Coker Not Against Ali Act Coming To MMA

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker recently commented on the idea of bringing the Ali Act to MMA.

He talked to BloodyElbow about the idea and had this statement:

“I think it’s a pretty good idea. But like many good ideas, getting it from an idea to actuality will be a long process – it’s not going to happen overnight.”

“A little bit of history here is in order: The Ali Act, is a federal law that was introduced in 1999 and enacted on May 26, 2000 in response to widespread abuse of professional boxers. The Act amends the 1996 Professional Boxing Safety Act by expanding upon it to protect boxers against exploitation, conflict of interest, enforcement, as well as to provide a mechanism for additional amendments. I am not a lawyer, but I don’t think the ABC has the authority to expand the Ali Act to MMA, it would require an actual amendment from Congress. At one time, a few years back, Senator John McCain introduced a bill to amend the Ali Act to include MMA, however, some strong lobbying efforts (by someone) managed to stall that process and I believe it was abandoned. But hey, if all of the planets aligned and there was a concerted effort to change things, I think I would be in favor of it – in fact, I think they should call it the Randy Couture Act.”

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