SAN JOSE, Calif., March 10 — For many Californians like Nelson “Doc” Hamilton, tonight’s historic “Shamrock vs. Gracie” card is the culmination of an effort that at times seemed destined to drown in red tape and the words of unsympathetic politicians.
As someone who worked tirelessly to bring regulated mixed martial arts to the Golden State, his pessimism seems understandable.
From April 2000 until December 2005 — when MMA finally became legal in California — proposed regulations that would have given the state’s athletic commission jurisdiction to regulate the sport failed several times, almost especially when they appeared to be a sure thing.
Twice commission-approved rules couldn’t get past the Governor’s desk and a third time they fell dead in the Budget Finance Committee.
And then there was the revolving door of ill-equipped political appointees manning the CSAC. Most infamous among them was Al Ducheny, who in proposing to outlaw any type of carotid-artery choke very nearly got judo banned in the state. Only after the head of U.S. Judo Federation responded to his recklessness did Ducheny pull a 180 and agree to the first set of proposed MMA regulations, which were sent to Sacramento in April ’00.
It was enough for even the most ardent Democrat to lean libertarian.
“After a while you gotta think, well I’m playing with people that are behind the scenes and things beyond my control. But I followed it through to the final conclusion and here we are,” said Hamilton, a resident of California since 1965.
“It’s like a delivery,” the longtime referee, judge and MMA ambassador quipped. “My children, both of them were delivered at home and I assisted in both deliveries. People go, ‘Why? Oh God why?’ I was there at the beginning and I want to be there at the end. And that’s exactly what this feels like. Giving birth.”
Hamilton will be in the cage Friday when Frank Shamrock (Pictures) squares off in the night’s main event against Cesar Gracie (Pictures). Combined, the buzz created by California’s first legal MMA event and a solid card had, through Thursday evening, helped sell upwards of 16,000 tickets.
“You know, when we first started planning the show I was thinking 8-10,000,” said promoter Scott Coker, whose previous K-1 USA efforts in Las Vegas and Strikeforce shows in San Jose pale in comparison.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s different than kickboxing or K-1. But it could be a growing experience for everybody and I think at the end of the day we’re gonna do a great job, put on a great show and the fans are going to be happy.”
Outside of a Stanley Cup run from San Jose’s beloved Sharks, there’s little else from a sporting perspective that would seem to generate the sort of response this city has offered for Friday’s card.
The reaction to legal MMA in his hometown has been “humongous” said longtime fight trainer Javier Mendez, a resident of San Jose for 41 years.
Repeated requests for tickets were met with repeated denials from the former trainer of Frank Shamrock (Pictures) and Brian Johnston (Pictures). And with several of his fighters on the card, including co-headliner Cung Le (Pictures) and WWE veteran Daniel Puder (Pictures), the inquiries came often.
“It’s a combination of the first MMA show, the popularity of the sport and the fighters involved,” said Mendez, who began training here in 1985. “They’re all hometown fighters within an area of 50 miles of here and they’re all the best available that aren’t on contract. That’s what you need for a successful show and that’s what you have here.”
Yet CSAC Executive Officer Armando Garcia, himself largely unfamiliar with MMA and its unfortunate past with state bureaucrats before taking over as chief executive in the middle of 2005, warned that despite tonight’s groundbreaking event there are those who seek to destroy the sport before it gets off the ground.
“There’s a lot of people in California and in other states that don’t want this event to succeed,” Garcia told an attentive room. “That do not want MMA in the state of California. They do not like your sport.”
The former boxing referee from Florida emphasized that delays, should they materialize, were not “gonna happen on my watch.”
“During public comment we had no opposition at all as the whole process was going through,” Garcia told Sherdog.com. “Now, we’re getting some newspaper articles and some calls from other media outlets that are kind of looking at it negatively.”
Judging by purported ticket sales, negative press has done little but make “Shamrock vs. Gracie” an unmitigated success. And with potential for a sell-out crowd of around 18,000, Friday’s card is poised to shatter North American MMA attendance records.
If anything, California’s inclusion among the increasing number of states choosing to regulate the sport has given MMA its largest platform from which to hold events.
And with the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s pending April foray into Anaheim and a quick turnaround in May to the Staples Center, the Golden State, which doubles for one of the world’s largest economies, is set to surpass Nevada as MMA’s sought after destination for promoters.
Considering the great number of boxing cards California regulates each year and the potential for upwards of 40 MMA events over the next nine months, Garcia faces a serious dilemma that could hamstring him and the sport as things move forward.
“It’s still been a hell of a learning curve and from what I understand the commission is understaffed, which makes it much more difficult to do,” Hamilton noted. “But, you know, I’m thankful for the fact that we have an Executive Director that is on board and wants this sport to succeed. And this event proves that, because there’s an awful lot of things that could have happened at this event — that hopefully won’t — that would have derailed it.”
After holding events in California for over 20 years Coker was awarded the state’s first MMA license and won the right to be promoter to history. But that didn’t guarantee him and his partner, Silicon Valley Sports Entertainment, smooth sailing Thursday.
Last-minute card changes, missing paperwork and the general chaos that surrounds even medium-sized cards resulted in a slow and frustrating evening for fighters struggling with the effects of weight cutting.
“It hasn't met my expectations to be honest, organization-wise,” said Garcia, whose concern for appeasing promoters falls well short of his desire to get things right.
“I would have hoped that we would have gotten done many of the things that we’re still waiting for right here,” he continued. “It’s delayed the athletes. Delayed the weigh-ins. Delayed our paperwork. It’s a little frustrating for everybody on both sides of the table. I would have hoped that part of it would have been more organized.”
“I think that there’s going to be bumps along the road with anything new,” Coker said. “And this is new for all of them and this is the first time that we’ve worked with them for an MMA show. But it’s going to be fine.”
And you can be sure that no matter how frustrating Thursday’s weigh-in was for some, Hamilton — and others like him — was simply happy witnessing history instead of wishing it.