South Dakota Governor Moves to Sign MMA Bill Into Law
Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.18.2013
Even if he isn’t a fan…
- While not completely accepting of MMA, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard won't stand in the way of creating a state athletic commission to regulate boxing, kickboxing and MMA. In a recent interview, Daugaard stated the following…
"One thing I've learned about this cagefighting, it's going on now, and it's going on in an unregulated fashion. I know some of the proponents of this bill made the argument that regulating it would create more safety than exists today, and I have to agree that's true."
But that doesn't mean he thinks of MMA as a sport…
"Would I like this kind of thing to not occur at all in South Dakota? I would, yes. It doesn't deserve the word sport in my mind."
Recently the South Dakota legislature passed the bill by a 50-20 vote. One senator had suggested an amendment to allow other combat sports and ban MMA, which he compared to child porn in a blog posting. But Sen. Mark Johnston, who originally sponsored the bill, said that set a dangerous precedent and didn't serve to protect athletes' safety.
The South Dakota Athletic Commission will be created when the law goes into effect on July 1st.
