MMA could soon face ban in Delaware
Rep. Valihura introduces bill to do away with 'combative fighting' in state due to safety issues
By ALEXANDER PYLES • The News Journal • June 29, 2008
With mixed martial arts continuing to gain mainstream popularity, local boxing promoter Keith Stoffer said he wouldn't mind if MMA disappeared.
"It's no secret that this movement has, especially on television, taken away from boxing," Stoffer said.
He may end up getting his wish, at least temporarily.
On Tuesday, state Rep. Robert J. Valihura Jr., R-Beau Tree, introduced legislation that would ban "combative fighting" in Delaware.
House Bill 501, which is being called the "Toughman Legislation," lumps MMA with Toughman competitions.
The bill defines Toughman events as elimination tournaments between amateur participants without any boxing experience or training.
The bill would ban both forms of fighting in Delaware. Promoters and fighters who violate the law would face class A misdemeanor charges.
Delaware does not have a state boxing commission. Instead, boxing is sanctioned by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, which does not currently regulate MMA.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State Web site, the commission voted in July 2007 "to approve draft regulations that would allow [MMA] events to occur in Pennsylvania."
But those regulations have not been adopted and likely won't go into effect until around Thanksgiving, Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission director Greg Sirb said.
Even if the Pennsylvania regulations are approved, it would be up to Delaware officials to ask the commission to oversee MMA events in the First State.
James Collins, director of the state Division of Professional Regulation, said Delaware officials would not rule out eventually allowing Pennsylvania-sanctioned MMA events to be held here.
"I don't think we can do it [MMA] safely in Delaware at this time," Collins said.
Collins and Valihura believe unregulated MMA is too dangerous.
"The safety of the individual is the concern," said Valihura, the bill's primary sponsor. "We intended to outlaw bare-knuckle boxing matches at the turn of the [20th] century. This seems a reincarnation [of that]."
Valihura said the bill was drawn up by the Delaware Division of Professional Regulation based on a 2003 Joint Sunset Committee recommendation to investigate combative fighting in the state. An unsanctioned event being promoted in Hockessin that year made officials realize that they didn't have a system in place to regulate such fights, Valihura said.
Valihura's bill is modeled in part after a 2005 Texas law that bans Toughman, asserting that amateurs fighting in the elimination tournament do not receive adequate medical attention during or after the fights.
Illinois and Tennessee passed similar laws in 2004, according to USA Today.
New Castle boxer Michael "No Joke" Stewart believes that the Delaware legislation is a step in the right direction.
Stewart said Toughman competition should be outlawed. But although he doesn't like MMA, Stewart admitted it could be beneficial to the state financially if it was regulated.
"It's a brutal sport," Stewart said. "MMA is just something I can't get into, to be honest with you. I just think it's more animalistic [than boxing]."
Leon Tabs, who trains Stewart and also has worked ringside as a cutman for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) since the popular MMA league's inception in 1993, said MMA actually is less dangerous than boxing.
"I thought it was brutal initially," he said. "But now I'm not sure it's as brutal as boxing."
Tabs said there are fewer direct shots to the head in MMA, and fewer sparring sessions during the weeks heading into a fight, making it less physically taxing for participants.
A recent report in Rolling Stone magazine, citing a Johns Hopkins study from the March 2008 British Journal of Sports Medicine, said 23.6 percent of MMA fighters sustained some kind of injury in the 635 fights observed from March 2002 to September 2007.
But injuries consisted mostly of facial lacerations, with just 3.3 percent of fights ending in a knockout. That's less than one-third of the KO rate in boxing, the article said.
According to the Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences, 78 pro and amateur boxers worldwide died in the 1990s.
The organization also reported that from 1979, when Original Toughman competitions started, to last November, 13 Toughman fighters died of injuries sustained in the ring.
By comparison, MMA has had one documented death from a sanctioned event -- Houston fighter Sam Vasquez died last December after being injured in a fight almost two months earlier.
Beyond the question of safety, Tabs said he has seen the financial impact UFC events can have on the cities and states that hold fights.
"I've seen [representatives] from the various states come in and witness the amount of money generated," Tabs said. "You don't see many boxers drawing [such large crowds]."
The last official event, "UFC 85: Bedlam," drew a crowd of 14,900 fans at O2 Arena in London, according to UFC publicist Rachel Trontel. The event grossed a gate of approximately $3 million.
UFC earned $200 million in pay per view revenue in 2006, compared to $170 million for HBO Boxing, according to an American Chronicle report.
Tabs believes that as MMA continues to become more popular, states won't have any choice but to embrace the sport.
Delaware's legislative session ends Monday, and Valihura said the fate of his bill likely will depend on how it is received in the Senate. Valihura said the bill, which made it out of committee Wednesday, likely would not face resistance in the House.
Rep. Deborah Hudson, R-Fairthorne, is co-sponsoring the bill, and Sen. David P. Sokola, D-Newark, is an additional sponsor.
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