Ray Hui is MMAFighting.com's Editor
Last week, Massachusetts became the 42nd state to legalize mixed martial arts after Governor Deval Patrick signed the bill into law for the state to regulate the sport.In this FanHouse exclusive, we spoke to Joe Cavallaro, the promoter of the state’s leading promotion, World Championship Fighting, to find out the impact regulation will have on the Bay State and his promotion.
Massachusetts-based promoters and fighters alike are thrilled with the news Monday that legislature has passed a bill for the regulation of MMA in the state, opening the door for UFC events as early as Summer 2010.
Regulation legitimizes the sport for everyone involved, and the arrival of the UFC grants a number of local fighters within the promotion the opportunity to compete in front of family and friends.
MMA wasn’t illegal per se, but there was no governing body for the sport, and the UFC’s stance is to only promote events where there is regulatory body in the state. In the past couple of years, MMA has been most prominently promoted in Massachusetts through the work of Joe Cavallaro and his World Championship Fighting cards, which air on the Comcast SportsNet New England channel.
“The passing of the bill is great,” Cavallaro told FanHouse Tuesday. “We’re excited about it and actually lobbied with the UFC and their fighter Kenny Florian in front of the senate for the regulation to be passed. This bill changes the face of MMA in New England forever. I think it’s a great thing for the sport, the fans, and certainly all of the fighters.”
Mixed martial arts regulation is finally coming to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick today signed into law a bill, versions of which were previously approved by the House and Senate, that calls for the Massachusetts State Boxing Commission to become the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission and oversee MMA events.
The move opens the door for the UFC to host a long-anticipated event in Boston.
www.mmajunkie.com could not reach Massachusetts State Boxing Commission officials for clarification on the bill’s final details. Massachusetts, for example, may allow individual locales to determine whether or not they want to host MMA events. It’s also not known how quickly the state may be ready to begin its regulatory duties.
UFC president Dana White, though, immediately took to Twitter to express his pleasure over the coming state sanctioning.
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[Boston, MA] February 19th, 2009- World Championship Fighting, New England’s leading mixed martial arts promotion is pleased to announce that it has produced its first television program, WCF Rewind, which will debut on Comcast SportsNet New England on Sunday, March 1st at 6:30 PM. The show will be rebroadcast on Monday, March 2nd at 9:00 PM, and again on Sunday, March 8th at 9:30 PM.“Mixed martial arts is growing in popularity and WFC Rewind will give fans across New England a unique look at some of the region’s up and coming fighters,” said Bill Bridgen, Comcast SportsNet executive vice president and general manager.
