Mixed Martial Arts Law Blog : Mixed Martial Arts Lawyer & Attorney : David Nelmark : Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn Law Firm : Intellectual Property, Media Law : Des Moines, Iowa

On December 17, the City of Vancouver gave the UFC an early Christmas present when it passed a resolution to regulate mixed martial arts for a two-year trial period.   CagePotato.com has a good recap of the events surrounding passage and links to related quotes here.  Also interesting is this report prepared by Vancouver's General Manager of Community Services, which provides an overview of MMA regulation in Canada and responds to some of the arguments made against regulation.

As states (and provinces) continue to jump on the MMA bandwagon, it seems only a matter of time before Mixed Martial Arts wins over New York.  I was recently interviewed on that subject by Mid-Atlantic MMA (MAMMA-online.com).  The interview can be found here, and the MAMMA site as a whole is an entertaining read. 

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Editor's Note: This post was originally written in August 2009, but is periodically updated as additional states pass mixed martial arts regulations.

This post will link to all of the State Athletic Commissions which regulate Mixed Martial Arts events (or which would regulate them upon legalization in that state).  State MMA regulations are changing regularly, so you should not rely exclusively on this list--or even the athletic commission's website--in determining whether MMA is legal or what rules to follow.  As just two examples, both Alabama and South Dakota signed bills creating boxing commissions in 2009.  The best bet is to contact the licensing authority directly to confirm what is allowed and whether the posted rules are current.

43 states officially sanction Mixed Martial Arts.  The holdouts are Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

ALABAMA 

MMA is not sanctioned, but it appears to be legal if sanctioned by the International Sport Combat Federation.)

ALASKA (No Commission)

ARIZONA

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Since this blog launched, a lot of people have asked: "What is Mixed Martial Arts Law?"  The real answer is that any law can affect a mixed martial artist or MMA promoter (as loyal readers to this blog can attest).  That said, a more precise definition is: "the collection of statutes, administrative rules, and regulations that govern mixed martial arts competitions." 

Many people don't realize that, on the flipside, some mixed martial arts contests do not have to comply with any MMA-specific laws.  In Iowa, for example, professional MMA is explicitly allowed and is regulated by the Iowa Athletic Commissioner, but amateur MMA (unlike amateur boxing) is not under the purview of the Commissioner.  Nonetheless, that aspect of mixed martial arts continues to thrive in Iowa.  

After explaining the above, I sometimes get this follow-up question: "If a state athletic commission does not oversee mixed martial arts, why aren't the fighters arrested for assault?" The answer is, typically, that the activity is consensual.  In Iowa, assault is defined by section 708.1.  After listing the activities that constitute assault, the code section provides an exception for cases where the persons engaged in the activities are:

voluntary participants in a sport, social or other activity, not in itself criminal, and such act is a reasonably foreseeable incident of such sport or activity, and does not create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or breach of the peace . . .

Without such an exception, mixed martial artists would face assault charges, but so would participants in any contact sport.  

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