Couture follows:] 

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Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman and thanks all of 

our witnesses for your testimony. 

I was going to excuse Representative Denham, but he has already excused himself. So noted. 

We will begin with the question-and-answer part of the hearing, 

and I am going to go first to Mr. Mullin of Oklahoma. 

Five minutes for your questions, please. 

Mr. MULLIN. Wow, I never get to go first. 

Mr. BURGESS. It is my last chance to let you go first. 

Mr. MULLIN. It is your last chance. Well, we are ending the year 

with a bang. 

Hey, thank you, and thank for the witnesses for all showing up. 

I really do appreciate it. 

Appreciate, Ms. Robertson, you coming in here on your on behalf 

and representing the entity that we are looking for to maybe help 

with the ranking system. So we appreciate that. 

Dr. McKee, you are bringing a perspective that we all know 

about. We all know that the sport is violent, and it is a sport that 

we love, though, and why we look forward to working with you. We 

understand that, and that is part of what we are trying to do here. 

Because we feel like if we can negotiate better contracts, we don’t 

have to fight as much. 

Randy, I want to go back to your testimony that you just said. 

Can you explain a little bit more about how the ranking system 

works, how it currently works and how it manipulates the fighters 

into basically seeing a take-it-or-leave-it attitude when it comes to 

getting a chance to fight for the title? 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, there is a definitely a take-it-or-leave-it attitude that comes from the promoters. And a perfect example of that 

is, as you mentioned, the first show in Madison Square Garden in 

New York. And the number-one fighter and probably the most popular fighter right now on that card was Connor McGregor. He was 

the 145-pound champion for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. 

He was in that particular fight fighting for the 155-pound title belt. 

He would be the first athlete to hold two belts at the same time. 

He also is interested in pursuing a match with Floyd Mayweather 

in boxing. 

Because that kind of went against the grain with the Ultimate 

Fighting Championship, they stripped him of his belt at 145 

pounds even though he had not been defeated in that weight class 

and hadn’t actually competed in that weight class in a little while 

because he was attempting to do something historic in winning two 

championship belts at the same time. He was stripped of that title, 

and not only stripped of the title but dropped out of the top 10 

rankings in that weight class even though he had not been defeated or competed there. 

So they in essence used their rankings and their titles to manipulate the fighters to toe the line, to do the things that they want 

them to do. And there are other examples of that. I am living proof 

of a similar thing and the kind of closed market that exists in our 

sport right now. I pursued in the height of my career as what most 

people considered the number-two heavyweight in the world, I 

wanted to fight the number-one heavyweight in the world. How do 

you be considered the best in your sport? You fight the best guy 

33 

out there. I was unable to see that fight happen through the Ultimate Fighting Championship and pursued that fight myself outside 

of that contract and was prevented. In fact, injunctions were filed 

and everything else to keep me from making that fight happen. 

At some point, I just had to recognize that I was in my forties 

and the clock was ticking and just went back and continued the 

rest of my career, but never got the chance to be considered the 

number-one fighter in the world based on the outcome of that fight. 

That conflict of interest gives the promoter a ton of power to manipulate the fighters, to manipulate the rankings. For them, it is 

just business. They are trying to get the most pay-per-views sold 

and the most people to buy tickets, and they will do whatever they 

need to do to manipulate that ranking structure and those titles to 

do that. 

Mr. MULLIN. Mr. Novitzky—did I say that last name right? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Correct. 

Mr. MULLIN. You talk about the anti-doping program, thank you 

so much. When I was fighting, it was very rare that anyone got 

tested. How long has the UFC implemented these rules with the 

doping? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Our anti-doping policy went into effect last July 

1, 2015. 

Mr. MULLIN. 2015. And you guys are being real strong on that? 

You are not letting anything pass? I mean, you are making people 

make sure they test? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Yes, well, actually, we have the United States 

Anti-Doping Agency, which is the officially recognized anti-doping 

agency of the United States for Olympic and Paralympic sports, administer our program. So that is one of the beauties of our program. The, I think, pillar of strength of our program is that we 

don’t police ourselves. We have an independent authority. 

