Ex-Elks CEO to lead provincial look into combative sports safety

Edmonton Elks president Victor Cui talks to CTV News Edmonton in his office at Commonwealth Stadium.

A former president and chief executive officer of the Edmonton Elks has been appointed to head a provincial effort to improve safety in Alberta combative sports.

Victor Cui will lead the initiative announced in a media release Tuesday afternoon by Joseph Schow, minister of tourism and sport. Cui, who ran the Canadian Football League's Elks starting in 2022 before he was fired partway through the 2023 season, has a background in combative sports, having co-founded and helmed One Championship, a mixed martial arts (MMA) outfit based in Singapore.

The move comes a little more than a week after the death of Trokon Dousuah following an amateur MMA bout held at the Enoch Community Centre and a month after the judge leading a provincial fatality inquiry into the 2017 death of boxer Timothy Hague recommended changes to how the sport is regulated and how head injuries are monitored.

“Right now, Alberta is the only province where combative sports are sanctioned by municipal governments," Schow said in the release. "As we review the recommendations and engage with our partners, we will also look at what steps would need to be taken to establish a provincial combative sport commission in Alberta.

Schow said he will start meeting with existing municipal combative sport commissions before Christmas "to better understand what gaps and opportunities exist."

He said Cui's experience in combat sports, which stretch back to the 1990s, will be of great benefit to the effort.

"Victor’s extensive experience working with governments around the world, helping establish combative sport commissions and improve athlete safety, will be a vital asset in this work," Schow said.

RCMP are investigating Dousuah's death in hospital immediately after the Nov. 23 bout. The 33-year-old married father of two whose wife is pregnant was fighting in an fundraising event billed as one for beginners following eight weeks of training when he needed help to leave the fight cage.

The Central Alberta Combat Sports Commission sanctioned the fight.

Alberta Justice Carrie Sharpe made 14 recommendations in a report published in October, including that combat sports be overseen by a provincial authority and that when a technical knockout is declared, detailed reasons should be provided, specifically whether there were blows to the head.

With files from The Canadian Press