Indiana is one of two midwestern states that do not regulate mixed martial arts, and both fighters and fans are losing out

You guys ready to see some guys get their asses kicked tonight?" Robert Snodgrass asks. The crowd, gathered around a square cage inside Have A Nice Day Cafe, cheers. It's a Wednesday night, and the Downtown club is playing host to Battleground, a mixed martial arts promotion for inexperienced amateur fighters. Snodgrass, tonight's master of ceremonies, calls the competitors to the cage.

Ten fights are on tonight's card, including two four-man tournaments. Tonight's show is the 18th in a series hosted by promoter Cleo Sutherland. Sutherland matched the competitors according to experience, which couldn't have been too difficult, considering that most of them have never fought competitively before. The matches pass quickly, with guys flailing wildly at each other, and end mostly in the first round by tapout or referee stoppage. The bouts are separated by long stretches of throbbing hip-hop and the gyrations of dancers from a local strip club.

The 10th and final match sees light heavyweight Scott Robertson knock Gabe Holmes unconscious in just 4 seconds. Holmes lies unresponsive for several minutes while Sutherland's staff paramedics tend to him. He gradually comes to, begins speaking, and makes his way out of the cage under his own power, but there is no doctor present to determine if he needs to go to the hospital and no ambulance there to transport him. Sutherland said an ambulance was on call, but where possible head injuries are concerned, minutes matter.

It may have been a scary situation, but no laws were broken. Unlike boxing, MMA is not regulated in the state. "Right now Indiana is kind of the Wild West (of MMA) said John McCane, chairman of the Indiana State Boxing Commission.

Bernie Profato is even more pointed in his view. "Somebody is going to get hurt or killed," said the executive director of the Athletic Commission of the state of Ohio. Ohio began regulating the sport in 2005, and Profato is recognized as a leader in the move to legitimize mixed martial arts.

Without regulations in place, promoters can hold events without securing adequate medical insurance or providing appropriate care, they say. (Statistics on MMA-related injuries in Indiana are not available, because no such records are kept.) According to McCane, the lack of regulation allows amateur fighters from regulated states to fight here as professionals, and professionals can cross state lines to fight amateurs.

Fighters from Indiana can flip-flop between amateur and professional status from week to week, as in the case of Gabe Holmes, the fighter knocked unconscious at Have a Nice Day Cafe. The Battleground card was stocked with amateur fighters, but Holmes has a professional record dating back two years.

There also is no agency to uphold standards pertaining to the use of performance-enhancing or recreational drugs, and no way to prevent fighters from fighting several times in a month or more than once in a single night.

This "Wild West" atmosphere allows promoters to "cut corners that should not be cut," said Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran and Indianapolis native Chris Lytle, who thinks that regulation is "desperately needed in the state." Lytle has watched the sport grow for almost 10 years, since he made his professional debut in 1999. He first fought for the UFC during the so-called "Dark Ages," when the company couldn't even air fights on pay-per-view TV.

Sanctioning is on the rise

The sport, once the bane of politicians, prudes and boxing commissioners, has come of age and enjoys sanctioning in 35 states. Indiana is one of only two Midwestern states that does not regulate MMA, along with Wisconsin. This increases the risks facing Indiana fighters, because regulation in surrounding states such as Illinois, Michigan and Ohio has caused unscrupulous promoters to cross the border and produce shows there that wouldn't pass muster in other states. Not only that, it deprives the state of the economic rewards of hosting big-league fights, some experts say.

Mixed martial arts is commonly regarded as the "next big thing," but in many ways the sport has already arrived. According to Jeff Malott, an Indiana representative of the International Sports Combat Federation, approximately 10 professional boxing events were staged in Indiana between Jan. 1 and Oct. 10. By contrast, Malott is aware of 147 mixed martial arts events that were held in the state during the same period.

UFC pay-per-view events nationwide averaged almost 13,000 spectators from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, including a crowd of 15,300 at the March 1 show in Columbus, Ohio. Pay-per-view buys for UFC events are routinely in the several hundreds of thousands, and those buys include casinos and large sports bars that host crowds of hundreds for the weekend broadcasts. The Fox and Hound English Pub & Grille in Castleton regularly hosts UFC PPVs; according to Lisa Holverson, events coordinator at the Northside bar, the events routinely draw a couple hundred patrons.

In fact, if you look at the past three years of UFC programming on Spike TV -- including Fight Night, the Ultimate Fighter reality show and the highlight show UFC Unleashed -- the UFC consistently attracts more young male viewers than any other cable programming it's up against.

And those young men buy tickets when the UFC comes to town. At UFC 88 in Atlanta on Sept. 6, thousands of fans lined up around Philips Arena holding tickets costing between $70 and several hundred dollars. They sported designer duds from MMA apparel companies like Affliction and Tapout that charge upward of $50 for a T-shirt. The UFC is producing its first economic-impact study for the state of New York, but Marc Ratner, the UFC's vice president of regulatory affairs, said anecdotal evidence points to an economic windfall to states that host UFC events.

