Kevin Marshall's America
A 6’9″ South Carolina man who fought at 155 pounds and was nicknamed “Tree” due to his unusually gaunt frame has died after injuries sustained from a fight on Saturday night during a mixed Pro/Am event.
The fight was his first as a professional. He had previously accumulated a record of 3-3 as an amateur.
More information is available over on MarshallMMA.com.
I’m only mentioning this here for one reason and one reason only: it appears from some early investigation that Kirkham had been running his own training camp, despite only having an amateur record of 3-3 and receiving no formal MMA training.
If you have a dream, chase it. But don’t go it alone. Take the proper routes, for both the sake of your career and your health. There are qualified men and women all over this country who teach combat sports for a living. They are there not only to take you to victory, but also to help ensure your victory and prevent tragedies like this from occurring.
Kirkham leaves behind a wife and children.
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5 Responses to South Carolina Fighter Dies During Professional MMA Debut
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This is very sad news to hear. My thoughts are with him and his family.
P.S. It looks like your link is busted.
Thanks; fixed.
This is truly a very sad news. No one ever expects to die during their sport.
However if he had no proper training I don’t see how they let him fight?
It just goes to show you the risks of doing things you aren’t specifically trained to do. Any human being can “fight” but there is a big difference between a fighter with training and someone who just steps into the ring and starts swinging.
Paul – Exactly. The MMA bill the Senate passed that’s in the hands of Assembly Ways & Means actually has a provision that requires any facility that so much as allows a professional fighter to spar in preparation for a fight to be fully licensed. I suspect SC doesn’t have that; at least, they must not if someone was able to enter a pro fight basically running their own gym without any sort of experience in the field.
I don’t know what’d be worse, if they don’t have it or if they do and the checks & balances weren’t followed through on.
Better hope they don’t have it in place otherwise there’s blood in the water and the sharks er I mean lawyers will swarm.