Good news out of the Keystone State where Pennsylvania has become the latest to join the rest of us in the 21st century and regulate MMA:

Pennsylvania has joined the growing number of states to allow Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, events, now that the State Athletic Commission has approved final regulations for the sport, Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes announced today. The new regulations take effect Feb. 27, 2009.

“I commend the work of the State Athletic Commission on the regulations, which were crafted to ensure participant and spectator safety,” Cortes said. “These efforts will assure licensure and testing of participants for communicable diseases, as well as require emergency medical care and insurance for participants. Regulation of the sport also will help ensure that events are orderly and crowd control is maintained.”

Cortes noted that MMA has actively sought regulation. Pennsylvania joins a growing number of states, including New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, California, Nevada and Florida that permit Mixed Martial Arts.

The State Athletic Commission anticipates regulating four to five MMA events per month, which may generate as much as $80,000 per year in revenue for the commission. As a self-supporting entity, the State Athletic Commission receives no taxpayer dollars from the state’s General Fund.

The only thing I’d quibble with in this press release blurb is the verbiage that implies that only a few states have legalized MMA:

Pennsylvania joins a growing number of states, including New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, California, Nevada and Florida that permit Mixed Martial Arts.

Actually, its a case where only a few states *don’t* permit MMA. Pennsylvania is behind the curve in regulating the sport, but better late than never. The sham in all of this is that in the states where MMA remains unregulated its a case of hysterics winning out over reality. It’s comical that boxing is legal, karate is legal, jiu jitsu is legal, judo is legal, etc. but when you put them all together into MMA that’s somehow bad.

Pennsylvania regulates MMA (press release) @ PR Newswire