Contestant Dies After Toughman Contest

**The Question** · Posted On: 2/25/2010 6:30pm

Originally Posted by TheRuss

I'd put money on a training injury.

But he wasn't really training, was he?

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 2/25/2010 6:40pm

Originally Posted by The Question

But he wasn't really training, was he?

We don't know.

Note also that apparently it's an "elimination tournament", and we don't know if this was his first fight of the tournament.

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 2/25/2010 7:46pm

Ahh, true, If he was favored to win and had been through like 5 fights before that he could have been rocked in the dome quite a few times before this incident. Good point. Too bad they didn't mention how many fights he had been through in the article.

**AnTi Her0** · Posted On: 2/26/2010 12:47am

Wow, thats terrible and tragic. I feel bad for the family.

So does this make it the first official death in MMA? Discounting the one where the dude had a previous heart condition in Ukraine and it was unsanctioned

**Emevas** · Posted On: 2/26/2010 1:01am

Toughman is not MMA, so I'd go with no.

**chaosexmachina** · Posted On: 2/26/2010 2:19pm

Originally Posted by AnTi Her0

So does this make it the first official death in MMA?

Yeah dude, A toughman competition is a couple of untrained guys going at it with amateur BOXING rules.

**MastaFighta** · Posted On: 2/26/2010 2:56pm

The more information I find regarding the Toughman Competition, the more it looks like it's nothing more than a fight club.

Here's an excerpt from an article that was published back in 2008 regarding another death as a result of injuries received during a Toughman Competition bout:

The latest Toughman fatality occurred two weeks ago in Texarkana after a competition at the Four States Fairground. Brandon Twitchell, 23, of Elkhart, Texas, was injured while fighting and died five days later at a local hospital.

Twitchell's girlfriend, Joni Witcher, said she attended the fight and the pre-fight weigh-in. According to her, Twitchell was dressed and wearing steel-toe boots when he was weighed. That put him in a higher weight class than his 136-pound frame would have otherwise allowed.

Twitchell fought once on Friday and three times on Saturday. A half hour passed between Twitchell's first two Saturday fights. There were 15 minutes between the second fight and the third, which was the final. Twitchell's opponent continued to hit him past the bell during the third fight, despite the fact that he threw up his hands, she said. The referee did not immediately intervene.

Witcher said the only medical attention Twitchell received between fights was a check on a bloody nose. He complained of feeling bad and asked for a doctor after his final match. An EMT gave him an IV, but the stretcher on site was occupied by another injured Toughman fighter. The ambulance came 20 minutes after Twitchell's initial complaint.

Fighters assume risks when they enter elimination-style boxing tournaments such as the best-known Original Toughman. Unlike professional boxers, who are trained athletes and generally fight under more scrutiny from state regulators, Toughman fighters need only the thirst for a brawl and a $50 entry fee. Many fighters have little experience. Twitchell's boxing history, for example, was limited to sparring at home.

Source: http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/Art...9-bb107910b901

Originally Posted by TheRuss

We don't know.

Note also that apparently it's an "elimination tournament", and we don't know if this was his first fight of the tournament.

According to the following article:

Prior exams hadn’t indicated Johnson had any pre-existing problems and he didn’t appear to have taken any hard blows to the head Saturday, Miller said.

However, Larry Lovelace, the fight doctor at Saturday night’s event, told The Oklahoman he believes Johnson died from “second-impact syndrome.”

Second-impact syndrome is defined as an extremely rare condition in which the brain swells rapidly and catastrophically after a person suffers a second concussion before symptoms from an earlier one have subsided.

Johnson reportedly won his first fight Friday before winning two fights Saturday. Lovelace thinks Johnson may have suffered some head trauma during one of the previous fights.

Source: http://adaeveningnews.com/local/x176...t-death-probed

**tideliar** · Posted On: 2/26/2010 4:59pm

That's so sad. Just a kid trying to get some (admittedly daft) experience. now he's dead, his GF/wife is about to have a baby.

What a fucking mess.

**The Question** · Posted On: 2/26/2010 5:01pm

****! Second impact syndrome is a bitch. And it is the reason I won't ever have fights less than 2-3 months apart.
It's rare to see second impact syndrome in an adult though.