Step into the exhilarating and demanding world of combat sports through the eyes of unsung heroes – ringside physicians. This interview project delves into the captivating stories and experiences of the courageous men and women who stand at the forefront of combat sports, ensuring the safety and well-being of fighters. From the local amateur scene to high-stakes championship bouts, these ringside physicians have seen it all. They share candid accounts of their journey to ringside medicine, the challenges of handling severe injuries under immense pressure, and the community they have built through their work.

Dr. Bradford Lee is an emergency medicine physician with a long established career in ringside medicine. In this interview he describes his humble beginnings in judo and his pathway to ringside physician for the Nevada State Athletic Commission. From his other degrees in business and law to his travels around the globe doing ringside medicine, he’s done it all.

R: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me Dr. Lee to discuss your career in ringside physicianship. To start, what is your background and training?

B: Thank you for having me. I started my career as an emergency medicine physician training at UCSF Fresno in Central California and I was one of the first few emergency medicine residents. When I first started, there were very few programs. I spent thirty years in military emergency medicine. I did a little cruise ship medicine. I was a state health officer for Nevada and worked for the EMS service here in Reno/Washoe county. I currently also work for the Nevada Athletics Commission.

R: Is it correct you also have a law degree?

B: I do yes, I went to law school and passed the California Bar and went on to get an MBA also.

R: Sounds like a fruitful career. So what inspired you to get involved in Ringside Physicianship and how did you get started?

B: I don’t think it was my intent to do ringside medicine initially. What happened is, I was a practicing judoka and as such, I would go to tournaments. There were tournaments that were put on by local clubs and they would ask me to help volunteer for the medicals. That’s how it started out. After doing that a fair amount, USA Judo asked me to travel with the USA Judo team. I did that at both national and international competitions. Then when I moved to Reno, there wasn’t that much Judo. Boxing was much more robust so then I began helping at the amateur boxing events. I ran into a guy from the Nevada Athletics Commission who passed along my CV to them. I was doing so many competitions both amateur and international competitions at the time and also traveling with the USA boxing. After some time I applied to the Nevada Athletics Commission which I continue to work with.

R: It sounds like from your own initial interests as a judoka, these opportunities naturally came about and spread into these many great endeavors.

B: I would say so, yes.

R: Are you still working at a mixture of amateur and international events?

B: Now I don’t do as much international events, I don’t travel with the teams. Now I am mostly doing pro events for the athletic commission. You have to remember I live in Nevada now so there are a lot of events.

R: Is there a particular sport you have as a favorite to work?

B: Even though I’ll cover them all, I tend to prefer MMA.

R: Are you still participating in judo yourself?

B: Not so much anymore. As I got older things began to break. I didn’t bounce, I sort of splatted.

R: Can you describe your responsibilities while working events?

B: I think the amateurs are very different from the pros and depending where you are, it can vary by events. When I was traveling internationally with the teams, not only was I responsible for the ongoing medical care, but also the US team delegations including officials, refs, and other event staff. I would sometimes assist in healthcare for other international teams as the US team often traveled with a large medical staff in comparison. It was a communal camaraderie sharing knowledge, supplies, and medications. On the amateur side, we would repair lacerations and address injuries during the event. Our roles in both amateur and pro events often were to perform pre-fight clinicals, make the recommendation whether fighters can continue during events, and how long is recommended for the mandatory rest period after fights.

R: Do you have any memorable moments you would like to share from your time as a ringside physician?

B: Well, I was at the Conor McGregor fight where he shattered his tib-fib. I’ve been at some fairly significant fights. I was there for the fight when Frankie Edgar was knocked out by a flying knee. I’ve been to lots of knockouts.

R: In terms of types of training or preparation, was there anything you did in particular?

B: In my particular case, I spent a lot of time in prehospital care. I had trained paramedics and EMTs and so a lot of the splinting techniques and other interventions were second nature to me. Now not everyone sitting ringside is an emergency physician, but a lot of the interventions are basic initial care and we send them to a medical facility for further care as needed. I would not say that a ringside physician needs to be an emergency medicine provider.

