Sanctioning MMA in Ontario is Another Step Toward Education and Safety

Mixed Martial Arts in Ontario has taken another important step forward with the announcement yesterday that amatuer MMA bouts will be sanctioned in the province. This means that kids growing up learning the discipline and skills of the budding and hugely popular sport will have a place to have fun and compete.

Kickboxing Ontario has been sanctioned as the govering body for amatuer MMA in Ontario allowing it to organize and regulate the growing sport.

Last year, the government allowed professional MMA into the province for the first time, and the premier promotion The Ultimate Fighting Championship debuted to 55,000 people at the Rogers Center in April. It must be stressed that the rules under amatuer MMA will be very different than those of the rules in the professional leagues.

In an article on The Globe and Mail Online, Kickboxing Ontario spokesman Rob Foote says Kickboxing Ontario will manage the sport in ontario with only light contact withan array of rules designed to foster safety. “This is a way to brng an unsanctioned sport at the amatuer level under the auspices of a regulating body. That meas there is a framework to ensure that th esport will be able to better protect and provide safety, rules, training and proper coaching.”

The entry level AMMA discipline occurs on mats resembling those used for judo and karate. When athletes in AMMA go to the mat, no hits to the head are allowed.

“Because of the stuff shown on TV, kids are interested,” Foote said. “But MMA is completely separate. This is not the kind of thing where the professionals get the guy and are pounding him on the ground. In [the AMMA], you win a bout by winning on points.”

This is a very nice step for amatuer MMA in Ontario as is goes a long way towards ensuring the safety of those wanting to participate in this exciting and growing sport. It also appoints responsibility to a govering body to enfore accountability for the sport.