For example, in Atlanta, he said, "between all the fighters and their corner people, our staff and all the television production, we had between 600 and 700 hotel room nights." Unlike fans who follow local sports franchises, MMA fans are accustomed to driving or flying cross-country to see their favorite fighters. UFC events in Ohio pull fans in from around the Midwest.

As the UFC has expanded its reach from Las Vegas to both coasts, it has enjoyed some of its greatest successes in the Midwest -- setting merchandise sales records at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, for example, and notching the highest gross ticket sales ever at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. According to Ratner, Indianapolis' facilities and local television ratings and pay-per-view buy rates make it an attractive destination for a UFC event.

Rick Fuson, chief operating officer of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the man in charge of booking events at Conseco Fieldhouse, said: "We have had ongoing discussions with all kinds of promoters about all kind of events including this one. That's no secret." But until regulations are put into place, the UFC won't proceed.

"The primary goal (of regulation) is to protect the fighter," said McCane of the Indiana State Boxing Commission (SBC). "The secondary goal is to protect the sport."

The SBC already has an extensive set of Laws & Regulations, but until recently was ill-prepared to oversee MMA. After all, it's difficult to shepherd a sport you don't understand. The commission chairman said that there is a learning curve for boxing officials. Ohio's Profato said he didn't even know what MMA stood for when he assumed responsibility for the athletic commission there.

But the SBC has been doing its homework by interacting with MMA promoters and sanctioning bodies at events around the Midwest. The result is a set of proposed changes to its Laws & Regulations that would allow it to regulate mixed martial arts competitions in the state. The 58-page document covers the minutiae of producing prizefighting events, but the most meaningful of the proposed revisions appears in Article 3, a new section dealing with mixed martial arts.

Among other things, the proposed changes would require:

• All promoters to be bonded, licensed, and insured.

• All professional fighters to be licensed and subject to suspension due to injury or positive drug tests.

• All promoters to provide adequate medical care, including a licensed ringside doctor, emergency oxygen, a stretcher and an ambulance.

The new regulations would also standardize weight classes and expectations for referees and judges. An inspector or deputy commissioner would be present at every event to ensure that everything is aboveboard.

Malott, of the International Sports Combat Federation, is reviewing the proposed changes and suggesting further revisions, such as the incorporation of amateur competition in the Laws & Regulations. Once revisions are complete, the SBC technically could begin regulating the sport immediately.

The problem is, there is no funding mechanism to pay for the increased administrative workload, though the regulations would establish a 5.percent tax on gate receipts to cover the cost of state oversight. It's a Catch-22 -- the SBC needs a UFC-sized show to generate tax revenue sufficient to cover the expense of regulating MMA, but the UFC won't come to Indiana until the sport is regulated.

Processing burden

Using Malott's numbers, the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, which issues boxing licenses, would be required to process at least 15 times as many promoter, fighter and referee license applications as it currently sees.

McCane is confident that a regulated sport would pay for itself, and possibly be a net contributor to the state fund, if the state attracts large MMA shows such as the UFC or one of its competitors.

UFC events generate gate receipts in excess of $1.million, and after UFC 88, Marc Ratner delivered a check for $115,000 to the Georgia State Athletic Commission.

The SBC would like to form a State Athletic Commission similar to Ohio's and have it placed under the authority of the Gaming Commission. But that would require a legislative act. McCane and Malott are hopeful that some action will be taken next year.

If a bill is introduced, it figures to have several influential supporters. State Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, held hearings on the possible regulation of MMA in 2006. "I have had a strong interest in the past. I haven't really talked with anyone in some time on this issue," said Wyss. "If (the SBC) has legislation, I'd be happy to look at it and possibly sponsor it."

The UFC has made strong pro-regulation pushes in states before and will again, if necessary. "We're just trying to grow the sport. If that means coming in to testify, we will do that," said Ratner. "Indiana is very important."

In the meantime, not much will change. Some promoters will hire Malott to serve as a commissioner of sorts, look over their shoulders and make sure that everything is done aboveboard. Some will choose to lower costs where they can, cross their fingers and hope that nothing bad happens.

Malott hopes that fighters will simply stop competing for promoters who put them at risk. "Until regulation is there, if you've heard rumors about them (cutting corners), don't fight for 'em," he said.

TLDR: Indiana and MMA

Mixed martial arts is unregulated in Indiana, which means promoters can put on events without providing liability insurance, a ringside doctor or an ambulance, and fighters can flip-flop between amateur and professional status. Because surrounding states regulate the sport, sketchy promoters come here to produce more profitable events.

And without such regulations, the Ultimate Fighting Championship won't sponsor events here, though it would like to come to Indiana.

The State Boxing Commission is drafting new rules that would allow it to regulate MMA and protect fighters, but it needs a law to create a funding mechanism to make it happen.

There is support for such a bill in the General Assembly and elsewhere, but nothing can be done until the next legislative session. If you have an opinion about MMA regulation, contact your local legislator at www.in.gov/legislative/