Regulations come with a whimper

June 30, 2009

Remember when there was so much talk about regulating mixed martial arts in Hawaii? How necessary it was to legitimize the sport. How it was needed to bring the UFC and hometown hero B.J. Penn back for a fight at Aloha Stadium?

Well, tomorrow is the official date new regulations will be in place to legally sanction MMA events in Hawaii.

And suddenly nobody seems to care.

With the way the economy is today, it doesn’t seem likely StrikeForce will pony up the necessary funds to bring a show out to Hawaii in the near future. As of the last time I talked to UFC President Dana White, he was still adament that he wouldn’t be bringing an event to Hawaii soon as was once hoped.

T. Jay Thompson, the man behind SuperBrawl, Icon Sport and now KINGDOM MMA, has run exactly two shows over the last year, and neither one created the excitement or intensity that filled the arena circa 2005 and 2006.

Mike Miller and X-1 are still doing shows in small venues, but haven’t had an event at the Blaisdell since May of last year.

J.D. Penn and the Rumble on the Rock crew seem perfectly content to hve small Beatdown shows in Hilo.

Basically, the sold out and 5-6,000+ crowds attending MMA shows in Hawaii is all but dead. The Robbie Lawler’s and Frank Trigg’s of the world are making big enough salaries now that it doesn’t make financial sense for local promoters to bring these guys back for events with much lesser revenues.As much time as Jason “Mayhem” Miller spends here, his fight with Kala Hose in Hawaii could be his last here since the Japanese promotion DREAM is paying him much better money than he’s seen here.

With the big-name draws fighting for more money than ever, significant cost increases for promoters trying to have fights in Hawaii under the new regulations, and a downturn in the economy all playing key roles, the only MMA you probably will be seeing will be amateur events, since those are much cheaper to put on.

Nobody is going to tell you that regulating MMA is a bad thing. It had to be done. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s going to mean MMA will get a “second wind” in the islands.

If big crowds, a crazy atmosphere, and legitimate professional MMA fights are what you’re looking for, hold out hope that Dana White decides it’s worth it to put on a fight here. Hold out hope that Scott Coker at StrikeForce does well enough that he thinks he can put on a show here that will net him significant gains instead of big losses.

Because other than that, the future of high-profile MMA in Hawaii looks bleak. And all these sanctions and regulations that go into effect tomorrow may rarely ever come into play.

Pretty sad for a state that at one time was the biggest hotbed for MMA in the entire country.

Posted in Fights