Mr. MULLIN. Then tell me, how did Brock Lesnar get a pass just 

this past July to not have to test before a fight? He was waived, 

a 4-month waiver that when you are coming out of retirement, you 

are supposed to test for 4 months before you are able to come out 

of retirement, take a fight. However, he was waived, he didn’t have 

to. 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Well, that is not accurate, that he had a pass in 

terms of testing. 

Mr. MULLIN. Yes, I believe it is. And I can submit the article for 

the record, if you don’t mind, Chairman. 

Mr. NOVITZKY. I would be happy to clarify what the situation 

was. 

Mr. MULLIN. OK. And maybe we can do that, because I am running out of time. 

Before I run out of time, Mr. Chairman, I have a copy of the 

standard MMA fighter and promotional contract from the UFC that 

I would like to enter in the contract, just to make sure that the 

body understands what type of contracts our fighters are currently 

against and how three—being the promoter, being the contract 

holder, and being the person who controls the ranking is a direct 

conflict in interest for the fighters. 

Mr. BURGESS. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

34 

Mr. MULLIN. I yield back. 

Mr. BURGESS. The gentleman yields back. The chair thanks the 

gentleman. 

The chair recognizes the gentlelady from Illinois, Ms. Schakowsky, 5 minutes for your questions, please. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. 

I want to follow up on head injuries. And, of course, they are inherent in mixed martial arts. We have heard all the dangers of 

concussions, but I wanted to underscore the threat posed by repetitive hits to the head, known as subconcussive hits, that do not result in concussions and often show no symptoms. My understanding is that subconcussive hits can be quite dangerous, as has 

been discussed. 

So, Dr. McKee, can you tell us what the evidence shows thus far 

in terms of the effect of the subconcussive hits on the brain? And 

have subconcussive hits, even in the absence of a concussion diagnosis, been linked to decreased cognitive functioning or changes in 

brain chemistry? 

Dr. MCKEE. Oh, absolutely. Subconcussions or just exposure to 

repetitive impacts, that is usually measured in exposure years to 

the sport, so the length of the playing career of a football player, 

a hockey player, that has been significantly associated with longterm cognitive impairment, apathy, and depression, not CTE, because those are living individuals. But we have also seen it in our 

brain autopsy series, where the longer a football player plays, the 

higher the risk for CTE. 

We know that in high school athletes, if you follow them for a 

single season in football, hockey, and soccer, even in the absence 

of a concussion, you will see MRI evidence of brain damage at the 

end of that season, not related to concussion, because none of those 

athletes had a concussion. So that is the subconcussive injury sustained by those amateur high school athletes in a single season 

showing up as brain damage on MRI and also some neuro-psych 

exams. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Now, you said because the players were living 

that it is hard to find out if they have CTE. What is the status 

right now of being able to diagnose CTE in living people? 

Dr. MCKEE. Well, there is a tremendous interest in that. Obviously, that is one of the stumbling blocks for really understanding 

how common the disease is. There is a tremendous interest. 

Many academic centers, Mt. Sinai, Boston, Mass General, UCLA, 

many centers are looking at diagnosing CTE using what they call 

a PET tau ligand, or a way to image tau in the brain just with an 

injection. And that is looking very promising. There have been 

some case reports reported, and we are looking now for the big series of being able to confidently say this is CTE in living individuals. 

There has also been a lot of advance in blood biomarkers, looking 

at things like ratio of hyperphosphorylated tau to tau in the blood 

and in the plasma; different biomarkers like something called 

neurofilaments. 

So we are really on the verge, I think in the next 2 to 5 years 

we are going to nail this down. There have been tremendous, explosive advances. 

35 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Well, I would suggest that Members of Congress who are really interested in these kinds of sports, and especially because of youth sports and the exposure of kids who see 

these athletes as role models, that we really push for that kind of 

research so that we could make sure that we know more before 

someone dies. 

