Bill Would Allow "Ultimate Fighting" in SC

One of the fastest-growing sports in popularity is illegal in South Carolina, but that would change under a bill that will be debated Wednesday in a Senate subcommittee. Mixed martial arts is best known as "ultimate fighting", which is actually a trademark of the sport's biggest promoter, Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Thirty-three states allow mixed martial arts competitions, including North Carolina and Georgia. More and more states are allowing it after the sport cleaned up its image with stricter rules to protect fighters.

The sport is also spreading quickly because of exposure on television. With pay-per-view bouts and sold-out arenas, the draw for states is obvious.

"Financially, we're talking millions--millions of dollars not only in ticket sales but also in restaurants, hotels. It's going to boost the economy," says Michael Tyler, chairman of the South Carolina State Athletic Commission.

The Ohio Athletic Commission estimates that a recent competition in Columbus meant between $11 million and $13 million to the local economy.

The sport has been criticized as bloody and barbaric. But Mike Mursch, attorney for Ultimate Fighting Championship, says no one has ever died as the result of a mixed martial arts competition. However, twelve people nationwide have died after Toughman boxing competitions, which are allowed in South Carolina.

He says that's because of the difference between the fighters.

"I don't think there's any comparison at all. UFC athletes are professional athletes. They train 6-8 hours a day every day. Toughman is more you pull somebody out of the audience, put some gloves on them and they slug it out," he says. There's also no medical testing of fighters before a match, as there is with UFC, he says.

One of the Toughman competitors who died was Stacy Young, a 30-year-old mother from Florida who had never boxed before. She was talked into trying it when a local competition had only one female boxer. But she was hit in the head repeatedly during the match, collapsed on the mat and died a few days later in the hospital.

The bill a Senate subcommittee will consider requires all fighters to be licensed and to undergo complete physicals before a match.

Mursch says Ultimate Fighting Championship has already toured the Colonial Center in Columbia and it's the kind of venue the promoter would like to use. It holds about 18,000 people and the state would get 5 percent of the ticket sales.

But the bill is fighting the calendar. It hasn't passed yet in the House or Senate, and there are only four weeks left in the legislative session.