S.C. panel advances bill allowing MMA

South Carolina may as well regulate mixed martial arts contests and collect the money the fights could bring, since state residents already can watch the sport on TV, lawmakers said Wednesday.

"I don't think it's any more dangerous than football," said Sen. Lee Bright, R-Roebuck, noting some of his friends are "huge fans." He said he was shocked during a recent visit to the coast, as lines formed to get into a restaurant broadcasting a contest.

The increasingly popular sport combines elements of karate, judo, jujitsu and kickboxing. South Carolina law currently bans the fighting events. A contest was held at the Marines' training facility at Parris Island last October. But the state had no jurisdiction on the military installation.

The proposal, approved by a Senate panel after no one spoke against it, would lift the ban and put the sport under the regulation of the state Athletic Commission. The measure is set for a vote today in the full Senate Labor Commerce and Industry Committee. The House approved the bill in February.

The licensing of professional mixed martial artists would include physical exams, blood tests for HIV and other diseases, and drug testing.

Proponents say the sport has evolved from its no-holds-barred past, and South Carolina should share in the profits.

Beyond boosting the local economy through hotel stays, meals and other spending, officials say it would yield 5 percent of ticket receipts for the state Revenue Department and another 5 percent for the Athletic Commission.

South Carolina would join 37 other states that have approved mixed martial arts contests since New Jersey officials created formal rules for the sport in 2001, barring biting, eye gouging, head butts, finger bending and other fouls.

Sen. Jake Knotts, who initially proposed the measure last year, said legalizing and regulating the sport would be better than having residents "going in the back woods somewhere and getting hurt." The West Columbia Republican said illegal fights are occurring now.

Michael Mersch, an attorney for a major promoter of the sport, cited a report that said the injury rate in mixed martial arts contests held in Nevada from 2001 to 2004 — about 29 injuries per 100 contestants, with facial cuts the most common, followed by hand injuries — resembled the rate for other combat sports, such as boxing. But a lower knockout rate in mixed martial arts contests suggests a lesser chance of traumatic brain injury, according to the 2006 report from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

"Some of our biggest fans are here," said Mersch, who represents Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship. "Citizens can watch it any time they want. The only thing they can't do is see a live event."

Michael Tyler, chairman of the state Athletic Commission, said he gets calls weekly from groups wanting to promote a mixed martial arts event in South Carolina.

"It would be a huge economic impact, monetarily for the state," he said.