Here’s an interesting story that could open the proverbial can of worms legally–MMA fighter and Oregon State House candidate Matt “The Law” Lindland is claiming that UFC contracts are illegal under the Muhammad Ali Safety Act (also known as the Ali Boxing Reform Act):

“The UFC contracts are illegal. Based on the Muhammad Ali (Safety) Act, you cannot be the promoter and the manager at the same time. If they are telling you who and when you are going to fight, they are the manager as well as the promoter.”

The immediately apparent legal tussle here is whether MMA is under this act’s jurisdiction at all. You can make a good case that it isn’t for obvious reasons–they’re two different sports. You could also make a pretty compelling case that they should be, since in most states the same regulatory bodies oversee both sports. They also go by the same set of rules to a large extent–most stipulate that fact unless ‘otherwise specified’.

This is just more of the war between the UFC’s promotion centric business model and the ‘fighter centric’ model espoused by Affliction, DREAM, etc. A very interesting issue, however, and one that we’ll be keeping an eye on.

Matt Lindland claims UFC contracts are illegal @ 411 Mania