Combative Sports Commission holds first meeting of 2010

The need for more oversight and access to information about mixed martial arts fighters was the main topic of conversation at Tuesday night's meeting of the Minnesota Combative Sports Commission.

The question on hand was if the MCSC should start requiring MMA fighters to have a federal ID like boxers currently do. In addition, the commission discussed whether promoters should be required to use the a national MMA database to check on the status of fighters on their card.

There have always been problems of fighters being suspended in one state by a commission and then being booked to fight in Minnesota without anyone knowing about their suspension, or vice versa. Also there was some confusion recently when a fighter from another state was booked to fight in the Twin Cities and the commission was not sure he should be licensed because there was a conflict between the information he supplied and the record and weight listed on the internet. It turned out he had the same name as another fighter from the same city, but without a federal idea number they couldn't confirm who he was until he arrived at the building for the weigh in.

With the Federal ID, each individual fighter will have his or her own number, eliminating such confusion. Promoters can also use the ID number instead of a social security number for their 1099's if they did not get the SSN at the time of the fight.

The commission decided to start requiring the IDs for anyone fighting in Minnesota and will issue them to fighters at no cost to the combatant. They decided to wait and see how this system works out before setting a mandatory deadline for requiring all fighters to have the IDs.

They also decided to require all promoters to list their shows in the national MMA database at mixedmartialarts.com. This would allow both the promoters and the commission to easily check on a fighter's record as well as their medical status in other states. The commission hopes to cut down on the number of fighters who are fighting in Minnesota while suspended in another state. Currently, there is no way to check a fighter's status except to do a search of their name on each individual state's website, which is time consuming for the office administrator.

The commission also hoped this would give them more information when looking into potential match-ups, since free databases such as Sherdog.com's don't always have complete information.

Also on the agenda, the Legislative sub-committee informed the commission its priorities for the upcoming legislative session would be to ask the legislature for more statutory authority and the ability to levy fines.

Currently, any investigation by the commission into a complaint has to be accompanied by a separate investigation by the Attorney's General office and by the administrative law judge.

Commissioner R.D. Brown said he felt this is too long of a process and by the time it is completed, people have forgotten about why they were trying to take action in the first place. The commission can only take action by themselves to suspend someone for medical reasons and can not discipline fighters, promoters and such for rules violations without going through the other offices. They would like to see this changed so swifter action can take place.

Also, they would like authority to levy fines for things such as unsanctioned events which still take place in Minnesota. The commission itself cannot stop an event and is beholden to local law enforcement to be willing to stop an illegal event, which they are not always willing to do.

The state statues says holding an unlicensed event is a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of up to $10,000, but the cost of paying for the AG to do an investigation prohibits the commission from being able to go after these events. They would like to have the authority to fine promoters without going through the Attorney General's offic. The commission also appointed its newest member, the Honorable Terry Dempsey to the Legislative sub-committee due to his experience as a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

The Commission also discussed the idea of requiring amateur MMA fighters to use a seven-ounce glove instead of the standard four- or six-ounce gloves which are usually used. Promoter and fighter Brock Larson told the commission bigger gloves would give competitors more material to grab for a submission. Gravenish told the commission she had concerns about fighters taking more strikes to the head because fighters would have more protection on their hand and be less afraid of hurting themselves. She said she had been told the seven-ounce gloves offered less support for a fighter's wrist and could lead to more injuries. In the end, the commission decided against making any changes at this time.

The meeting closed with Gravenish bringing up three proposals for the commission to look at. The first idea was to have MMA inspectors take part in weigh ins the day before the fight to relieve the commissioners of the burden of having to race to the weigh ins after work and to provide additional assistance to the commissioners trying to conduct the weigh in by themselves. The commission discussed this idea but decided with their current budgetary concerns, they could not afford to pay inspectors to attend weigh ins and all commissioners should make more of an effort to be available to help with weigh-ins. Also, the commission would attempt to have two commissioners at every weigh in instead of one.

Gravenish also wanted to discuss the way inspections are currently handled at cage side. Gravenish questioned if commissioners should be the ones doing the inspections or if it should fall on the inspectors to do the job. Commissioner Craig Gallop told the commission they currently do not have enough inspectors on staff to allow them to have on inspector to be assigned strictly to cage side and the commissioners do it because no one else is available. "You have to do whatever you have to do [to make an event go fourth,]" Gallop said. "If I have to clear a toilet, I'll clean a toilet."

Brown said the problem was there are currently only about 11 total inspectors employed by the state. With the on-going hiring freeze, the commission is unable to hire more people to fulfill all the necessary roles. He said they need at least five inspectors at an event as it is. Sometimes when someone cancels at the last minute, they are stuck trying to do a show with only three inspectors because is all that is available, he added.

Gravenish also suggest that the agenda for the meetings be more in-depth so that commissioners could better prepare for meetings ahead of time, and stated she will be overseeing that as the new secretary for the commission.

At this point the commission adjourned. They then held a closed door meeting to discuss a grievance they had received.

Governor suggests cutting MNCSC budget again:

The commission will face tougher times this year as Governor Tim Pawlenty's budget proposal calls for a five-percent cut in the commission's budget over two years.

According to the Governor's plan, "Combative Sports will reduce various operating expenses and utilize unobligated account balances in special revenue fund."