Roufusport Kickboxer death examined, Current and Former Fighters comment on Training Camp.

(Credit to MMAMania.com)

In March 29, 2014 Dennis Munson Jr. a young kickboxer from  Roufusport; a MMA gym headed by head trainer Duke Roufus, passed away during his first amateur bout in the ring after collapsing.  Now an article in the (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal) has come out reviewing the circumstances and neglect of event staff, ringside doctors, and coaches led to Munson’s death. Many independent reviewers said the fight should have been called earlier than it was due to signs of distress by Munson.  Even after Munson collapse the proper response failed to happen in a timely fashion, skilled medics at the event were waved off and Munson was taken to a local hospital instead of being taken to a Level One trauma center in Milwaukee.  But perhaps the most blame for this incident is now coming former fighters who trained with Roufusport who are criticizing that gym with being inconsiderate of the health and well-being of the fighters as well their treatment of them.  Quitting is not an option for Roufusport fighters, Munson’s teammates said.

TUF 20 Women’s Fighter Rose Namajunas and former Roufusport fighter went to twitter:

“My motives are for preventing another death. I knew they are hard on us and I grew up with sexual abuse and molestation all my life so what I dealt with at the time was nothing compared to that. But after seeing the video and learning more about this situation yes it takes a death to say something.”(MMAMania.com)

Former UFC Fighter and Roufusport  Erik Schafer on Roufusport head trainer Duke Roufusport

“Duke Roufus is a bully, a liar, and one of the worst people I have ever met. I have never been in a more toxic environment than when I was the head grappling coach and fighter at the gym. I saw teammate after teammate getting treated like shit. Guys being told to beat up lower level guys that were just trying to help out, UFC fighters being told to beat up other UFC level fighters so they would not come back, verbal abuse, violence, guys getting lied to about fights, etc. I have messages and conversations with almost every one of his fighters from my days there; from his UFC stars to his coaching staff about how much they were mistreated. I will not out them, but they know the truth. They can tell their tales if they want.”(MMAMania.com)

“There is a lot of pressure to win,” said fighter Amanda Johnson. “They are very concerned about their reputation. We fight till we collapse, and that’s exactly what he did.”(MMAMania.com)

This is a very unfortunate incident and It seems that most of the heat is going to Duke Roufus at an inappropriate time when his star fighter UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis is defending his title against Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez at UFC 181 December 6.