UNLV Fight Night: The Death of Nathan Valencia

He agreed to fight in a fraternity boxing match. The following night he was dead.

A college student steps into the ring for a charity boxing event—just days before his 21st birthday. Hours later, he suffered a fatal brain injury. The match was organized by a fraternity, held off-campus, and widely attended by students. University officials were aware the event was happening but did not intervene.

There was no licensed referee, no paramedics on standby, and no official oversight. In this episode of Murder U, we examine the death of UNLV student Nathan Valencia, the fatal safety lapses that led to his collapse, and the legal loopholes that allowed the fight to happen in the first place. As Valencia’s family pushes for reform, a state grapples with how to stop it from happening again.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A packed crowd, flashing lights, students cheer as fists fly.
In the ring, two inexperienced boxers exchange wild punches, but
twenty year old Nathan Valencia takes the worst of it.
His opponent backs him into a corner and pummels him
in the head. As the fight ended, Nathan could hardly stand.

(00:21):
He collapsed in the ring, unconscious and internally bleeding from
a brain injury. He was rushed to the hospital, where
he spent three days in a coma. On November twenty third,
twenty twenty one, Nathan Valencia passed away abgr be Hey,

(00:42):
what's up everyone, I'm your host, Mattie and this is
Murder You. Thanks for listening last week and for checking
out the new Murder U YouTube channel. If you haven't yet,
smashed that follow and subscribe button and share the show
with your friends. It's the best way to help us
reach even more true crime fans. Each week, the cases
get darker, the ruths more unsettling. An unsanctioned college charity

(01:03):
boxing match turns deadly unlv fhite night. Welcome to Murder You.
An Abnormia original. The death of Nathan Valencia served as

(01:33):
a shocking wake up call regarding the dangers of unsanctioned
fraternity events. It also raised numerous questions about university's responsibility
to protect their students. Nathan Valencia was born and raised
in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was a junior at the
University of Nevada Las Vegas, majoring in kinesiology with hopes

(01:53):
of going into physical therapy or sports medicine. Friends described
him as kind, driven and of energy, a loyal friend
who loved working out, spending time with his family, and
making people laugh. Nathan wasn't the kind of person who
sought the spotlight, but he showed up for the people
he cared about. That's why he agreed to fight, not

(02:14):
for attention or ego, just to support his friends and
be part of something fun on his twentieth birthday. That's
what made what happened that night so hard to understand.
On the night of November nineteenth, twenty twenty one, students
from the University of Nevada Las Vegas packed into the
Sahara Event Center, just a few miles off campus. It

(02:37):
was a Friday, it happened to be Nathan Valencia's twentieth birthday,
and it was Fight Night. The event, hosted by UNLV's
Kappa Sigma fraternity, had become an annual tradition, a so
called charity boxing match where fraternity brothers and student volunteers
stepped into the ring for bragging rights. However, the event

(02:59):
was wasn't sanctioned by the university, the NCAA, or the
Nevada State Athletic Commission. From the outside, it looked legit
flashing lights, a DJ, ring, girls, a packed house, an
announcer hyping the fights like it was the MGM Grand However,
Nathan Valencia's girlfriend, Lacey Foster, had a different take. In

(03:23):
an interview with KTNV, she recounted her feelings about that
fateful fight night. Once I walked in there, I just
had like a really weird feeling. I remember in one
of the fights, someone's headgear fell off, and then during
Nathan's fight, you could see that he was just trying
to get away to catch a breath. Nathan wasn't a

(03:45):
boxer and had no formal training of any kind, but
he was athletic, upbeat, and eager to support his friends.
He trained for a few weeks at a local gym
and stepped into the ring thinking it would be fun
and memorable. However, from round one it was obvious Nathan
was out of his depth. He swung wildly, missed often,

(04:07):
and looked shaky on his feet. Witnesses said he appeared disoriented.
Halfway through the fight, a hard hit snapped his head back.
The student acting as referee, let it continue. When the
final bell rang, Nathan stumbled, and minutes later he collapsed.
There was no ambulance waiting outside, no paramedics on site.

