Cuki Alvarez, promoter of Trench Tench Purebred Saipan said he has asked the 161 MMA fighters in the CNMI to attend the public hearing and he hopes that as many of them as possible will speak their minds about the legislation.
He said he called and emailed all the fighters in his list, so he should be expecting a good turn out in the public hearing.
The House Standing Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations set the public hearing at 9 a.m., tomorrow to address House Local Bill 16-26 that seeks to establish unarmed combat sport and athletic commission Act.
Committee chairwoman, Rep. Rosemond B. Santos R-Saipan, invited Alvarez to attend and submit his testimony.
Alvarez said that he is willing to deliver his own input to the bill and ready to come into a compromise.
He said he does not oppose the creation of a commission to regulate MMA but he also does not support the bill in its current form.
Introduced by Rep. Stanley T. Torres, R-Saipan, HLB 16-26 will create a medical advisory board that will set the standard for physical and mental examination of fight contestants and a Saipan local athletic commission that will have jurisdiction over all exhibitions of unarmed combat on Saipan.
The HLB 16-26 will require MMA fighters, corner men and promoters, licenses and insurance policies to hold fight events.
And prior to the granting of license, the measure also requires the applicants to file a bond in an amount to be fixed by the Commission but not less than $10,000.
The bill also gives the Commission the authority to fix uniform scale of license fees. The body may also require an applicant to pay for investigative costs and attorneys fees.
The Commission will also charge every promoter $1,000 fee for a permit that will be issued during every MMA event.
Regulating MMA in the CNMI is fine with him, Alvarez said but the House bill being prepared is making the increasingly patronized sports, very costly and laborious for the organizers and fighters.
Even the creation of Commission, he said is okay with him but not in a way it is giving the panel an authority to charge so many fees.
Alvarez said the bill in its current form which he believes is patterned after Nevada’s MMA regulation, is not going to work on Saipan.
