Province-wide regulation comes to BC
While mixed martial arts in the United States is regulated on a State and Tribal basis, in Canada there is…
While mixed martial arts in the United States is regulated on a State and Tribal basis, in Canada there is the addition of municipa athletic commissions – individual cities and towns have an AC. The results are obviously not uniform, with uneven regulation, and the sport banned in some places.
Now MMA will be regulated across British Columbia.
Last Thursday, the provincial government passed Bill 50, the Athletic Commissioner Act, through the legislature. So what does that mean? It means that we are on the verge of having professional mixed martial arts come back to the Lower Mainland and the rest of the province.
This move is very similar to what Ontario’s provincial government did back in 2010 when they appointed Ken Hayashi as their provincial Athletic Commissioner. Since then, they have had many successful professional mixed martial arts shows, including two UFC events, one of which was held at the Rogers Center for 55,724 screaming fans.
After talking to many different athletic commissions throughout the province, we believed that it was time to have a provincial commissioner who could oversee professional fighting like MMA, said B.C.’s Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Ida Chong.
A lot of people enjoy watching the UFC and we fully understand how popular the sport is. Some parts of B.C. are allowing professional fights while others are not. We were hearing that one city would have different rules than another city and we felt that with how popular the sport was across the province, the safety of the participants had to be paramount and the rules had to be the same across the board for everyone.
All the current local athletic commissions throughout the province will be disbanded, and there will be one man or woman looking over it all — one provincial watchdog. So when does this bill come into effect?
This summer we will be putting together our provincial rules and regulations when it comes to professional MMA and other combat sports, said Chong. We will be talking to other provinces like Ontario, and we will also be speaking with people in the States about some of the pitfalls that we should look out for when putting this all together. We will also be doing our due diligence in looking for a commissioner who fits our criteria. We hope to have all this finalized in the fall.
Chong says that the process of selecting a commissioner is going to start immediately but first comes the research into the rules and regulations that the province will adopt for professional MMA. There is no doubt that the Province will most likely go down the same road as Ontario and adopt the rules of the State of New Jersey, which are the most widely used in North America.
Many believed the Liberals would bestow the job of Athletic Commissioner onto one of their own, but Minister Chong says that is not the case at all.
“We will be looking for someone who obviously has a certain skill set and knowledge of combat sports,” says Chong. “The person does not have to be affiliated with the Liberal party. This is not a party related matter. What we are looking for is someone who can enforce legislation on behalf the Province. So if a promoter is not following the rules and regulations, which will be provincial law, that commissioner will know what to look for and enforce the law and pull that promoter’s license.”
The early front-runners for this position have to be Bill Mahood of MMABC (The governing body that looks over amateur MMA in the province) or Paul Lazenby. I’m sure you can throw in a few others into the mix, however, both men have experience in combat sports and both men have in-depth knowledge of all the rules and regulations that will be in place.