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TORCH NEWSLETTER COVER STORY
MAY 25, 1996 - ISSUE #389
By Wade Keller and Christ Zavisa
DETROIT, MICH. - Friday night in Detroit, Mich. at a sold out Cobo Hall, Dan Severn eked past Ken Shamrock via a 2-1 judges' decision after the match went to a 30 minute draw. The ringside judges weren't the only judges with an influence on UFC. Friday afternoon, lawyers from Semaphore Entertainment Group and the State of Michigan clashed in the courtroom of Judge Arthur J. Lombard in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Twice before, UFC had prevailed Federal Court, once in Detroit and once in the Appeals Court in Cincinnati. On Thursday, May 16, the Cincinnati Appeals court remanded the case back to County Circuit court claiming they had no jurisdiction in the case.
The State of Michigan was co-represented by the same legal duo that had struck out in Federal Court - Michael Lockman of the State Attorney General's Office and George Ward of the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. SEG was represented by Norman Lippit, a highly respected, high-priced attorney from Michigan who made his first legal mark some 25 years ago as the head of the Detroit Police Officers Union representing officers in court on controversial cases. Lippit is considered one of the ten best defense lawyers in the state.
The proceedings were set to begin at 1 p.m., but all the arguments were done behind closed doors in the judges chambers until 2:30. "The court is not here to regulate public morality or express approval of disapproval of any event," Judge Lombard said.
Lombard said that violence is inherent in many sports, especially contact sports. However, he stated that the violence of UFC was clearly different than that in hockey or football since the end goal of those sports is to score points to win while in UFC violence is its own end. "If these acts occurred spontaneously on the street, a crime would be committed," Lombard said.
Lombard stated he had rented and watched two commercial tapes of previous UFC events. His decision was based partly on the viewing of these tapes and partly with the recent deregulation (in 1995) of wrestling in Michigan.
The State argued that the case was a very simple one. The law says that "prizefights are illegal unless regulated by the State of Michigan through normal boxing channels." Lockman repeatedly tried to get the judge to accept this view. Since UFC is a fight and it offers cash prizes for the winners, Lockman maintained it was a clear and obvious violation of the law.
Judge Lombard said after he viewed the tapes, some of what he saw did resemble boxing, while much of it resembled wrestling, while still other portions were martial arts. "The more UFC looks like boxing, the more the Court would likely enjoin it. The less it looks like boxing, the less likely the Court would enjoin," said Lombard.
Lombard then refused to grant the State's request for an injunction. He offered what he called "suggestions" to both parties. Lombard told UFC they could stage the event if two modifications were made in their rules to eliminate the similarity with boxing. (1) There were to be no closed fist blows, and (2) there were to be no headbutts. Lombard said the main concern of the Court was "to protect the participants" (fighters).
Both Lockman and Ward strongly argued against this modification urging the event be stopped altogether. At one point Ward's argument suggested he thought Judge Lombard had just banned "open fist blows," which didn't build confidence in Ward's knowledge of fighting. When it was obvious the case was not going their way, Ward and Lockman argued for "strict rules to be laid down in Court" that the fighters would have to follow or risk being arrested and held in contempt of court. Judge Lombard refused to pursue that line. "The Court is not here to write rules for this," he said.
SEG President Bob Meyrowitz was sworn in and promised the Court he would carry out the two rule changes. Just before the case ended, SEG attorney Lippit skillfully had it placed in the record that Meyrowitz should not be a defendant in any matters since SEG is the legal defendant. Judge Lombard agreed and this seemed to be setting up some type of safety net which would protect Meyrowitz (and other SEG employees) from personal prosecution.
Over the next several hours, a debate was constantly in session around the Westin Hotel, directly across the street from the Court and homebase for the event. Some felt the UFC would be radically altered by the ruling making it look more like Pancrase and less like previous UFC events. It was speculated the fighters who relied on striking would be at a serious disadvantage. Among the fighters in that category would be Don Frye, Gary Goodridge, and Zane Frazier. Others felt that SEG would do little or nothing to alter their rules and would go on with the event under normal rules.
The fighters were told of the decision in the late afternoon and there was very little concern expressed by any of them. This should have tipped off many people that SEG was not going to really bow to Lombard's suggestions. In fact, one trainer, when asked how the rule changes would affect his fighter, deadpanned, "I have not heard of any rule changes." That was an hour or so before the event started.
Throughout the card, there was little evidence of rule changes. Headbutts were used during the event, starting with the first match. Closed fist punches were the primary reason UFC9 was the bloodiest UFC event to date. The first 20 minutes of the SuperFight saw nothing but a mix of closed and open hand blows, the vast majority of which fell short of the target. Referee John McCarthy shouted "Open hands!" at the fighters often during the card, but never issued a substantive warning nor did he punish in any way fighters for using closed fists.
Detroit Police Chief Isaiah McKinnon told the Detroit News after the event that the fighters violated the rules prohibiting headbutting and closed-fist punching. McKinnon watched three of the matches for what he called a "fact finding mission." As he left he said, "I've seen enough. They're not going by the rules the judge set down." He told the Detroit Free Press that he could understand rules violations done "in the heat of moment." He said he would review the tape to see if the violations were blatantly in disregard of the law or perhaps were just done "in the heat of the moment."
Because the judge's rules were not part of a court order, UFC and its fighters were not in contempt of court. Monday the prosecutor's office indicated they will be reviewing a tape and may find grounds to arrest fighters based on the Michigan law banning prize fighting.
SEG has said they do not plan to return to Wayne County. Michigan politicians may still decide to pass a bill banning UFC style fights.
Kate McKee, who covered the event for the Detroit Free Press, told the Torch Monday she was most appalled at the conduct of the crowd. She had viewed UFC on tape in recent weeks and didn't think it was "appalling" or "barbaric." What she didn't expect to experience in person was the "red faced, angry, whipped up blood thirstiness" of the fans in attendance.
McKee lead her headline story with the following: "The Ultimate Fighting Championship at Cobo Arena on Friday night was just what local politicians feared and just what 10,000 audience members wanted." She cited fans screaming, "Let him bleed."
UFC in concept is designed to see which fighter and which disciplines are most effective in a freestyle situation. UFC9, though, provided the bloodiest evidence yet for opponents of the sport.
Dean Amasinger Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen Alex Andrade Jermaine Andrè
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