(04:28):
Two registered nurses were in the building, but neither one
was trained in trauma response. Critical time slipped away. By
the time emergency responders arrived, Nathan was unresponsive. He was
rushed to University Medical Center, where doctors discovered internal bleeding
in his brain. He never regained consciousness. Four days later,

(04:51):
on November twenty third, Nathan Valencia was pronounced dead. According
to Rolling Stone magazine, UNLV Fight Night had been off
without oversight for years, without certified trainers, medical protocols, or insurance,
and while UNLV claimed the event wasn't officially sanctioned, public
records including emails, later showed they were aware of it beforehand.

(05:16):
Nathan's death wasn't a freak accident. It was a slow
motion failure of oversight. A student event treated like a
vagus spectacle with no real safety net in place, it
would end with the loss of a promising life. Nathan
never should have been in that ring. Nathan's opponent, Emmanuel Allman,

(05:36):
wasn't an experienced fighter either, but skill wise, it wasn't
an even match. There was no prior vetting of skill
to ensure he was adequately paired with someone of equal
fighting skills. No one involved had the training or authority
to organize a safe fight. Fight Night was set up
by the Kappa Sigma fraternity. They had hosted the match

(05:56):
in previous years and promoted it across campus and online,
but they never met with any regulator, inspector, or governing
body of any kind. The referee, Christopher Eisenhower, was a
fellow student with no experience or training as a boxing referee.
A lawsuit later filed by the Valencia family allegas Eisenhower

(06:17):
may have been intoxicated during the event. Amazingly, the fighters
weren't required to wear headgear, but Nathan was wearing a
red Adidas brand headgear during the match. Unfortunately, the protective
equipment didn't fit and kept falling off as Nathan took
repeated blows to his head. The faulty headgear wasn't viewed

(06:38):
as a reason to stop the fight. After all, you
didn't even have to wear it. Furthermore, none of the
ringside staff were trained to handle serious injuries. Witnesses said
Nathan looked unsteady from the start. He took several clean
hits and seemed dazed. Nathan's girlfriend, Lacey, had been worried
from the beginning. She saw Nathan take plenty of hard shots,

(07:02):
but she had no idea he had suffered a serious injury.
Valencia and Alaman fought for ten minutes. At some point
during the brawl, one of the punches caused a blood
vessel to separate from Nathan's skull. It was a rotational
injury to the head, causing a subdural hematoma. In Layman's terms,
his brain was filling with blood. When the fight was over,

(07:25):
Lacy Foster rushed to the ring to check on her boyfriend.
I've never seen someone so tired, she later said. He
was staring past me. She said it looked like his
consciousness was disappearing. Nathan's opponent, A Leman, never realized Nathan
was severely injured. He was fine the whole fight, he

(07:45):
told interviewers. At the end, he sat down when he
couldn't get up. I thought he was tired. A panic
stricken woman assigned to be an unofficial nurse rushed to
help Nathan, but there was little she could do. For
several agonizing minutes, people scrambled to respond, but no one

(08:06):
seemed to know what to do. At one point, they
even tried to drag Nathan out of the ring by
his ankles. Someone called nine one one. We have nurses here,
but we need like real medical assistance, a woman said
on the nine one one call. Nearly eight minutes later,
EMTs arrived and tended to Valencia. He was classified as

(08:27):
a gust trauma, an emergency medical version of a John
Doe because the frat's medical team was so drunk and
flustered they couldn't coherently articulate Nathan's name. In the hours
after Nathan Valencia's collapse, videos of the fight circulated online.
Some students shared tributes, others pointed fingers, But one thing

(08:49):
was clear. This wasn't a tragic fluke. It was a
chain of failures that ended in a tragic death. For
Nathan's family, it was only the beginning of a long
fight for answers. In the days after Nathan's death, the
University of Nevada Las Vegas released a statement offering condolences
while trying to distance itself from any liability. Administrators said

(09:13):
the event wasn't school sponsored and claimed they were unaware
of any safety issues, but internal emails told a different story.
Staff from UNLV's Office of Student Involvement had circulated messages
about Fight Night days before the event. Although there was
no formal approval on record, No one intervened to stop it.

