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Hawaii
MMA UFC Event Regulations May Begin to Roadblock the
Popular Sport
By Reed K.
Although MMA has been long popular in the Hawaiian
islands, the State of Hawaii will now impose full
sanctions and license events with rules similar to the
Nevada State Athletic Commission. With this move it
seemed to have opened the door to bring the UFC to
Hawaii but with the heavy taxes and licensing fees on
promoters it seems to have a negative effect instead of
a positive.
UFC president Dana White is now hesitant to put on a UFC
in Hawaii. With the economy downturn we need to find
ways for promoters to want to continue to put on MMA
events in Hawaii. UFC and MMA is very popular in Hawaii
and with BJ Penn demolishing Diego Sanchez in UFC
107 it should get even more popular. When will be the
next major event for MMA in Hawaii? Who knows now with
all these sanctions.
If UFC were to come to Hawaii with BJ Penn on the card
it will be a sure sellout crowd standing room only and
pay per view sales would also be popular with Hawaii
residents. It would be awesome. Come on Dane White by
putting on a UFC event in Hawaii I'm sure promoters will
follow in your footsteps and hold events rather than
getting cold feet.
These sanctions will have a major impact in MMA but we
all hope that the regulatory sanctions does not
roadblock this growing sport.
There has been a lot of commentary that this will drive
the sport out of business. Many people agree with this
and we need people to band together and approach State
lawmakers to see if a compromise can be made. The
easiest alternative to this would be to get rid of these
sanctions but this will never happen since it's State
law already. A more negotiable compromise would be to
tax promoters based on net profit from the event instead
of a set amount in the beginning.
We shall see in the coming years if the sport remains
stable or goes on a downturn. |
