Nova Scotia AC reformed after break, with new name
On Thursday the province announced a new, nine-member Combat Sports Authority, which will replace the old Nova Scotia Boxing Authority.
The Nova Scotia Boxing Authority has eight commissioners, each appointed to three-year terms. Those terms expired in June, and there had been no new appointments, so no professional mixed martial arts or boxing contests were being held.
The NSBA is currently listed as not in good standing/not active with the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports. And Halifax played host to the UFC in February.
However, on Thursday the province announced a new, nine-member Combat Sports Authority, which will replace the old Nova Scotia Boxing Authority. A Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage spokesperson said fights will be sanctioned within the week. The authority’s chair, Mickey MacDonald, who was as well the chair of the old Nova Scotia Boxing Authority, said many of the former commissioners have been reappointed.
“We didn’t really hold anybody up,” said MacDonald to CBC. “There was no pending events. … We’re good to go.”
The name change is a reflection of combat sports today. The Combat Sports Authority will be regulating not just professional boxing, but as well Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and both professional and amateur mixed martial arts.
Communities Minister Leo Glavine: “This legislation reflects what the authority has been practicing the past several years, and brings clarity to how both professional and amateur combative sport is governed in our province.”
Director of the sports and recreation division in the Department of Communities, Aaron Nutting: “We have the utmost confidence in our authority that they have already seen two major UFC fights come through this province and have been commended for their professionalism and the way they operate,” said Nutting.
Over the summer Nova Scotia fighter Chris Kelades expressed frustration that a local MMA event over the summer was canceled due to lack of regulation.
“By the time this gets going it will probably be eight or nine months that we’ve been trying to get an event established, so who knows now moving forward what the timeline will be,” he said. “I’m happy that combat sports is going to have a governing body now that will be able to sanction events and we can kind of get on with the sport in Nova Scotia and hopefully Atlantic Canada can keep moving forward.”