Only one Mass Senator votes against MMA bill
State Sen. Marian Walsh voted against a bill that would regulate kickboxing, wrestling, karate, jiu-jitsu and other mixed martial arts…
State Sen. Marian Walsh voted against a bill that would regulate kickboxing, wrestling, karate, jiu-jitsu and other mixed martial arts competition in Massachusetts. The bill would replace the current State Boxing Commission with the new and expanded State Athletic Commission, which already regulates promoters, fighters, referees and doctors of mixed martial arts. Mixed martial arts are currently not regulated by the state.
But Walsh was not satisfied with the bill. The new commission would be made up of five individuals, and that drew Walsh’s attention. Walsh said the bill does not specify the backgrounds of the five people.
The majority of the five could be show promoters or ticket sellers. These could be people who have no orientation about our culture, the violence or the safety of the participants, said Walsh. For some people, the more violent the activity is, the more tickets will be sold. That’s their emphasis. I think there’s a different priority when you’re a state senator. The people doing these regulations may not be concerned about what I’m concerned about. They don’t have to be because we didn’t tell them one person needs to be an EMT, a doctor or a brain injury expert.
We’re not regulating it. We authorized it and made it legal and delegated it to five people to make the rules. We didn’t set up the background for them of an area of concern. That’s what I call the foxes could be guiding the chicken coop.
The bill was sponsored by state Sen. James Timilty, D-Walpole, who said that a third of mixed martial arts fights end in tapouts, which is when one contestant forfeits. He said only six percent of fights end in knockouts, which is less often than in boxing.
Proponents of the bill believe the sport could bring in $12 million in annual tourism, and said that fights would always have a doctor and ambulance present. The bill would provide four percent of the revenue from ticket sales, and imposes a two percent tax, up to $75,000, on revenues from televised events.