5 MMA fighters who died after fights

#4 Michael Kirkham

Michael Kirkham

There probably were many in the crowd that gathered in the University of South Carolina campus on June 26, 2010, who were struck by Michael Kirkham's appearance as he strode to the cage in his professional debut. With his 6' 9", 155-lbs frame, the Illinois native would have stood out anywhere, let alone in MMA.

His opponent, Carlos Iraburo, noted the advantages Kirkham's height and reach gave him, and took him down early. Iraburo rained down shots and the fight was stopped 41 seconds after it began. Kirkham fell unconscious after the bout and died two days later, the cause of death being stated as a "subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain".

In his last bout which Kirkham had lost by TKO, he had taken blows to the head and according to his father, his opponent had been warned twice or thrice about rabbit punches. Kirkham's 30-day medical suspension had ended two days before his bout with Iraburo. Dr. Joe Estwanik, an authority on combat sports medicine, who penned "Sports Medicine for the Combat Artists", speculated that it could have been "Second Impact Syndrome" that led to Kirkham's death.

According to him, if a person suffers head trauma anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after a similar impact, his or her brain swells enormously and could prove fatal. To safeguard against this, medical authorities are authorized to suspend fighters longer than the norm of 45 days after a KO.

Iraburo's coach Mark Greubel said after Kirkham's death that he planned to hold a fundraiser and set up a PayPal account to help support Kirkham's family.