Dr. MCKEE. Yes, absolutely. 

And I think we also need long-term perspective studies of thousands of amateur athletes, high school athletes, following them so 

that we can learn what those subtle symptoms are in the very beginnings of this disease so we know when to intervene, to maybe 

develop some therapies that would make it less likely that they 

would develop CTE. 

Right now, we are really operating in the dark. We don’t have 

any diagnosis except after death. There is a huge need to understand the effects of sports trauma. We know that sports are important; we don’t want our kids to stop playing sports. But we have 

to understand the risks, and that is going to require funding for 

some of these long-term projects. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. 

Mr. Couture, we have heard that the structure of the MMA system does not give fighters sufficient bargaining power with regard 

to their contracts. I am concerned about the effect that has on the 

health and safety of fighters. If a fighter is hurt, does he have pressure to fight again instead of waiting to heal because he needs to 

fight to get paid? 

We have talked that injuries can occur in the lead-up to the 

fight, but there is no compensation, there is no health insurance, 

there is no nothing until you actually fight. So are they pressured 

into the fight? 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, there is certainly some pressure involved in 

that. You are not going to get paid for all the training and everything you did leading up to fight night. So if you were injured or 

any of those things in the course of that training, obviously, if you 

are unable to compete, you have done all that for nothing, you are 

not going to get paid. 

So that is certainly, I don’t know a single fight that I didn’t walk 

into that I didn’t have some nagging injuries, whether it be a 

sprained thumb from sparring or a sore ankle or whatever. But certainly something like a knockout or something like that is a rare 

occasion in fighting. That is why we have great teams, guys that 

we trust that we train with, and we train very, very hard. It is still 

a contact sport. But that is an important piece of the puzzle. 

So I definitely think there is some pressure there. You want to 

get to fight night, and you are going to do whatever you need to 

do to get to go out there on your opportunity and show what you 

have trained to do. 

I think we fall under the same guidelines as boxing, where CT 

scans and blood tests and all of the medical procedures to ensure 

that we are healthy going into that fight are taking place. We are 

getting the physicals the day of weigh-ins and all those things, just 

like boxers and other combative sports athletes. 

And if you get knocked out in a fight or you are injured in a 

fight, the first place you go is to the hospital. You are getting a CT 

36 

scan to make sure there is nothing seriously wrong going in there 

that stemmed from that competition. 

And then there are mandatory suspensions. Those things are a 

regular practice, mandatory. If you get knocked down or knocked 

out, you are going to get a 90-day suspension right off the top. And 

then, depending on the outcome of that CT scan from that night, 

they are going to determine if that needs to be a little longer, if 

it needs to be extended to give you more time to heal up before you 

even spar again, let alone compete again. 

So I think there are safety procedures in place that are implemented and regulated by the athletic commissions that put on combative sports across the country. Do we need—— 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. But not in MMA, you are saying. 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, those same things happen in MMA. The difference is, if I was Floyd Mayweather, making the kind of money 

he made as a boxer, he could fight one time a year. He is only in 

training camp for that 2- or 3-month period to fight that one time 

a year. And he may not have to fight for a year or two, until he 

wants to again, frankly. In mixed martial arts, I don’t really have 

that luxury if I want to make a decent living in the sport that I 

love. 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. 

I yield back. 

Mr. BURGESS. The gentlelady yields back. The chair thanks the 

gentlelady. 

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. 

Kennedy, 5 minutes for questions, please. 

Mr. KENNEDY. Thank you, Dr. Burgess. I want to thank you for 

having this hearing, along with the ranking member as well. 

I want to thank the witnesses for being here, particularly Dr. 

McKee and all the work that you do up back home for me at Boston University. Thank you. Thank you for being here. 

And I know he has been recognized by a couple other of my colleagues here so far, but we wouldn’t be here, obviously, if not for 

the efforts of Mr. Mullin. And I know his passion for this stems 

from his experience with it. So I want to thank my colleague from 

Oklahoma for his leadership on this. 

