Bring back MMA?

Mixed Martial Arts has come a long way since it started more than two decades ago, and one Vernon city councillor thinks the city should revisit its ban on the popular sport.

Kelly Fehr brought the idea of lifting the ban before council, prompting civic leaders to look into the matter.

MMA was banned in Vernon several years ago at the urging of police, claiming it was intertwined with organized crime, but a local MMA coach said that is no longer the case and MMA has evolved into a respected form of competition.

Unity Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing head coach and owner Raja Kler said the sport is different now than it used to be.

“It's probably the most regulated sport out there – amateur and professional,” said Kler. “If you want to have a hockey game you don't have to have a doctor on site, you don't have to do a health check before the game and a health check after the game and that just amateur.”

Kler said in the past, MMA was “kind of like the Wild West it has completely turned around.”

Kler pointed out matches must go through the BC Athletic Commission and there is just no room for the criminal element in the sport.

“It's regulated through a governing provincial body so you can not even get your promoters license if you have a criminal background,” said Kler. “It's pretty well regulated now.”

Kler said to get a license to put on even an amateur fight “is kind of an undertaking in itself.”

But he agrees with the strict rules and regulations placed on promoters and fighters.

Coun. Akbal Mund said MMA fights are held in many other BC communities and that gang activity in the sport is no longer the case.

Council did not agree to lift the ban as proposed by Fehr, but staff will look into the matter as well as discussing it with RCMP.