Commission recommending a fighter's retirement? Rare, but not unprecedented

Eric Regan and Matthew Frincu

A pause. A raised eyebrow. A question.

Any would have been an acceptable response when perusing the medical suspensions the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission issued following the March 28 WSOF event.

The second fight on the WSOF 19 card saw Matthew Frincu (6-1) stop Eric Regan (15-25) at the 14-second mark of the second round. The finishing blow, a head kick, marked the fourth time Regan had been knocked out in his 40-fight professional MMA career. The loss put Regan’s record at 1-8 dating back to April 2011 and moved him to 15-25 overall.

When the commission handed down its medical suspensions for the event, Regan was suspended indefinitely.

An open-ended suspension is not uncommon following a knockout loss. What was out of the ordinary, though, was the addendum that was tacked on to Regan’s suspension, a blunt “safety recommendation to stop competing.”

That not-so-subtle suggestion that Regan should retire didn’t go unnoticed by MMA fans. Fellow commission representatives also took notice.

“We applaud what the Arizona commission did by placing other commissions on notice of what their staff and physicians personally observed and considered after actual competition there,” Nick Lembo, counsel for the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, told MMAjunkie. “The health and safety of the competitor should always be the foremost concern of any commission.”

Bob Bennett, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, echoed Lembo’s sentiment.

Bob Bennett

“The most important thing for us is the health and safety of the fighter,” he told MMAjunkie. “What we count on, tremendously, is the expertise of our ringside physicians because they are truly the experts in the business when it comes to the fighters’ health and safety.”

Neither Lembo nor Bennett would go so far as to say that New Jersey or Nevada would suggest a fighter retire immediately following a loss. However, that’s not to say that either state automatically green-lights every license application or that the commissions won’t make a similar ruling.

As an example, Lembo cited the case of Meldrick Taylor. The two-time world boxing champion applied to compete in New Jersey in May 1998. The fight never took place.

Larry Hazzard, commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, nixed the bout before he even received Taylor’s medicals. At the time of denial, Hazzard said he based his decision on the fact that he believed Taylor’s skills had eroded.

In certain situations, such as advancing age or a long layoff between fights, the commissions will observe a fighter’s sparring session prior to licensure. If a commission rep isn’t satisfied with what he or she sees from the fighter during the session, the commission may deny a license.

Lembo pointed to the 2009 case of Hector Camacho Sr. as an example. Camacho, then 46, was denied a license to fight in New Jersey after the commission viewed one of the boxer’s sparring sessions.

There are also the cases in which a license to fight is denied due to failure to receive medical clearance or an unacceptable difference in the skill levels of the fighters.

In the case of license denial due to medical concerns, Bennett said the fighter can make a second run at licensure.

“I would give the fighter the professional courtesy that they have earned and deserve,” he said. “I would say, ‘I’ll tell you what. If you want to go out and incur these expenses and take all these tests, I’ll submit your medical package to our doctor.’ Then (the commission physician) will go through each one and take a look at it, and then we’ll sit down and look at their record. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’m going to go with the doctor’s recommendation.”

Arizona took a bold step in suggesting shortly after his fight that Regan no longer compete in MMA, but as the examples given above indicate, it is not an entirely unprecedented move.

For his part, Bennett said he understand the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission’s recommendation for Regan to no longer compete in MMA.

“Obviously somebody’s done their homework,” he said.

For more on WSOF 19, check out the MMA Events section of the site.