MMA promoters have been criticized for imposing restrictive contracts and not allowing fighters the ability to negotiate terms of 

those contracts. 

I want to start, Mr. Couture, with you. Can you expand on the 

issue? I know some of this has already been touched on; I know you 

have touched upon it a bit. But why don’t fighters have more bargaining power when they enter contracts with promoters? 

Mr. COUTURE. There is no transparency from the promoter in 

what is actually made off of the particular bout that you are in, so 

then you have no real way to judge what your true value is in that 

particular fight. And they control the rankings and who gets shots 

at the titles. 

Mr. KENNEDY. So talk to me a little bit about that. What value 

would an independent ranking system have for you, and how would 

that help fighters gain bargaining power? 

Mr. COUTURE. An independent ranking structure would create an 

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motion could then bid on making that independent rank and those 

top fights for those best athletes happen regardless. It would eliminate the exclusivity of the contracts. 

Right now, every promotion is forcing athletes to sign a contract 

that is exclusive to that promotion. What if Wimbledon forced all 

the top tennis players to sign an exclusive contract to compete in 

Wimbledon for that title? That is in essence what the UFC does 

right now. They are that Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian 

Open, the French Open, they would all dwindle and go away, because they would no longer have access to those top athletes that 

are forced to sign that exclusive contract. 

Mr. KENNEDY. And so, focusing on the ranking system there, can 

you also talk to me a little bit—and I heard a little bit about this 

yesterday, but the typical payment structure for MMA fighters. 

And I know you touched on this a little bit. 

Mr. COUTURE. The payment structure? 

Mr. KENNEDY. Yes. 

Mr. COUTURE. Right now, it is something that your manager and 

you negotiate with a promoter to get. The top 5 percent of the athletes in our sport make a pretty decent living. Is it compared to 

what Floyd Mayweather and other boxers and other athletes in 

other sports make? Not even close. 

Mr. KENNEDY. What about the 95 percent? 

Mr. COUTURE. But there is 95 percent of the athletes in our sport 

that are struggling to make a living and can’t—— 

Mr. KENNEDY. What is ‘‘struggling to make a living’’? 

Mr. COUTURE [continuing]. Can’t compete. Well, the lower-tier fighters are making $5,000 and $5,000—$5,000 to show up and 

fight, $5,000 if they win that fight. How many times do you have 

to fight in a year, when a training process takes 10 to 12 weeks, 

to make a decent living when you are making $10,000 off that 

fight? 

Mr. KENNEDY. And how many fights does a typical MMA fighter 

go through, given what you know and—— 

Mr. COUTURE. In a given year? 

Mr. KENNEDY. Yes. 

Mr. COUTURE. I think between—— 

Mr. KENNEDY. And to do in a way that is safe for you and—— 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, I mean, it takes me 10 to 12 weeks to prepare for one fight. If I fought three or four times through the 

course that year, that is 48 weeks that I am in training, preparing, 

in a 52-week year. So there are some fighters that are more active 

than that and fight more than that, but that is a pretty good indication of—— 

Mr. KENNEDY. And talk to me a little bit about endorsements. 

How does the endorsement structure work? 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, the endorsement structure has changed with 

that particular promotion to UFC. We used to be able to go out and 

develop relationships, and I had people that have sponsored me 

since I first started fighting, that grew with me through the exposure that they got from my success as a fighter. Much of that went 

away with the UFC and fighters that are under contract with the 

UFC when they forced the fighters under contract for them to wear 

uniforms made by Reebok. They signed a deal with Reebok for $70 

38 

million, and that requires all athletes to wear that uniform, and no 

longer are they able to go out and garner their own sponsors in the 

various niche supporters of the sport. 

Mr. KENNEDY. So that would be supplemental income that you 

had on top of the 5 and 5 that you said was the lower range. 

