Issue 022

February 2007

By Grant Waterman 

In the past few issues of Fighters Only I’ve touched on the issue of governing bodies. It is pretty logical that if we are to have MMA taken seriously and seen as a fully professional sport in its own right then it has to have some form of regulation. This needs to happen pretty quickly as well, because there doesn’t seem to be any let up in the growth of this compelling activity.

Now I really enjoy kickboxing and there are numerous ‘governing bodies’ (yes they deserve quote marks!) who regulate shows held under their particular umbrella. However, what is to stop your average Joe Bloggs from hiring a hall somewhere and putting on a kickboxing show? You can do this. You don’t need trained officials, you don’t need licensed/insured fighters and you could have a first aid kit over in the corner as your medical cover. You don’t even have to waste any time in checking the fighters over prior to them competing. I know this all sounds insane and anyone with an ounce of common sense wouldn’t run a show like this, but sense isn’t that common, and I’ve seen it happen.

I was at a kickboxing event not so long ago and I noticed that none of the fighters were having medical checks prior to fighting. I asked a few people if they knew who the doctor was and they pointed to the guy doing the weigh-ins. He wasn’t a doctor but I went over and asked about the medicals. His reply to my concerns was, “What’s the point? The fighters know if they’re fit or not”. No one was hurt at the show and in fact there wasn’t one KO throughout, but the risks this promoter was taking were unthinkable. In hindsight I really should have done something but it wasn’t my show and I wasn’t working on it, however this memory haunts me and it just shows how responsible the MMA world is to its fighters with regards to health and safety.

Now the point I’m trying to make here is that before MMA spirals out of control, which I don’t think it will, it will needs some kind of regulation. An organisation has recently been formed which may be our saving grace. It’s called the NFAC, which stands for National Fighting Arts Commission, and it is headed by the British National Martial Arts Association’s (BNMAA) Paul Griffin. The NFAC has had a huge response with the announcement that it will be the UK‘s Board of Control for MMA and I really hope that they can make things work and that the various promotions out there can put their differences aside for the good of our sport. With the help of the NFAC we will gain Sport England recognition within the next year. Promotions such as Cage Rage, Angrrr Management and ZT Fight Night have all shown their support of the NFAC and welcome the future recognition MMA athletes are going to receive.

Things certainly aren’t slowing down in the MMA world – just when we think things can’t get any bigger or better, they do.