(09:33):
No one verified whether trained medical personnel would be present,
no one inquired about the safety measures that had been
put in place. Kapa Sigma was no stranger to scrutiny
at UNLV. The fraternity had been suspended in twenty nineteen,
reportedly due to violations related to hazing and alcohol use.
While they were reinstated before Fight Night twenty twenty one,

(09:56):
the previous disciplinary action raised concerns about whether the group
had a pattern of high risk behavior. Las Vegas Metro
Police opened an investigation, but prosecutors ultimately declined to file
charges under Nevada law, proving criminal liability in cases like
this without clear intent or statutory violation was difficult, if

(10:18):
not impossible, but civil action was another matter. In twenty
twenty two, Nathan's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against
a broad list of defendants, the Kappa Sigma fraternity, individual
student organizers, the amateur referee, UNLV, and the Sahara Event Center.

(10:39):
The suit alleged gross negligence, failure to supervise, and a
complete lack of basic safety precautions. Court documents revealed just
how little structure surrounded the event. Aside from the medical
and emergency failures, the fraternity failed to secure liability insurance
or higher licensed officials. The lawsuit also named fraternity members

(11:01):
who helped organize the match, accusing them of ignoring obvious dangers.
UNLV attempted to have the claims dismissed, arguing that it
had no legal obligation to monitor off campus events. However,
the Valencia family's attorneys pointed to internal emails showing that
the university was aware of fight night before it occurred

(11:23):
and failed to intervene. Some parties eventually settled out of court,
terms weren't disclosed. No one admitted fault, but the impact
was clear. Nathan's death was a preventable tragedy. The case
triggered a push for reform. Nathan Valencia's death during an
unsanctioned fight night exposed dangerous gaps not just in campus policy,

(11:47):
but in state oversight and student event regulation. In the
months following his funeral, his family, lawmakers, and university officials
began pushing for change. At UNLV, fight Night was permanently canceled.
The Kappa Sigma chapter responsible for organizing the event was
suspended indefinitely. University administrators established a task force to assess

(12:12):
how student organizations plan events and introduce new guidelines aimed
at preventing similar risks in the future. The Nevada Athletic
Commission implemented an emergency regulation known as Nathan's Law. This regulation,
signed into effect by Governor Steve Sisilac in December twenty
twenty one, expanded the Commission's oversight to include amateur boxing

(12:35):
events organized by school affiliated groups, which were previously exempt
under Nathan's Law. Organizers of such events must now apply
for an exemption at least sixty days in advance, providing
details about the contest participants, officiating personnel, their qualifications, and
safety protocols, including the presence of emergency medical personnel. Efforts

(13:00):
have been made to make Nathan's law a permanent statute,
but for now, it's just an emergency regulation. Across the country,
other universities began re examining their own policies. Some schools
implemented new approval systems for student run events, others banned
them entirely. Several fraternity chapters voluntarily canceled similar fight night events.

(13:24):
Nathan's parents have continued to push for reform, not just
at UNLV, but at schools nationwide. Nathan Valencia's story is
a reminder of how organizational negligence can become a tragic
and permanent loss. Nathan Valencia walked into a boxing ring
on his birthday and never walked out. He died because

(13:45):
of the failures of the fraternity that hosted Fight Night,
the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, and all those who
knew this was a dangerous event and did nothing to
stop it. Nathan Valencia was a kind and considerate person
who is deeply missed. At a candlelight vigil held on
what would have been Nathan's twenty first birthday, Lacy Foster

(14:06):
expressed her commitment to his memory. I promise to keep
your memory alive. My life is now a celebration of yours,
she said. These heartfelt words highlight the profound impact Nathan
had on those close to him and underscore the sense
of loss they still feel. That's it for this episode,
but please remember if you or someone you know is

(14:28):
facing pressure to participate in unsafe events on or off campus,
whether it's hazing, unregulated fights, or high risk stunts, you
can speak up. The National Anti Hazing Hotline is available
twenty four to seven and takes s anonymous reports. Call
one eight eight eight not Hayes. One report can save

(14:49):
a life, and no event is worth the risk of silence.