Press release: Recent laws and regulations changes

We're getting lots of questions regarding how the new state regulations and how they're going to affect the CVFA. With the new regulations, there won't be any difference between amateur and professional fighting events in the state of Iowa. This means that all fighters in the state of Iowa will hold a "professional fighter" status.

What does this mean for fighters in the state who are trying to get their foot in the door and try and make it somewhere in the sport of MMA? It means that you're pretty much out of luck unless you've spent countless hours in the gym or you're already a very scrappy and talented fighter.

There are many fighters in the state of Iowa who can consider themselves to be "professional." The only difference between professional and amateur fighters in the Iowa currently is whether or not you got paid to fight.

There are many "professional" fighters in the state who have no business stepping into the cage as a professional. It'd be the equivalent of a little league ball player stepping onto the field and playing with the Chicago Cubs (although they're so awful I wouldn't doubt if the Cubbies acquired some little leaguers to play for them).

We have until July 1st before all of the regulations go into effect. Any amateurs who wanted to try their luck and see if this sport is for them, now is the time. You have 3 months to get in there and give it a go.

After July 1st, you may still get your shot provided you get licensed, get you blood work brought up to date, and find a promoter who's willing to give a guy with no cage fighting experience a shot. If you don't fair so well, don't expect a callback. It's very unfortunate, but every event is very expensive and each fight costs the promoter a lot of money. So taking a risk on an unknown fighter could be an expensive endeavor.

The CVFA will still host events, but only at venues which are large enough to generate enough spectators and income to afford the many costs of promoting a professional fighting event in the state of Iowa.

So as of right now we have events in Newton, Rudd, Steamboat Rock, Manchester, Waterloo, Kostza, Tiffin, Spencer, Manly, and Dubuque coming up. So email afafighting@yahoo.com if you want information on these events and would like to compete before July 1st.

Please remember the CVFA will still conduct events, but they'll only be professional. So all fighters who hold titles will still be the champions, but they'll only be amateur champions. We will still have amateur events in Wisconsin.