Politics & Government

Mixed Martial Arts Approved For Connecticut

Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a bill this week that allows the sport.

Written by Eileen McNamara

Mixed martial arts competitions can come to Connecticut, following the governor's approval this week of a bill allowing the state to regulate the sport. 

Mixed martial arts, a spectator sport that combines boxing, wrestling and other forms of contact fighting, is allowed in virtually every other state in the country. Promoters have been lobbying in Connecticut and New York, the last holdouts to allow the competitions, to legalize it in their states. 

A bill to do so died in the Connecticut legislature last year following opposition by state unions, which have been involved in a labor dispute with one of the sport's biggest promoters, according to the blog Capitol Watch.

Lawmakers this year approved the bill in the last hours of the 2013 general assembly session, the blog reports. The measure allows the state to tax and regulate mixed martial arts matches, allows state inspectors into professional venues and to develop rules for competitions.


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