Buffalo News: Legalized and regulated, events could be beneficial
April 10, 2010

By Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez

For more than a decade now, New York has had the opportunity to observe its sister states develop and improve the regulation of professional mixed martial arts (MMA). To date, 44 states, not including New York, have legalized MMA.

We have learned that regulated, professional MMA events— where laws are enforced and competitors are licensed — can be successful and safe when put through a rubric of significant medical precautions. We have seen MMA become widely recognized as a bona-fide sport in the last decade, covered extensively on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated and featured by the U. S. Army in a popular annual competition.

There is simply no credible reason to continue to deny New Yorkers the freedom to engage in, and benefit from, this authentic athletic activity.

Legalization presents a middle ground between our current ban and the type of no-holds-barred fights that could do irreparable harm to competitors. Sanctioning these events presents an opportunity for those with knowledge of the sport and its effects on the human body to create a framework that keeps both the integrity of these competitions intact and its competitors safe.

Luckily, our state already has an oversight body, the New York State Athletic Commission, with a record of ensuring fair competition and a reasonable degree of safety in these types of competitions, as the commission oversees professional boxing in New York.

And, as with boxing, the commission would require prelicensing, prefight and postfight physicals and neurological and psychological examinations for all competitors. It would test for performance- enhancing drugs, as is done in other sports. A medical advisory board would be intimately involved in ensuring that the highest levels of health and safety are maintained before, during and after a fight.

A goal of legalizing MMA is to cut down on the number of poorly regulated or unregulated knockoffs that put unlicensed, unprepared individuals in harm’s way. By adopting the unified rules of MMA, the State Athletic Commission would aim to eliminate the potential for unregulated events, and maintain the strict prohibition on such events.

Finally, the economic impact of MMA matches will be significant, especially in the cities that host these events. Venues in Buffalo and across the state have voiced their hopes that MMA matches will soon take place within their walls. In an often-cited November 2008 study conducted by HR&A Advisors, the firm estimated that a single MMA competition in Buffalo would inject $5.2 million into the local economy.

Based on the State Athletic Commission’s experience in overseeing professional boxing, our commitment to the well being of athletes who compete here and the economic benefits MMA would bring, I see no reason why the ban on mixed martial arts shouldn’t be lifted. Let’s get it done now.

Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez is the New York secretary of state.