What is "Mixed Martial Arts Law?"
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.
