Oregon To Be Regulated in MMA to Prevent Injury
The sport now will be regulated in Oregon, which could bring the Ultimate Fighting Championship to Portland
The Oregonian Staff
BRAD McCRAY
Fears of serious injury and unsupervised fighting competitions have prompted Oregon lawmakers to pass regulations that will create state oversight of mixed martial arts events.
Those regulations also will give the sport a boost by creating an opening for the largest MMA promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship, to hold events in Oregon.
Once called "human cockfighting" by Arizona Sen. John McCain, MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world thanks to the success of promotions such as the UFC, International Fight League (IFL) and World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC).
Senate Bill 492, which was passed during the recently completed Oregon legislative session, expands the authority of the newly named Oregon State Athletic Commission to include MMA. It will regulate the testing of athletes for controlled substances and medical conditions, medical responsibility of promoters and ensure that medical personnel are present at all events.
"When I first watched, it appeared pretty brutal," said Brad Darcy, executive director of the OSAC, previously known as the Oregon State Boxing & Wrestling Commission. "The appreciation of the sport comes over time.
"MMA is not a no-holds barred event, but that is most people's point of departure. They almost invariably refer back to those no-holds barred images, because that's how the sport developed."
Oregon Senate Bill 492 was sponsored by senators Alan Bates (D-Ashland), Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene) and Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) to regulate the sport.
"To me, it is a brutal and disgusting sport," Bates said. "I've never been to an event, but I've watched some on TV to see what's going on and I am not impressed. Something needed to be done."
Before the bill's passage, Prozanski explained his reasoning: "There have to be reasonable safety measures in place. There has to be an age requirement, physicals and a standard for medical responsibility."
Professional wrestling is staged entertainment with a predetermined outcome. MMA is an athletic competition that combines aspects of amateur wrestling, kickboxing, karate and other martial arts disciplines.
Bates said he was surprised that proponents of MMA didn't oppose the bill, which adds governmental oversight of their sport.
"In their own way, (the politicians) are helping us," said Marc Ratner, the UFC vice president of regulatory affairs and former head of the Nevada Boxing Commission. "In fact, they are the people we need to educate. What they are saying is they want to have rules, they want it to be safe. And we all want that."
According to Ratner, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota and the District of Columbia passed similar bills in the last month. By the end of July, Illinois and Hawaii should be regulated, and Michigan is in the process, he said.
Like UFC, most promotions in Oregon already use the "Unified Rules" (also known as the "Nevada Rules"), which outlaw certain "dirty tactics" as well as dangerous kicks on downed fighters. In that sense, the regulations will have little effect on the state's largest promotions such as Matt Lindland and Randy Couture's Sportfight or Chael Sonnen's Full Contact Fighting Federation. Fans may not notice any differences in the events.
But one noticeable change coming from state regulation will be that Oregon now is open for UFC business. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is by far the largest and most popular MMA promotion, but it has avoided Oregon because the sport wasn't regulated here.
"I have a regulatory background, and I always found it hard to believe that states would allow unregulated shows," Ratner said. "All promoters must follow the same medical standards, drug testing, etc. It has to be handled like a real sport."
Ratner has a summer home in Astoria and considers himself a part-time Oregonian.
"It is my fervent goal to bring the UFC to the Northwest and to the Rose Garden either at the end of this year or early next year," Ratner said. "It's a hot area for the sport."
There were 30 MMA events in Oregon in 2005, 72 last year. The state is on pace for 80 in 2007. By comparison, there are fewer than 10 boxing shows in the state each year.
After Darcy took over three years ago, the commission became more open to MMA.
"These shows have taken off exponentially, and I knew we would need regulation," he said. "I spent 2005 going to all the shows I could to get a body of information for a policy. I was literally learning the sport. I have seen hundreds of these matches."
Brad McCray: 503-221-8161; bradmccray@news.oregonian.com
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