It's Time To Get Rid Of Boxing Commissions

Get government out of combat sports

Full contact striking martial arts are regulated to hell, while grappling martial arts are left to their own devices. It’s time to change that.

This is a critical mistake in the world of martial arts. It costs thousands of dollars, just in regulatory red tape, to put on a martial arts competition with full contact striking. Grappling competition is completely unregulated (by the state). The athletic commissions not only charge you for all the licensing, and require you to hire officials also licensed by them, but they also tell you what rules you must follow, and how to record results. This means that if you come up with a novel event format, you either can't do it (likely) or you will spend a large amount of time negotiating with the athletic commission (with the likelihood of being denied). Grappling, including no holds barred grappling, is not subject to these regulations. It's either an oversight (not likely), they believe it is self-policing (also not likely), or it's historically not a big gambling draw, and the state doesn't feel like it can rob enough from the enterprise to make it worthwhile (extremely likely).

Firstly, combat sports are entirely capable of self-policing. It is not at all the "safety issue" they sell it as (grappling competition is proof of this). Secondly, gambling regulation doesn't stop illegal gambling, and only makes it much harder for law abiding citizens to engage in activities that might involve gambling.

For those of us who are striking dominant, we don't have legal access to the frequent competition that is so helpful to development of our skills. We can't just pay a nominal entry fee and walk into a gymnasium with 8 rings and throw down for an hour or two, and then do it again a few weeks later. Because of this red tape, promoters have to organize a single ring event with a limited number of fights, typically by invitation/application, with more expensive spectator tickets to try to pay for it all. It's a racket. Get government out of combat sports.