Michael Kirkham, MMA Fighter, Dies After Pro Debut

by Amy Judd | June 28, 2010 at 02:23 pm

7521 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

Michael Kirkham, Nicknamed 'Tree' Died in Hospital After Head Injury Sustained During Fight at USC Aiken on Saturday

Michael Kirkham was struck several times in the head during his first professional match for MMA and had to be transported to Aiken Regional Medical Center on Saturday. The cause of death was a brain hemorrhage. He was competing in the Dash Entertainment and King MMA event called 'Confrontation at the Convocation Center'.

According to WRDW, Kirkham was not responsive when he was transported to hospital and never regained consciousness.

"Obviously our thoughts and prayers are with his family, other than that I have no comment," Sam King, a promoter of Saturday's card, told MMAFighting.com.

Kirkham's body will undergo an autopsy on Tuesday.

He had competed as an amateur six times before this event, but during his fight on Saturday he was taken down early and was struck multiple times. He did not regain consciousness from this point forward.

MMAFighting says that Kirkham is the second fighter to die from injuries sustained from an MMA fight in the United States. Sam Vasquez also died after head injuries from fighting on November 30 2007. He was in a coma for 42 days.