Unlike the gladiators of the Roman times, the modern day MMA or Cage Fighter in Britain never intends to fight to the death. However without Government regulation it will only be a matter of time before someone contracts AIDS or deadly disease through lack of mandatory testing that causes a death or the subsequent end of a fighter’s career.
Therefore UK MMA fighters, unlike professional boxers or athletes, are nothing more than modern day gladiators, training daily for combat and the honour and respect of the cheering crowds, with little financial reward, and the dream of freedom by signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC with its own official rules and where MMA is regulated across 43 states in North America. Needless to say the sport in the UK is way behind the USA in terms of regulation and health & safety.
The G4 MMA Fighters management agency was founded in July 2009 with a clear set of objectives, to:
Emphasise professional ethics among fighters and promoters
Embrace a regulatory Board of Control in the future, making MMA safer for the fighters
Help UK fighters elevate to the UFC and generate sponsorship
Become the No 1 MMA Fighter agency in the UK within two years
The initial activity was to lobby the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the time, and the Minister of Sport with a call for action to formalise an MMA Board of Control. A year later shows no progress in terms of an official governing body with regulations and external governance for the following:
Set of official Rules & Regulations
Licensing Committee for Fighters, Officials and Promoters
Health & Safety committee
Promoter & Fighter Contracts
Means for mandatory Blood & Drug testing
Disciplinary Committee
Medical Board with Chief Doctor
Archives and Records and Ranking system
Lack of regulation prompts major fears, as the fighters have no way of knowing:
If their opponent has AIDS, HIV or Hepatitis or used abusive substances
How many official fights they’ve actually had and who their opponents were
Difficulty progressing to the top as there is no ranking system or official title belts
Therefore, the sport needs action from the Government in recognising MMA as an official sport, by appointing a representative with a Board of Control and a clear mandate from the Ministry of Sport. It would be unthinkable for G4 MMA Fighters or any single UK private company to attempt to regulate the sport, due to conflicts of interest.
The UFC President Dana White was able to exhume the UFC and regulate the sport with 43 of the Athletic State Commissions, even after the US presidential candidate John McCain branded the sport as “human cockfighting” and banned UFC broadcasts on TV. This proves its not impossible to replicate the work of the UFC by regulating the sport here in the UK, but it desperately needs help from the media. So G4 MMA Fighters will continue to campaign for regulation so that our gladiators can become recognised sportsmen with strict conditions and a safer environment.
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