R: Have you been in any situations where it was difficult to determine whether a fighter can continue?

B:What we are doing in the ring is a functional analysis. We do not need to know specifically what’s wrong with the knee. We just need to know can the fighter reasonably protect himself still and can he continue competing. Now reasonable minds can look at the same situation and come to different conclusions. Certain providers would stop a fight in certain situations and others wouldn’t. I don’t think there is a clear line in the sand anywhere. There are situations where it is fairly clear for example a fighter who is KOed or has a clearly dislocated shoulder. Those would clearly not be okay to continue. When Jacare broke his arm, and we’re talking humerus, he is not continuing the fight.

R: Would you say the criteria to stop a fight are any different on the amateur circuit compared to the pros?

B: I think on the amateur scene, we tend to be much more conservative. These guys are amateurs and I think we would recommend a medical disqualification much earlier than the pros and as a general proposition, we don’t get pushback on that from those involved.

R: Going off of that, what is the relation as a ringside physician with the judges, referees, promoters etc in the space?

B: In general, our relations with the refs are very good. We talk with the refs before every fight. We go over various scenarios such as how an eye poke will be addressed. We have a less official relationship with the judges. Sometimes we’ll ask them just because we’re interested in the sport how they thought the fight scored or why something was a 10-8 but that stems from general interest in the sport and less so our responsibilities as providers.

R: And how were you able to find assignments for these various fights both amateur and pro?

B: For the pros, the commission is the one who sanctions the fights and is responsible for finding providers to work ringside. In any state there are often only a few registered providers able to work the pro fights. For the amateur side, it’s up to the promoters to get the providers.

R: What would you say are the important characteristics for someone interested in ringside physicianship?

B: Well first, one of the most important characteristics is interest. I mean, not in just the medicine, but in the sport. Because if you don’t know what’s going on in the ring, if you don’t know the mechanism of what’s going on, it’s much harder to understand the injury. In my view, almost every provider should start with the amateurs and should have an interest in learning about the sport, learning about what’s going on, how it’s run. We have a robust boxing scene here in Reno and there are many kid fights going on all the time and they are always looking for providers. If you are a member of the USA Boxing Provider List, there is no charge to the doctor. They will make you take certain classes to give you a general idea, a background, in working these types of events.

R: When working these types of events, how does your malpractice or liability affect your practice?

B: It can vary by commission or state, but as a general principle, most organizations do not provide malpractice for the providers. Some providers have their own and some don’t have any at all. For many providers, our malpractice is a part of our employee contract and protects us while working in the hospital/clinic but not outside of those settings. As a general proposition, most providers rely on the good samaritan law if they are not being paid and if they are getting paid they have to be very narrow in what they are doing.

R: Have you ever seen or heard of any bad cases or liability placed on providers ringside that were challenging?

B: I have not because honestly we are ultraconservative in our care and recommendations. If there is any doubt, we send them to the hospital.

R: Do you have any final advice for the readers out there just getting interested in ringside physicianship?

B: I’d say first, are you a fan? Because it will help you understand a lot more what’s going on and I said that earlier. For example judo has a sort of policy that you can’t be an international referee unless you are a certain degree in judo. If you don’t understand what’s going on on the mat, how can you look at the injury? At least for the combat sports. Second is that you’re not gonna start doing a numbered event with the UFC. In other words, start small, start amateur events. Keep going and do a lot of them and you’ll see different things. I don’t care whether it’s boxing, kickboxing, BJJ, Judo, MMA. Start going to different events so you have some background about the different martial arts, you’ll see different things and different injuries. The worst life or limb threatening injury I had seen in my work is a full knee dislocation, and we’re not talking a patella, we’re talking the knee. And we relocated the knee right on the mat before the ambulance team in the building had even got to the athlete. When you get all these experiences, then you’re not so scared when you’re the only provider at the event with all the lights, glory, and criticism.

R: This all makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing your vast experience in ringside physicianship and we look forward to sharing this all with the readers and fans alike.

B: Thank you for having me.