Proponents for mixed martial arts, cage fighting, and boxing want a regulatory commission in South Dakota. To that end, they’ve proposed Senate Bill 84, establishing a legislature-appointed commission to promulgate rules for the sports. Opponents say the sports are violent, and that it’s not the legislature’s place to appoint a policy-setting body.
Representative Dean Schremp has been a boxer and referee for decades. He tells the House Commerce Committee that South Dakota is losing the opportunity to host professional boxing matches.
“As of now you can’t even bring professional fighting into the state because we have no rules, no regulations,” he says. “I’ve been going up to North Dakota and refereeing professional boxing, but you have to go out of the state.”
Schremp and other advocates say regulations bring safety.
Sioux Falls attorney David Martin says he represents mixed martial artists who compete professionally. He says current matches in South Dakota are unregulated fistfights, not a disciplined sport.
“So by regulating it, we would put in place the necessary means that would eliminate 99 percent of the promoters that are throwing these fights in the state of South Dakota today,” Martin says.
Proponents say regulations would require blood tests to check for pathogens, insurance for fighters, contract enforcement, safety measures, and fair compensation.
Representative Steve Hickey opposes the bill and offers an amendment. He proposes establishing a commission on boxing and banning mixed martial arts and cage fighting.
“Who knows what mixed martial arts will mix in next, as what’s presently offered is insufficient to draw the crowds,” Hickey says. “Sooner or later this morphs into what it is today, and it will morph into something else tomorrow. That is the nature of violence. It escalates as we are desensitized to it.”
Governor Dennis Daugaard also opposes the violence. That testimony comes from Kim Olson, who tells the committee that the governor is concerned that there’s no funding in the bill to cover the costs of the commission.
The committee ultimately approves Daugaard’s alternate proposal, to return appointment power to his office.
The bill now goes back to the Senate for consideration of the amendment.