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.
Comments
hmmm
i know people who have fought in amateur events in florida. im not very smart so i wont think on it
im not impressed with your performance
by troy145 on
Dec 22, 2008 10:30 AM EST
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You may be thinking of “smokers”, which Florida is trying to get rid of by sanctioning amateur fights. I am by no means an expert on that, but it’s the impression I got from this article.
by mythbuster on
Dec 22, 2008 11:43 AM EST
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I live in florida and i know xfc has amateur events
by cmcbeast on
Dec 22, 2008 2:08 PM EST
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As a Floridian trying to get into MMA I think this is pretty awesome.
by Discman2 on
Dec 22, 2008 2:27 PM EST
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Not sure what the changes are?
I’ve seen UWC, RFC, XFC and a ton of others in Florida. So I am under the same impression with Troy145…
by Fight Genius on
Dec 22, 2008 5:50 PM EST
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RFC, UWC, XFC
All of them are professional MMA promotions… there has not been any amateur mma in florida since the boxing commission started regulating the MMA many years ago.
by RPC on
Dec 22, 2008 6:04 PM EST
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Correct except there have been amateur MMA events, just not those regulated by the state. And I’m guessing those were all underground events.
by Luke Thomas on
Dec 22, 2008 7:04 PM EST
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Is Troy Waugh the ref that’s always asking the judges if they’re ready before the fight? I think that’s him – on BodogFight it was almost ridiculous – before every round he’d point to one judge, “Are you ready?” then the next, then the next, then one fighter, then the other fighter, and finally do this hand clap/football spike move. Always got on my nerves.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones
by jemaleddin on
Dec 23, 2008 10:07 AM EST
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![A little publicity for me today in the Washington City Paper. To wit:
But listening to Kinard, it sounds like management has decided Thomas can transcend his surroundings.
"We thought we’d experiment with some different kinds of shows last year, and of all of them, MMA Nation is the only one that lasted," Kinard says. "I wasn’t aware of anybody else doing [an MMA show]. And [in April] he outperformed our normal weekend ratings by more than double. We started out thinking this has the potential to be a nationally syndicated show, and that’s still our plan. You see MMA all over the place on TV, so why not on the radio?"
I hate to be over the top with the self-promotion, but no one is going to hand me the job and career I'm after. I want to work in MMA full time and the fact is I have to make it happen for myself. Thank you to everyone who has ever shown me an ounce of support towards the pursuit of that dream.
Onward and upward.](http://cdn0.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/54844/1244671916_m_cheap-1_small.jpg)