Mr. COUTURE. Actually, many of those mid- and lower-tier fighters could make just as much from going out and garnering sponsorship for the exposure they are going to get in that particular fight 

as they were getting for their fight purse in the first place, and 

that went away for them. 

Mr. KENNEDY. And that limited doing that. 

I have about 30 seconds left. I want to build off of what Ms. 

Schakowsky touched on and you touched on. My understanding is 

that for injuries suffered during a fight, that that is covered from 

the health care that is provided from the league, if you will. 

What about injuries suffered during training? What happens 

there? How does that work? I would imagine that, as you said, you 

often—if you are sparring for 10 to 12 weeks per fight, I imagine 

that is pretty physical. 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, obviously, if you are injured during the 

course of the night, the insurance rider for that fight, for that competition, covers whatever happens. 

Through my dealings with the UFC, because I have had several 

contract disputes over ancillary rights and other things with the 

company, out of that, one of my complaints was, what about these 

guys that get injured in the course of training getting ready for a 

fight? Now they can’t fight. Not only do they not get paid because 

they couldn’t make it to the fight, but now they are responsible, because of lack of insurance for most fighters, to take care of whatever that injury was. 

The UFC right now is the only promotion that does this, but they 

have implemented an accident insurance policy. So if there is an 

accident, now, if you are sick or got the flu or whatever, you are 

still on your own. But if there is an accident in training, that accident policy is in place. It is not a great policy, but at least it is better than nothing. 

Mr. KENNEDY. What is an accident? Like, you would break my 

rib? 

Mr. COUTURE. Something like that. 

Mr. KENNEDY. I would imagine. 

Mr. COUTURE. It is a contact sport. Sometimes those types of 

things happen. You get cut. Sometimes you get cut. 

Mr. KENNEDY. So is that covered? 

Mr. COUTURE [continuing]. A head clash, you might need stitches. Who is going to pay for those stitches? 

Mr. KENNEDY. I don’t normally head-butt all that often in my 

business here. I try not to, anyway. 

Mr. COUTURE. But as a sport, on the whole, that is the only accident policy that is in place. Fighters, on the whole, across the 

board, are on their own. 

Mr. KENNEDY. Sounds like a strong endorsement for ObamaCare, 

Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you very much. 

Mr. BURGESS. I have a different interpretation. 

39 

The chair would recognize Mr. Rush for 5 minutes for questions, 

please. 

Mr. RUSH. I certainly want to thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And I want to thank all the witnesses who are before us today. 

I want to direct my questions to Ms. Robertson. 

You are the treasurer of the Association of Boxing Commissions, 

plural. Tell me a little bit about the boxing commissions. I want to 

know, what is that? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. Those are the regulatory bodies spread across 

the Nation, almost always a state agency. My personal state is 

housed under the Arkansas Department of Health. Some are under 

Commerce, some are under Licensing and Regulation. 

And each state has created a commission so that they can have 

a department that enforces the Muhammad Ali Professional Boxing 

Act. And that includes tribal governments as well. Not every tribal 

government promotes or hosts MMA or boxing, but if they do, there 

is a real push for them to be part of our training symposiums, our 

officials’ training. 

Mr. RUSH. So, in terms of governance, do they have any teeth, 

power in terms of governance? Do they really call the shots? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. I can’t speak for every state, but, yes, the ones 

that I am familiar with. California has an excellent program, and 

they control every item of it. In my home State of Arkansas, no 

matter what violation, the way the law is written in Arkansas, 

nothing that a licensee does is a felony, but they are very fineable 

misdemeanors. 

So, yes, to the best of my knowledge, all of them have a hammer 

that they can require enforcement of the minimum standard rules. 

Mr. RUSH. Yes. I was a proponent and worked on the Muhammad Ali Act, and I certainly am supportive of it. And I am supportive of expanding these protections. 

