Safe MMA says ‘conflicting opinions’ behind licensing of Lovato Jr. for Bellator London

Rafael Lovato Jr. wins Bellator middleweight title in London | Bellator

Safe MMA is a European organization dedicated to the safety of MMA fighters and to ensuring athletes are healthy enough in order to be cleared to compete.

Rafael Lovato Jr. raised Bellator gold last year in London, but in hindsight, it’s possible he should never have been cleared to compete.

For the first time in his professional MMA career, Lovato Jr. (10-0) was required to get a brain scan before his title fight, in June of 2019, due to Safe MMA standards. The medical organization are backed by a majority MMA promotions in Europe and are widely recognized for having raised the bar for fighter safety in the region.

On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Lovato explained that the radiologist who performed his scan originally raised concerns with what he saw in images of the fighter’s brain, and after further research told Lovato Jr. that he believed the Bellator champion had a disease called cavernoma—a condition involving abnormally formed blood vessels typically in the brain or spinal cord. The radiologist told Lovato Jr. that, in his professional opinion, the American shouldn’t be fighting and recommended him to see a specialist so the case could be investigated further.

“He said, ‘Look, I’m not signing this paper,’” Lovato recounted (transcript via MMA Junkie). “‘You need to go see a specialist and get looked at. But as far as I know, you should not fight. You should not be fighting.’”

Despite the uncertainty around his medical situation, Lovato Jr. began his training camp for his title defense against Gegard Mousasi, traveling to Brazil as part of his preparation. While he was in South America, Lovato Jr. spoke with a number of doctors who all gave their opinion that it would not be safe to fight. The 36-year-old was then informed by one of the most highly regarded neurologists in Brazil that in his professional opinion, no risk would be posed by competing.

That recommendation provided Lovato Jr. with the documentation he needed to apply to Safe MMA for a license in order to fight at Bellator 223. Safe MMA assembled a panel to discuss Lovato Jr.’s brain scans and to decide whether or not he would gain clearance to compete. Two weeks before his title fight against Mousasi, his application was approved and he was given the go ahead to challenge for the belt.

Lovato Jr. earned a majority decision victory to claim the middleweight title in a highly-entertaining bout, but barely had time to celebrate the biggest moment of his MMA career before he was hit with another set-back. Shortly after the fight, he got a call from Safe MMA and they told him that they had done further research on his brain scans. The conclusion was that a mistake was made allowing him to fight and he would not be approved for competition in the region again.

Bloody Elbow reached out to Safe MMA for a statement on the licensing situation involving Lovato Jr. and a trustee, Izzy Carnwath, explained the following:-

“It is Safe MMA’s general practice to audit and verify documents and reports of medical examinations carried out by the qualified medical professionals who have examined the fighter i.e. GPs, neurologists and so on. Further to this Safe MMA will provide independent advice to fighters.”

“On occasion, where there is a gap or anomaly in reporting or where a question of risk has been raised then Safe MMA’s medical panel, comprised of volunteer doctors from a network of medical disciplines, will be called on to assess and give medical advice and try to find best solutions for the fighter. Some medical conditions are complex and divide medical opinion. Rafael Lovato’s case was one such case, as well supported by the conflicting opinions he has publicly reported receiving in the US and Brazil. It therefore prompted review by our medical panel, in which they took the expert recommendation of the neurologist in the report provided by Lovato to green light him to fight at Bellator in the UK. Safe MMA decisions on more complex matters are infrequently subject to further internal review, and the decision was later disputed by Professor Dan Healy who is an expert in this field as a Consultant Neurologist. We appreciate that this decision-making process was extremely stressful for Lovato.”

“As one of the trustees of Safe MMA, I fully acknowledge the challenges faced by both the medical team and Rafael in what was and is a very complex and difficult decision. We are currently reviewing Safe MMA’s structures and processes for medical decision making, as we always endeavour to provide a service that puts both fighter safety and dignity first.”

Lovato Jr.’s team have made it clear they want to collect further medical expertise in order to present a case as to why he should be able to continue fighting despite current, conflicting opinions. However, he is prepared to accept that he may never be able to compete in MMA again. Bellator have not stripped Lovato Jr. of his title as of yet, and are looking to gather more details about the situation.