Lift the Ban Watch: Florida to Legalize and Regulate Amateur Mixed Martial Arts

This article incorrectly identifies referee Troy Waugh as a UFC official, but the overall point is what's very encouraging. Notable quote:

That's all about to change thanks to a law spearheaded by Tom Molloy, executive director of the Florida Athletic Commission, and Cory Schafer, president of the International Sport Kickboxing Association. With the safety and development of the fighters in mind, mixed martial arts will be a fully sanctioned amateur sport in the state beginning in January. "

"This is absolutely groundbreaking," said John Morrison, Florida State Director for ISKA, the sole sanctioning organization designated to regulate amateur events. Morrison and other top officials, including UFC official Troy Waugh of Coral Springs, held the first of many judging and officials certification seminars Sunday in Plantation to train judges, timekeepers, scorekeepers and locker-room inspectors and help create a surplus for various amateur shows around the state.

The four-hour seminar attracted a wide range of attendees, about 60 from Florida and Georgia, including pro fighter Din Thomas, of ATT Port St. Lucie; boxing trainer and Hall of Famer Bonnie Canino; boxer and trainer Yvonne Reis; Orlando-based agent Remington Reed; and Left Hook promoters Heather Cooperman and Laura Devlin.

...

Florida joins California, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania with sanctioned amateur programs governed by a revised edition of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. The amateur regulations were passed by the Association of Boxing Commissioners with the help of mixed martial arts referee "Big" John McCarthy at its annual convention in Montreal earlier this year.

Din Thomas brought some of the problems for his arrest for holding amateur fights on himself by also trying to skim a few bucks off the top, but the law should've never existed as it did and this change is more than welcome. The growth of MMA in terms of "becoming mainstream" is likely to not be one big bang event. Rather, small accumulations like this over time will help produce the kind of athletes and infrastructure required to be a bona fide, big time sport. Congratulations to all Florida fighters, professional and amateur.