In your testimony, you mentioned MMA fighter exploitation. And 

I think that we heard some testimony today that would bring attention to fighter exploitation. Is that a pervasive problem now in 

the industry? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. I think that if you talked to the participants, 

the answer is: Most definitely. I think that if you speak to various 

other components, they would say: Not so much. It is really a question, whatever legislation is passed will be enforced on a local level 

for a small promoter just as it would be enforced all the way up 

the chain to whatever major promotion there is. 

In my State of Arkansas, we have never had the benefit of one 

of the major MMA shows, so I have never actually held a contract 

in my hand. I would like to be able to speak first-person on that, 

so I really can’t address that. The fighters that I hear from, they 

do talk about exploitation. 

Mr. RUSH. Does anybody else on the panel have more of a direct 

experience with exploitation that you want to highlight here before 

this committee? 

OK. Well, moving on, because my time is running out, this Congress is like a 10,000-pound elephant, moves around quite slowly. 

How can we help you? What do you suggest? What are you thinking? How can we be of assistance to you? 

40 

Ms. ROBERTSON. The Association of Boxing Commissions and 

Combative Sports welcomes the idea of having more authority or 

aiding in the enforcement of proper regulations. We already have 

passed minimum standard rules for MMA. We have fouls, we have 

training, we are there. We just don’t have any teeth to do any other 

kind of enforcement. 

In boxing, as I think Representative Denham alluded to, in boxing, when it comes down to making the contract, the ABC actually 

recognizes the sanctioning bodies. They have to make application; 

that has to be published. The fighters know what the standards 

are. And we don’t have those kind of teeth in the MMA industry. 

So we even expanded our name this year so that we could make 

sure everyone knows, we are here for all combative sports. So it is 

the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports. 

Mr. RUSH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Mr. BURGESS. The chair thanks the gentleman. 

The chair does wish to recognize that, in a true sense of harmony 

in the season, and I allowed every other member to go first because 

I wasn’t sure when we were going to call votes. So I will recognize 

myself, 5 minutes for questions. 

Ms. Robertson, first, it is an unrelated question, but you are a 

graduate of Arkansas Tech. Is that correct? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. I am. 

Mr. BURGESS. My wife graduated from Arkansas Tech. 

Ms. ROBERTSON. Go, Wonder Boys. 

Mr. BURGESS. There you go. 

Let me just ask you and Mr. Novitzky, Dr. McKee provided us 

in her testimony four items, and I would just like to go through 

those individually and have both of you respond to whether or not 

these are something that could possibly happen with whatever regulation occurs through UFC and through the commissioners. 

Don’t allow children and young adults to participate in full contact with head strikes. Mr. Novitzky, is that something that UFC 

could live with? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Absolutely, we would be in favor and we are favorable of that. 

Mr. BURGESS. Ms. Robertson? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. Generally, the Association of Boxing Commissions has taken a position against youth pankration. Manipulating 

joints is also very dangerous. And we also are concerned right now 

about the cultism of weight loss, which has been proven to contribute to the head injuries. 

Mr. BURGESS. Yes, we might get into that a little bit more, with 

the trickle-down effect of role models. 

The second item was to educate fighters so that they learn the 

greatest opportunity to limit exposure and not allow head strikes 

in training and sparring exercises. 

Mr. Novitzky? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Absolutely. And I think we are seeing a lot more 

of that in training techniques and definitely with our UFC fighters. 

And that is one of the things, as I talked about in my opening 

statement, with the under-construction Athlete Health and Performance Center, where the idea is we would bring in athletes, free 

of charge, to come in and learn training techniques and be eduVerDate Nov 24 2008 12:12 Feb 23, 2017 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 114\114-179 CHRIS
41 

cated in areas about avoiding subconcussive hits during training 

and then be able to take that back out to their gyms, not only in 

the United States but throughout the world, and educate and allow 

fighters to train in a much smarter level and safer level. 

Mr. BURGESS. Very good. 

Ms. Robertson, from the commissioners’ standpoint? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. To the best of my knowledge, very few states in 

America have the resources to foray into regulation of boxing or 

MMA gyms. I know in my home state that is out of the purview 

of the law. 

