It has been revealed that the mixed martial arts promoter Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has reached an agreement to purchase a kind of employers’ liability insurance for each of the fighters who will take part in its 12 November event in New York.
However, in order to purchase the employers’ liability insurance, the UFC’s policy first had to pass through a number of bureaucratic hurdles, a process which ultimately resulted in the New York State Department giving approval to a policy that was written by a specialist business insurance company.
It is understood that the policy will cover all fighters against brain injury to the value of $1 million and that this will cost a whopping $1,675 per athlete per fight.
Given that the event, which will be staged at Madison Square Garden, will be comprised of 13 fights, UFC is looking at a cost of $43,550 in order to meet its employers’ liability insurance requirements.
The outlay would not have been necessary without the passing of a recent New York law which obliges all mixed martial arts organisations to ensure they have $1 million brain-injury employers’ liability insurance in place. Mixed martial arts have only recently been legalised in the state, and the UFC is the first organisation that has succeeded in achieving a state-approved policy under the terms of the new law.
The new insurance requirement has created some controversy, with a number of mixed martial arts insiders claiming that it creates unsustainable financial burdens on businesses. Boxing promoters are also obliged to purchase the brain injury cover, and promoter Lou DiBella has said that the law risks inviting the “extinction of boxing in New York”.
“Small businesses are being put at jeopardy with no recourse or ability to continue plying their trade. This is a disgraceful abuse of legislative and state power,” he added.
In fact, the $43,550 insurance figure does not include provision for the other medical, accidental death, and dental policies which the UFC will have to provide its employees; these are expected to cost around $4,000 per card. As such, in order to stage the event in New York, the UFC is going to have to pay more than $60,000 in fighter insurance costs alone.
Whatever the criticism and concerns regarding the long-term sustainability of martial arts sports in the city, it is our view that anything which helps protect the livelihood of fighters and their families must be considered a good idea.