The passing of Bill S-209 was a monumental step forward for mixed martial arts in Canada and it will open up new opportunities in smaller markets across the country, according to the director of operations for the UFC in Canada, Australia and New Zealand Tom Wright.
Though it won’t dramatically change things for provinces like Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, which often host MMA events, it will have an impact on markets that don’t have a rich history with the sport.
“Where the impact really occurs is in places like Saskatchewan where they were on the fence a bit waiting to see what was going to happen with the Criminal Code issue and now that that has clarity they’ll be able to proceed,” Wright told UFC Central Radio on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.
Wright hopes Saskatchewan chooses to regulate MMA events provincially, rather than throughout individual municipalities, because that would be consistent with most of the other provinces. It would also provide the type of consistent regulatory environment that Wright feels is ideal.
The bill was an amendment to Section 83(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada, regulating prize fighting that clarifies the propriety of promoting MMA throughout Canada.
Section 83 of the Criminal Code had not been updated since 1934.
The former Canadian Football League commissioner added that the UFC is not planning any events in places like Saskatchewan, Edmonton, Calgary or B.C. in the near future — meaning at least not in 2013 — though it’s the organization’s goal to one day hold events in all these prime Canadian markets.
Still, even though the UFC may not be flocking to every possible Canadian location right away, Bill S-209 means that smaller organizations can hold sanctioned events across the country, which will grow the sport in Canada.
MMA went through a two-year trial period in B.C., where the sport was legal – the UFC held events in Vancouver in 2010 and 2011 — but that has since expired and the UFC has yet to return.
“In British Columbia it just sort of clears up a lot of the ambiguity,” Wright said.
“The process of change in B.C. had already started. Bill-50 was passed in the Victoria legislature last summer and they appointed a new commissioner and that individual is actually in place, effective the last week of May and actually is coming to UFC 161 in Winnipeg. We’re over the hill there.”
Getting Bill S-209 into the House of Commons and having it passed was the culmination of years of hard work.
“Even though MMA is an individual sport, getting the Criminal Code changed was absolutely a team effort,” Wright said.
“We’ve had people from Rory MacDonald to Mark Hominick up in Ottawa to help us talk to Senators and Members of Parliament from all the different parties and we finally got it over the goal line, to use a football metaphore, so I’m quite happy about it.
“It wasn’t the easiest process … but sometimes good things take time. It wasn’t a matter of if; it was a matter of when.
In addition to MMA legislation clearing things up in Canada, the state of Connecticut also legalized MMA, leaving New York as the only state/province in North America where mixed martial arts is not legal.
Hey I have a question for everyone, who looks stupid on this map? twitter.com/danawhite/stat…
— Dana White (@danawhite) June 6, 2013
Wright, who was instrumental in getting MMA legalized in Canada, won’t be heavily involved in the battle to get MMA into New York.
“We help a bit where we can, in terms of connecting people with other people where we can, but that’s largely an effort that’s led out of Las Vegas (by UFC president Dana White and chairman Lorenzo Fertitta),” explained Wright, who described the situation with MMA legalization in New York also as not a matter of if, but when it will happen.