Mr. BURGESS. Let me just interrupt for a second, because I don’t 

think she was asking for a regulation, just educating fighters to 

learn the greatest opportunity to limit exposure as to not allow 

head strikes. 

That seems fairly straightforward. Would the commissioners be 

in favor of that? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. Yes, the ABC would be in favor of that. 

Mr. BURGESS. Her third recommendation is to limit the number 

of head strikes in a match. 

Mr. Novitzky, you are probably the best person to speak to that. 

Is that done now, or is that possible? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Yes. We have some of the best referees in the 

world in MMA, which, their job within the octagon is to look out 

for the fighter. And so you regularly see fights stopped when there 

are multiple head hits on a fighter. 

Mr. BURGESS. What is the magic number? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. I don’t know if there is a magic number. 

Mr. BURGESS. OK. 

And then the fourth item is to reduce the number of full-contact 

matches per season, which Mr. Couture already spoke to that, of 

course, is an income-limiting event. 

But just in general, UFC would be OK with that? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Yes. And Mr. Couture also spoke about mandatory medical suspensions, and that is something that MMA has, I 

think, better than any other sport. Somebody who is concussed in 

a match can get up to 6 months’ mandatory medical suspension, 

where they can’t have any contact for that period of time. So, depending on the damage that a fighter takes—— 

Mr. BURGESS. Well, let me just interrupt you for a second because I am going to run out of time too, and I hate to cut myself 

off. 

But, Dr. McKee, you said this is not necessarily related to a concussion. It is the repetitive small-volume injuries or small percussive injuries that occur. Is that correct? 

Dr. MCKEE. I did, but I didn’t want to minimize the fact of concussion as a brain injury as well. So I do think they should be removed from the sport if they have a concussion and not allowed to 

return until they are fully recovered. I am just trying to eliminate 

these smaller asymptomatic hits that we know accumulate over 

time. 

Mr. BURGESS. And do you have a quantitative number for us on 

the number of head strikes that should be allowed with any given 

match or any given year or any given career? 

Dr. MCKEE. No. 

42 

Mr. BURGESS. Well, I appreciate all of your answers on that. 

Dr. McKee and Mr. Couture, my understanding, and I realize it 

is fairly rudimentary of the sport, but my understanding is the specific equipment required of the athlete is fairly minimal. Is that 

correct, Mr. Couture? 

Mr. COUTURE. The equipment required at the professional level 

is a cup and gloves. Obviously, the gloves are for us to allow grip 

and grappling. But I don’t think those are really the issue. 

Mr. BURGESS. So there is no helmet involved in this sport? 

Mr. COUTURE. Well, we wear headgear. 

Mr. BURGESS. Oh, you do. 

Mr. COUTURE. In training, not in competition. It is a professional 

sport like boxing. And the diversion of amateur boxing versus professional boxing, amateur boxers wear headgear when they compete, professionals do not. Same thing is true in our sport. 

Mr. BURGESS. Oh, I didn’t know that. That is interesting. 

Dr. McKee, do you have an opinion as to whether or not that 

would make a difference? 

Dr. MCKEE. Well, I think improvements can always be made 

with headgear. It won’t eliminate the problem, but we can certainly 

mitigate it or reduce the injury with headgear. 

Mr. BURGESS. OK. 

And I know my time has run out, and I want to be respectful 

of everyone else’s time. But, Ms. Robertson, I just need to ask you 

on this whole notion of the independent sanctioning, is that something that the commissioners have looked at, that the person who 

promotes the boxer shouldn’t be the one who is, or not the boxer, 

but the athlete should not be the one who is then controlling the 

endorsements and the number of matches and whether or not they 

are on a card? 

Ms. ROBERTSON. That was set forth in the Muhammad Ali Act, 

and it did not require input from me. Is it something that we 

favor? I believe, personally, I am not speaking for the association, 

I believe that the Muhammad Ali Act did enhance anti-exploitation 

of their contract, but it also greatly reduced the number of events. 

