MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz is reporting that CABMMA, the Brazilian commission that sanctions some of the bigger MMA organizations in the country, has learned of widespread fraud in the medical records submitted by fighters. Chairman Rafael Favetti told Cruz that ”The commission has been doing a secret investigation against frauds in medical exams provided by athletes in several gyms. We got to a point where we’re possibly dealing with a criminal gang, a gang that has as its motto to fraud medical exams for MMA athletes. We contacted hospitals and labs, and they also didn’t know they were involved in this fraud. They are desperate. Our next step is taking this to the police and the Brazilian government agency for law enforcement and prosecution of crimes.”
Apparently, what happened is that a coach (CABMMA isn’t naming names yet) started the fraudulent medical records ring as a solution for fighters who couldn’t afford the exams. Until CABMMA started up, most Brazilian promotions didn’t require any kind of medicals, and a lot of fighters weren’t happy about the increase in expenses. CABMMA became suspicious when multiple fighters, all from the same gym, had nearly identical medicals. The fighters identified have been suspended but it won’t all go public until CABMMA is ready so as not to damage the investigation.