Mr. BURGESS. Right, which gets to the difficulty that Mr. Couture talked about, the difficulty in earning a living when your number of events are restricted. 

Mr. COUTURE. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BURGESS. But the limitation on your endorsements, that is 

also a significant impediment to income. Is that correct? 

Mr. COUTURE. Some of that goes hand-in-hand with the power 

and basic monopoly that that particular promotion has in the sport, 

because they are allowed to set their own rankings and create their 

own titles, which isn’t done in boxing and which is governed by the 

Muhammad Ali Act, which is why we are seeking to get the act expanded to include mixed martial artists and combative sports athletes from other sports. 

Mr. BURGESS. OK. And I do, of course, acknowledge this is not 

a legislative hearing; this is an informational exercise. But Mr. 

Mullin’s language is language that is favorable to what you seek? 

Mr. COUTURE. Yes, sir. 

43 

Mr. BURGESS. Does anyone have a different opinion, the language in Mr. Mullin’s bill would be detrimental to the sport or to 

the athlete? 

Mr. NOVITZKY. I have a concern about the open ranking system 

that involves other promotions as it relates to health and safety, 

in that if a UFC fighter who is under the most stringent, comprehensive, robust anti-doping program in professional sports in 

the world is forced to fight a fighter from another promotion that 

may not have any out-of-competition anti-doping program, that is 

clearly a health and safety risk to our fighter. 

Mr. BURGESS. And a competitive disadvantage. 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Correct. 

Mr. BURGESS. So recognized, which you alluded to, I think, in 

one of your statements. People who do use performance-enhancing 

drugs do so because they see it as a defensive posture, because, 

doggone it, everybody else is doing it, and if I don’t, I will get hurt. 

Mr. NOVITZKY. Absolutely. 

Mr. BURGESS. Well, I want to thank everybody. Seeing no other 

members wishing to ask questions, I do want to thank our panel. 

It has been an illuminating discussion this morning. 

Before we conclude, I would like to include the following documents to be submitted for the record by unanimous consent: a 

fighter contract submitted by Mr. Mullin; an article explaining the 

contract; a letter from the ABC. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Mr. BURGESS. And pursuant to committee rules, I remind members that they have 10 business days to submit additional questions for the record. I ask the witnesses to submit their responses 

to those questions within 10 business days upon receipt of the 

question. 

And, without objection, the subcommittee is adjourned. Thank 

you all. 

[Whereupon, at 12:12 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. FRED UPTON

Many of us remember the major boxing matches of the century. Ali v. Frasier and 

Tyson v. Holyfield immediately spring to mind and were two of the most talkedabout sporting events of their time. 

Soon, we may be looking back on major mixed martial arts contests and trading 

stories about where we were when a heavyweight MMA title went down. 

But right now, we are in a transition. MMA has not surpassed major boxing 

events in ratings, but looks to one day be a contender. Some state regulators know 

as much about MMA already as they do about boxing. Others are catching up. 

When a phenomenon goes mainstream, Congress needs to be informed, especially 

when health and safety are involved. So I’m happy to kick this off and set the table 

for next Congress. 

As a die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs, I understand the importance of competition. On the field or in the ring, sports bring us together and bring out the best 

in us. They have an extraordinary impact on our lives from childhood through adulthood and represent many threads in the fabric of American life. 

This is why it’s so important to ensure the safety of competitors, whether they’re 

fighters or players. If Congress is to play a role in MMA, we must understand the 

industry. We must understand the politics and we must understand the sport itself. 

We must begin to answer the questions around MMA. What lessons did we learn 

from boxing that can be applied to MMA? Are states adequately equipped to regulate the sport or is there a federal role? What are the problems plaguing various 

players in the industry and are policymakers well equipped to solve those problems? 

44 

I think the witnesses for their participation today and look forward to working 

through these and other questions. 

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